Some interesting stats from a survey recently carried out by Bulova via their Facebook page.
Doesn't surprise me in the slightest, hell most of the younger (current age of 13 to 25) can't write a intelligent sentence, read a book, clean a room (at least decently), do laundry properly or at all, keep their pants above their "Ass crack" or do a honest days work. Believe me I could go on!
But you put a game controller or a cell phone in their hands and they'll conquer the world!
In reply to Doesn't surprise me in the by simpletreasures
In reply to Doesn't surprise me in the by simpletreasures
aside, but one of the things our Hawaiian Time chapter of NAWCC has done/is doing. The Tic Toc club. We have 2 qualified watchmakers and two qualified "enthuist" horologists (I'm not in either of these catagories). They put together a presentation for middle school and high school kids., based loosly on canned presentations from NAWCC. We got some local funding and take this presentation to local schools for "career day" and sometimes for "show and tell" day. The target kids are those who seem to have an interest in engineering, but the presentation is basic and for general student population by age group. The kids are pretty bored w/ old small watches, and not too much more interested in modern watchmaking, however one section of the presentation gave a review of potential incomes/careers (and the outside chance of world travle/adventure during schooling for this career). When the kids saw they could actually make some money persuing this field, interest perked up a little bit. We try to get them to join NAWCC as junior membors (we subsidize membership dues via the grant). Then we do a workshop on building the wooden clock as per the NAWCC kit. If we can get a kid throught these three "hurdles" (school presentation, build a clock, become junior NAWCC members), we then try to help them apply for the scholorships available to budding watchmakers offered for junior NAWCC members (and also point them to other scholorships etc...). Our hope is that the kids have fun, learn something, and at least consider this career choice. So far, we have not had anyone sustain interest, but we sure have presented to lots of school kids. This way, they are aware this career is still an option. We are keeping our fingers crossed. In Hawaii, there is a handful of qualified watch repair people, and they have more work than they can complete. ...and they seem to be a dying breed here. Personally I'd have a hard time taking my watches to a qualified repair person age 24, with his pants below his butt crack, but the other folks available to do this work need geritol and gentle reminders.
It's fun to do this, and hopefully we can get at least one kid to follow through to a career in watchmaking/repairs. Hopefully....
In reply to Interesting. Do you know of by mybulova_admin