Boatwrench said:
Sand blast grit in the intake not so far fetched.
<SNIP>
One he told me about was crushed and ground up walnut shells down carb to 'knock' loose carbon from the valves. I never tried that, but I did and have still used ground black pepper in the radiator to plug a pin hole leak.
As for shop classes in HS. Someone hit the nail on the head earlier with cost of equipment, liability insurance and instructors. But don't forget space. A shop with three cars equates to a room full of computers for a computer lab. Instead of a class of 12, there could be thirty computer stations.
5-90, used to teach the apprentices at night at SF Community College, good pay, but cut into my family time to much. Good luck at DeAnza, get your ASE certs and earn more $$$.
Take care,
Tom
The ground walnut shell trick is in a mechanics Handbook my Great-Grandfather had (now in the possession of my father) written in 1914. In the low compression engine age they had many of these tricks (the shell grit is supposed to burn before causing damage).
Today ground walnut shells are praised by restorers for the semi-gloss finish they leave on a cast aluminum part when used as the blasting media. The shells are all the rage in Muscle car restorations with factory aluminum intakes (and glass bead blasting is now considered bad form).
The shop class space problem is an issue, as my local Middle School just renovated the Industrial Arts wing (for the first time in 50 years). The traditional shop benches and tables were hauled out and computer workstations installed.
Unless you have a Gerber Cutter machine I'd like to see a computer make a clothes pattern? Yes, I know the computer design software exists because the Fashion Institute for Design and Merchandising is a customer of mine, and they get paid well for the experience. Sometime the skill has to be applied on a table and into the world of tangable artifacts. You would think these "urban survival skills" would still be in demand?
I know it opens a can of worms, but I would like to see an eighth grade standards test for entry to society, and vouchers offered for various high school education opportunities. Grant the student a budget to fund his high school education, after they pass the "grade school" minimum standards test of survival skills. If the student is a joker who cannot comprehend survival skills (balance a checkbook, write a letter to a congressman, vote without hanging chads, etc.) then keep them in grade school until they do pass, except with the carrot that the vouchers do not get funded for the extra years they waste in grade school. If they attend a "ninth year" of grade school to pass the standards test, it limits the voucher committment to only three of the available four years.
Instill some competition into the education system.
If a student wants to attend a pre-college education track, after passing grade school, let them enter the requisite school that offers the opportunity funded with their vouchers. If they want to enter a specialized vocational school, fund the opportunity with vouchers as well. Make a grade point average qualification a requirement for continuing in the program. Offer an incentive to graduate, that is a matching funds program to enter the working world.
California spends over $8,000 each year for each student enrolled in secondary level public education. Offer a $4K voucher to the student to spend on each year of expertise they desire as secondary education (college prep or vocational school), and offer another $4K match for each year if they graduate. The successful four-year secondary education graduate recieves $16K to begin an entry into the working world (University or Hard-Knocks). The net cost to the state would be no more than expended today.
I would expect a fair number of the Vocational Education Graduates would leverage the bonus and job skills into a working student University degree program. The college prep students would use the bonus for tuition. An inclined student may simply bank the bonus and join the military with an equvalent signing bonus, to begin a fund that would grow to $250K after a 20-year enlistment.
The result (IMO) of this type of program would be less cost to the taxpayer and better graduates (more functional graduates as well). Do you think the Democrats would allow vouchers so the oppressed vocational school candidates could gain freedom from the public school ties that bind them to poverty?
