Should schools teach car maintenance?

Car maintenance definitely needs to be covered in Driver’s Ed at the very least. Definitely, definitely. Back when I was in high school, my school was also offering some other classes that were supposed to teach you how to do some basic money management and taxes. I remember it wasn’t very well structured though, and I think due to budget cuts the school was forced to stop offering it. I really wish they could have expanded it and ironed the issues out. Now that I’m an adult, I regret that it wasn’t a better class because all of what’s it was supposed to be teaching would be VERY useful right now.

I’m all for schools trying to teach kids important life skills and I think it would definitely be helpful if teachers could provide kids some idea of what it would take, in theory, to start a successful career. “Preparing them for the workplace” should never be the soul purpose of school, though. I feel like we already put so much pressure on kids to become part of this whole “workforce” anyways when education should be so much more than simply training a company’s future employees for them. I feel the objective of schools should primarily be create informed citizens of a democratic community. 

What are you dropping from the current curriculum in order to make room for these new classes? There’s only a certain number of hours in the week that we can keep students in school and they’re already pretty much nailed down for other subjects. I’m also pretty sure that there’s a subject called “manual arts” that caters to the more mechanically-minded students and that it’s also compulsory for the first couple of years of high school. I also remember doing “commercial knowledge” as a subject in high school. The options are there for students to learn this stuff.

We only have students for a set number of hours a day and each subject only gets a set number of hours a year. There’s loads we’d love to include or do more on but we just physically can’t. Maybe parents could take an interest in what their kids are interested in show them themselves or maybe point them in the direction of organisations that can help. Heaven forbid that parents do some actual damned nurturing of their own spawn.

</rant>

(Sorry: this is something that crops up every few months whenever there’s a story about “what kids don’t know that they apparently should.” I’m just fed up with my profession copping flak for not doing everything that parents should be doing.)

Back after I got off the Ark, the sixth form were offered various free after-school courses... computer programming on a remote Honeywell terminal, ballroom dancing, shorthand and typing and... basic care and maintenance of cars. Not so much electronic gubbins on them in those days of course, but we were pointed to the oil dipstick, water reservoir, tyre pressure gauge and how to change a wheel. (Handy hint, loosen the wheel nuts before lifting it on the jack.)

These days, I think at least drumming POWDERY into wannabe drivers might be a good idea.
Petrol/fuel, Oil, Damage, Water, Electrics, Rubber, Yourself - are you really fit to drive?

I'm sure the local branch of the Institute of Advanced Motorists and / or community police would love to get involved in these sorts of projects. A properly maintained vehicle is a safer vehicle. But there's not always much you can do about the loose nut behind the steering wheel...

As I still can’t drive, it would’ve been wasted on me.

Though being taught how the tax system works probably would’ve been helpful.

I was fortunate back around 1994-5 when doing light haulage (self employed) that I enrolled on a Mechanics course for a while. As I was one of the non apprentices or home mechanics on the course, I did not get many big jobs to work on, but with the help of others, did some jobs on my Volvo 245, such as changing the cylinder head gasket, putting on a new water pump, brake pads and sticking callipers and fixing the exhaust. 

The point was, by learning how relatively simple the core elements are (or were), I was no longer intimidated by the seeming complexity of the engine and drivetrain, plus basic electricals such as the alternator. 

Keeping up to date as others say, by learning how ones own cars typically go wrong means that I am usually pretty accurate in identifying faults. For example my XKR had a Gearbox Fault for which the specialist replaced the gearbox, whereas I insisted it was electrical, related to the dynamic stability control and not mechanical (there was some wear, but that was not triggering the fault code.

I was proven correct when it transpired eventually (onto the second replacement gearbox - his expense) that it was a wheel speed sensor that was triggering the safe mode of the auto gearbox. Likewise when at work in the car park or elsewhere doing simple maintenance such as topping up the Oil or Water Coolant, people look at the supercharged V8 4.2 and remark that they would not like to venture anywhere near it. I have to add that there is nothing the matter and I am just doing basics to keep it healthy.

A colleague once could not get his Fiesta started and seemed to look to me as some sort of expert. I got it started pretty much in seconds to which he thought it was magic. I informed him that he had simply caught the throttle on starting up and flooded the cylinders with fuel. It made me appreciate that many people do not get even these fundamentals, such as first holding down and pumping the throttle to flush the combustion chambers out, so that continuous ignition can take place again.

Such courses and skills are a good thing for non-academic students who would have once gone down the Technical College route and really put them on the pathway to gaining confidence in being able to do something well, rather than being force fed classroom exam based subjects, where they are always knocked down for being 'thick'. It has been noted that a Vehicle Mechanic has as much detailed technical knowledge as an IT specialist, but is assumed to be unintelligent because he/she is not academic. It is a key cause of many instances of institutionalised classroom behaviour problems. Give them the self esteem in a practical, vocational environment, and many so called 'wrong uns' can and do become ideal pupils. 

But unfortunately such courses cost money and contribute little to exam league tables, so get the axe. The same goes for Beautician courses for the Girls, So they just go back into the classroom, attempting to grasp the theory for exams they are destined to fail. So yes, I think there is a case for teaching such things in school, but you would encounter much resistance from those students who see it as beneath them, something you pay lesser people to do for you, which in turn would embarrass the genuinely interested. Far better for a provision as a pathway that provides a recognised foundation qualification in School and not just the College.

Something like "car maintenance" sounds like a topic that would be covered under extracurricular knowledge nowadays, yeah. Two of the most valuable courses I did for logistical reasoning were Business and Philosophy were electives. Learning how to write a cover letter, compile an invoice (with an understanding of GST) and compose a rational argument feel like vital life skills, but the problem is definitely one of time. If all else fails and the subject can't be covered even in a cursory way, I remember -- and this is a tactic I employ myself -- teachers tend to point students towards resources they can use to explore the topic in greater detail.

It's a vital bit of ethos: education does not (or, at least, it should not) end at the classroom. Formal schooling, perhaps, but not an education.

Yeah i think this would be something perfect to teach. Something hands on and with real world applications

Checking oil, water and air pressure in tyres, topping up oil and water and how to change a wheel should form part of the driving test.