An interesting thing about the YouTube Algorithm just dawned on me while watching a series of videos by MrPete222, aka Tubalcain, aka Lyle Peterson – a retired HS Metal Shop teacher. He’s not the only machinist I follow on YT, and there are plenty of other crafts-persons I follow who are not machinists as well. But I was pining for my mis-spent youth, irritated at myself for not taking more metal shop classes after that first one in Jr. High School. I LOVE this stuff, and might’ve had a joyous career.
Oh yeah. Bullies. That’s why.
The more I thought about it, the more I remembered that the Metal Shop teacher at Fairview Jr. High School in Roseville, MN wasn’t a very nice guy. Pretty sure the only reason he taught Metal Shop is because it’s the only place they could justify having the Wrestling Coach they wanted. Think Gym Jordan, but not as eloquent, with thick glasses.
Fast forward to High School, and all the Metal Shop students (don’t think I even met any of the various shop teachers) were guys with lousy grades in all other subjects, pot-heads, trouble-makers, riff-raff. And naturally, bullies (not all, but many).
The YouTube Algorithm has made it far more likely that I’d find Machinists who are not only nice people, but very smart, very eloquent, and quite witty. The sort that don’t irritate large swathes of the potential viewing audience. So by extension, I would surmise that Lyle Peterson would rise to the very top were there to be a fair comparison of a nation’s worth of High School Shop Teachers.
How different life might’ve been if a few of the Elective classes for which I’d enthusiastically signed up had been taught by slightly better instructors.
Alas, life has been OK, especially given I’d decided college wasn’t a good fit for me after a mere semester.
We need to pay teachers far better. The best people out there need to be able to choose teaching without it being an enormous sacrifice. It should be such a sought-after position that there’s intense competition to get that plum job, thereby weeding out the bullies and dimwits.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying there are many dimwit teachers. But in my tiny-sample-size experience, I had several bottom-of-the-barrel dimwit teachers, horrible at it, who were in those jobs because they were capable sports coaches. I’m sure there are many out there who are good at both teaching and coaching, but I doubt that’s the norm.
All Star Shop Teachers
