350 times?

 27.   Currently, top American CEO's make an average of 350 times the average corporate salary. This compares with 20-30 times the ratio in Europe and Japan. It is interesting that the current economic crisis started in the US where we have been paying too much money for too little expertise, but in Europe and Japan, they've had better corporate leadership for one tenth the expense. 

That should be telling us something. We should discharge the lot of them and hire some people with hands-on practical experience who know without a doubt which end of the wrench fits the nut.

"The civilized boy in school is taught many theories but is not required to put any of them in practice; hence he enters upon the serious duties of life unprepared to discharge any of them." This is from a discussion of the subject of technical education in London, 1885 and is quoted from Charles H. Ham's book Mind and Hand as part of his discussion of the civilizing aspects of the education of the hand:

 

“It may be said that he (the civilized boy) is in real danger of the penitentiary until he learns a profession or a trade. "Of four hundred and eighty-seven convicts consigned to the State Prison for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in 1879, five-sixths had attended public schools, and the same number were without trades." It is noticeable also that during the same period "not five were received who were what are called mechanics." In the State of Illinois four out of five of the convicts have no handicraft. The fact that the skilled workman is far more likely than the common laborer to keep out of the penitentiary is a powerful argument in favor of joining manual training to the mental exercises of our common schools.”

 

Many of the early advocates of hands-on learning made this point... that education of the hands was a means to lift the moral fiber and integrity of the common man. But they were careful to also point to its value in the lives of all children, even those of the upper classes. Unfortunately, educators only got part of the message. And now we have CEOs in America who make 350 times the salaries of their common employees and feel that they have acquired such unreasonable amounts in some way other than the moral equivalent of theft.

So don't be diverted when people propose that craft training is only for the lower classes. The values inherent in craftsmanship and the expression of hands-on learning and skill can be important to ALL children.

Educators in 1904 and before had noted that students learned faster in less time and retained the knowledge longer when they learned through their hands. But we have made a mockery of education, attempting to increase class sizes and cut costs at the expense of our children's future.

When we know someone is all blown up with self-importance losing touch with reality, we say they are on a "head trip." I have a very strong sense of purpose in writing this. It is a "hand trip." It will take us places. Join me. All you need to do is take greater notice of the things dangling at the ends of your arms. Watch how they make you smarter, more creative, and even wise about physical reality. Then join me in pushing for hands-on learning in schools.

Make, fix and create...