Has britain let itself down in the engineering world by not teaching metalwork in schools?

Question

i dont think you can count design technology as its too basic compared to the old system of metalwork classes it tries to encapsulate to many different subjects which used to be taught seperately in depth! such as engineering drawing,metalwork and woodwork non of which are taught anymore.

Answer 1

No you cant teach everything

Answer 2

With all the Health and Safety Regulations.

The Teacher would never be allowed in the metalwork room, let alone the pupils.

Answer 3

The lack of skilled engineers etc was kick started by the loss /cessation of the apprentice schemes in factories,as the employers could no longer afford it.The final nail in our coffin ,was the exporting of our factories and manufacturing to foreign climes.

Answer 4

We don't have a very large engineering base in this country because we can't compete in the global market.  Therefore there would be no jobs for the children.

Answer 5

The nation has been let down to a greater extent by our desire and demand for cheaper manufactured products which has resulted in a lot of engineering work being lost to cheaper (lower wage)  production bases in the Asia Pacific region.

Answer 6

You'd never get the insurance these days...

Answer 7

No is the the simple answer. Technical drawing like it was taught in my day is now done by computer - and was only offered then as fallback for the less academic - if you did Latin you had to drop art/metalwork/woodwork (I know which I would drop now if I did it again).

I think design technology should embrace principles of metalwork in theory (but probably doesn't). The kind or engineers we need are involved in design not fabrication though, which is probably best taught in specialist colleges.