Thread: Lee Valley Newsletter...Volume 4 Issue 4

I remember when you were first getting involved in that Doug, years ago in the rec.woodworking days. It's great to see it become a success and continue to the benefit of so many. Kudos to you and the others involved.

Beaut stuff Doug.
BTW the link to Boxmaking101.com appears to be broken.

Originally Posted by watson

Beaut stuff Doug.
BTW the link to Boxmaking101.com appears to be broken.

The correct link is http://boxmaking101.com/Site/Welcome.html (until Doug removes the "." between the "g" and the "1" in the link in his signature.

You're a Gentleman Greg.

Fixed it...with my little "." removing tool.

That is just so good to see Doug!! Good on you for being so involved!!

I spent a great deal of my 42 years as a teacher with disabled children. Without exception they loved working with wood, as did the children in the normal stream.

What bothered me was the number of principals who took it on themselves to abolish this type of activity from the curriculum. Perhaps they were failed or frustrated woodworkers.

I've tried to fix the link but for some reason it works from my computer. Thanks for reading my article, and thanks, too for teaching your kids. We've got to have very smart kids to take care of us in our old age, and to do a better job of taking care of the planet, if we haven't messed things up too much already.

I think the problem with principals and school woodshops has a lot to do with universities. Here in the US, kids and parents have to make an early decision whether college will be the major goal, vs. some form of technical training. That means that those who go to universities rarely have any understanding of the relationship between hands, tools, and intelligence.

Now, due to computer use in universities, some few academicians have realized that their tools, computers, are smarter than they are, and they are beginning to understand what many craftsmen have long realized. Intelligence is not something in the brain, but that is "situational" and "distributed." It resides as a contribution from one generation to the next through the making of tools. That is one reason that we to focus on tool making as the primary function of the wood shop at Clear Spring School. But until we get school principals who have some knowledge of tool use, and the relationship between hands, tools and intelligence, our kids are screwed.

Good to see that the program is still going. Interesting article.

Thanks for the read.

Originally Posted by DougStowe

I've tried to fix the link but for some reason it works from my computer.

Doug, Watson fixed it for you using his Administrator rights. cheers

Thanks for removing the extra "."