Re-introduce Basic Repair Skills to Kids by Nicholas

Re-introduce Basic Repair Skills to Kids by Nicholas - November 2021 Scholarship Essay

In school, the four main topics, math, science, history, and English are religiously ingrained into the students each year. As well, various arts and PE classes are hard to avoid while securing a high school education. While I agree with the importance of most of these classes, I think that the more vocational focused classes, specifically automotive tech, should get a little bit more attention then they do.

The current generation does not have nearly as much mechanical knowledge as our parents or grandparents did. While we do have other methods in place for most of these problems, like enlisting the help of a plumber, electrician, or car mechanic, I think with a minimal amount of education, a lot of us would save a substantial amount of money from basic car repairs. Typically an oil change can cost $100 or more, even though an oil change is not very hard to do, and only costs half that in materials. If Automotive classes had better funding, or at least marketed better to the students, it could give us the resources to set up a more successful future.

The next level of these classes is those students who want to start a career in the automotive industry. I, for example, decided that I wanted to be in the automotive industry, and signed up for my school's auto tech 1 class. At the beginning of this year, I was accepted to Universal Technical Institute, where I will start in August. My auto class Has been more informative than I had presumed at the beginning of the year, and has shown me that even though I have done some work on my own car, I still have a lot to learn. I have learned the basics about different car repairs, but have since moved into the more interesting things like how different types of engines actually work. I have learned about 4 stroke theory, 2 stroke theory, and rotary engines. I have begun taking apart an old, simple Briggs and Stratton engine, so that I can see first hand how the parts work together. This type of hands-on learning has been very effective for retaining knowledge, and has kept me enthusiastic and excited for my continued automotive education.

The Automotive classes are a relieving break from the repetitive nature of our other classes, and it’s more interesting to many students, because it has more of an applicable capacity to our lives. I think that Automotive Classes should be emphasized more in school, because of its ability to save students money and time, as well as its applicability to future careers.