NIne year old EE ?

afaik your have to be at least 13 to work in the EU

I did at that age. An insatiable curiosity led to a long and rewarding career in engineering.

IMHO kids these days are not willing to "just try it and see" - either because of overprotective parents, or "toys" being too expensive to risk.

Sigh.

OTOH I think part of the education system's purpose is to teach kids to be adults - it's more than just the book learning, it's also about being "partially on your own", learning to socialize, discovering who you are, being self-responsible, etc... and skipping all that does a disservice to the kids. If they're ahead of schedule, take the extra time to do other things, instead of rushing adulthood.

----------------

** Not 220VAC power I hope.

** Funny how schools make pupils sit still in chairs and shut up, subject them to arbitrary rules and even more arbitrary punishments for breaking them, intentionally or otherwise.

Guess that does at least prepare young folk for the adult world of incompetent & authoritarian bosses, toxic work environments and arbitrary dismissals.

IME, if kid ever learn to be responsible adults - they do so outside the education system and despite it.

I particularly include tertiary education in my remarks, where adults are still treated as juveniles with no rights.

.... Phil

Probably not. The nervous system changes substantially between 10 and about 24.

Smart young kids can learn a lot from an early age - Mozart comes to mind - but their judgment isn't great, even if they can do spectacularly clever things.

--
Bill Sloman, Sydney

There are some liberal arts colleges in the US that allow a high degree of flexibility and student input on program of study, and while academic advisors provide guidance on what courses to take for particular subject matter what classes you take when and from whom aren't set in stone.

Degree requirements tend to be more project-based e.g. if you want to do industrial design/architecture you must design some small but reasonably involved structure like a footbridge or modular home and see it to its construction. Or agriculture/farm business then you will spend time assisting with the management of a real farm.

g ,

them to arbitrary rules and even more arbitrary punishments for breaking t hem, intentionally or otherwise.

We've been doing that for a few centuries now, and it seems to work.

There are variations in the degree of discipline imposed, but none of the v ariations so far explored seem to have made any dramatic difference visible in the adults who have been through the various sorts of education on offe r.

If the system put more work into picking which kids do best in which kind o f educational program we might be able to see some systematic effects, but individual differences aren't a popular area of research (though there is n ow some work in that general area).

etent & authoritarian bosses, toxic work environments and arbitrary dismiss als.

education system and despite it.

I certainly didn't get exposed to all that many responsible adults in the c ourse of my primary and secondary education. I'm inclined to think that my parents came pretty close to that ideal, but I'm obviously biased, even if one of my more persistent memories is of listening to my friends complainin g about their parent behaviour and being grateful that mine weren't nearly that silly.

still treated as juveniles with no rights.

Not my experience at all. We were treated as people who didn't know as much as they needed to, but most of the effort went into getting us informed en ough to make the right choices - which is a form of bullying, but it was do ne diplomatically.

--
Bill Sloman, Sydney

---------------------

** Bill is fey.

.... Phil

I know all sorts of stuff that Phil didn't stick around university long enough to learn.

That isn't being "fey"

The "other world" from which I draw my insights is roughly the university library that Phil didn't get to spend enough time in. It's utterly prosaic.

I did go into more detail, but Phil snipped that, and didn't mark the snip.

--
Bill Sloman, Sydney

Oh, they've raised the minimum age, then.

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From early childhood, I had an unlimited supply of tube TV power transformers, neon sign transformers, electrolytic caps, and black powder.

It's improbable that I'm still alive.

A few break the rules. Good educators understand that.

In any big regimented company, there are usually a few real thinkers and planners.

One big aerospace outfit has 17,000 enginners and 150 Fellows. The Fellows are invited to a luxury resort every couple of years to meet and swap ideas. They are the rule breakers. I guess they don't want the other 16,850 engineers to go around breaking rules. Well, a few do and become Fellows.

Don't tolerate that. Quit and find a better job.

Don't tolerate that either.

--

John Larkin         Highland Technology, Inc 

lunatic fringe electronics

I built my first crystal set when I was 7. Initially the reception was poor with my short 10 foot aerial. I wanted a longer aerial and decided on using one side of the mains supply as a good idea, as I assumed at the time that it went overhead by pylons all the way back to the power station. I live in the UK so all our sockets are shuttered, and only open when the earth pin is inserted. I proceeded to use my 'Meccano' all metal screwdriver to poke into the earth socket to open the shutters. With the other hand I inserted the bare copper aerial wire into the now unshuttered socket. Unluckily I inserted it into the Live hole. I survived the full 240V AC. I have never had a bad shock since in all my 67 years as an Electronics Engineer.

Same here, from the same age, too. My parents had enormous faith in me so let me take big risks. Either that or they were trying to kill me off. They did tell me my conception I was an accident! :-D

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I knew two brothers that were killed by antennas, just a year or so apart. One fell off an antenna tower on an oil rig, installing some supervisory control stuff that I designed. His kid brother was killed when he was installing a ham antenna on his roof, and hit a power line.

--

John Larkin         Highland Technology, Inc 

lunatic fringe electronics

You're the man. I did exactly the same thing as you but managed to avoid the live contact. As a result of not being bitten at an early age as you were, I continue to be electrocuted on an almost daily basis decades later.

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** FFS this imbecile has MISSED the point by a county mile.

Way too autistic to even notice what the context is.

..... Phil

------------------

**ROTFL.

** Just Google the word.

** Right out his arse, actually.

The authoritarian education system consistently produces bullies and cretins and fills their empty heads with masses of conceit.

That fools like Bill wrongly consider themselves to be well educated proves my point.

.... Phil

There was a point?

Did I break a rule? Sorry. I tend to do that.

--

John Larkin         Highland Technology, Inc 

lunatic fringe electronics

Not all that improbable. Electric shocks rarely kill.

o

ng

e,

t them to arbitrary rules and even more arbitrary punishments for breaking them, intentionally or otherwise.

A few work with different - less restrictive - rules. They seem to get much the same sorts of outcomes as everybody else.

Thinking outside of the box isn't rule-breaking, but rather having original thoughts. Getting to be a Fellow usually means that at least one of those original thoughts panned out. One of my colleagues at EMI Central Research generated more patent queries than anybody else in the organisation, which meant that he had a lot of original thoughts. I can't recall that any of th em turned into patents. I got two in the three years that I worked there, a nd our boss - who worked there for most of hos life - has some 25.

who worked there for 13 years, had 128.

petent & authoritarian bosses, toxic work environments and arbitrary dismis sals.

Not always easy, particularly when you have specialised skills.

education system and despite it.

e still treated as juveniles with no rights.

John Larkin took that attitude to his lectures at Tulane, and the gaps show .

--
Bill Sloman, Sydney

I did, and posted the link in my response, which you've snipped.

Phil would like to thinks so. He's happy to ignore (and snip - without marking the snip) evidence that conflicts with his delusions.

There's no question that there are well-educated fools around.

Phil likes to think that I'm one of them, which might suggest that he isn't on the same planet as the rest of us.

--
Bill Sloman, Sydney