Right up front I'll tell you that this was NOT a post that was going to happen. I knew Astrid and I would walk over to the technical school here in Gorinchem, where her son went from age 12-16, just to see it after all these years since (Astrid) and for me as a first. It was the annual open-house day for new potential students, so we seized the day.
And along the way I assumed I'd get a couple photos to work on for my Shutterchance photoblog!
What follows will in no way adequately describe the effect of that visit on me and why I HAVE to make this post. I suspect it's the age of these students that affected me the most: 12-16. To see it with my own eyes just blew me away because, let's face it, this does NOT happen in America....
This is Het Gilde school, which we pass every Monday while grocery shopping.
Because I wasn't expecting to do a post, I took no photos of many things, including the outside.
[photo credit: (l) AD.nl; (r) gilde.cvo-av.nl]
All the technical studies take place on the ground floor.
Everything else is classroom space for the approx. 700 students, taking "normal" studies,
like math, civics, geography, English, Dutch and German, etc.
Upon entering the school, we asked if we could take photos. YES, but not of students!
So the following student photos, including this above, are public photos released for publication.
I wanted you to see how it really is like a school, with lockers in the hallways.
[credit: gilde.cvo-av.nl]
[credit: fd.nl]
[credit: Scholenopdekaart]
[credit: Marcel van den Bergh]
When Astrid's son was there years ago (he's 31 now), there was only one girl in the school.
Today there are 25...with increasing effort to enroll more.
Back in Astrid's day, she wanted to learn fine-furniture carpentry
but no girls we allowed unless they were taking over their father's business.
But see what I mean about age?!
Watching the older and younger kids learning side-by-side brought many a tear to my eye.
What follows now are the images I took that day (remember, assuming I was NOT making a post).
Outside of this image was a boy following a schematic of this electrical outlet, to duplicate it.
We spent most of our time in the Electrical room...
...even with robotics.
Do you know how traffic lights work?
And how to keep your wires straight, so to speak!
Another area was Mechanics? We're not sure, but there was also
car mechanics, welding, insulation, carpentry, construction, masonry, metallurgy.
We didn't get to half of it but it was all there.
For a country that has more bikes than people or cars, understanding bike gears is important.
Did I ever tell you that Astrid, who has a "normal" bike, as well as a race bike,
meticulously cleans and greases and takes care of them both herself?!
Impressions.
Each student has his/her own steel-capped shoes and overalls.
And at the end of every project/day, messes have to be cleaned up.
Remember when I said the students also have "normal" studies, similar to students who choose the "gymnasium" track (which is what Europe calls college prep)? In their first 2 years (age 12-14), they're learning civics, math, language (English, Dutch, German and another language like French), physics, chemistry, biology, history, geography, economy, science, social interaction, healthcare, sports, art, gym...and because it's a Christian school, Christianity.
During those first two years, they spend 6 weeks each getting introduced to the different technical studies taught there (as mentioned above). The last two years (age 14-16), they pick one of the techniques for their own specialization.
From there, age 16-20, the students move on to a Middle School where they study their specialty for one day and then work as an apprentice in a company for 4 days each week. They can then go on to University (age 21-24) for Engineering degrees or whatever.
Does this blow your mind like it does mine? It's the part about starting so young. I'm still trying to get my head around it. Seriously.
But I can tell you this, after leaving that day I told Astrid that I want to go there and learn something about every technical area provided. That's how much it all impressed me!
"We dare to state that without technology the world would be a hopeless mess.
We always come up with new techniques to make our lives safer, easier or more fun.
With all these techniques there is also an enormous demand for smart installers,
fitters and other technicians. Can you take the challenge?"
It was so fun to be back in that building and see all the young children having fun and taking pride in what they do. From age 10 we knew Jeroen was going to be in this school. Having dyslexia made that option very easy. It would have been cruel to send him to a school "with only books". Long story short, one teacher inspired Jeroen to maybe going into the technical drawing of Installation Technics. After this school he went 4 years to Rotterdam to specialize in the trade and even attended 2 years of evening school while he was working full days at a company. A few years ago he was sent by a company to go to Amsterdam into a large project and he was taught on the job "BIM". He loved it so much that he taught himself all the "ins and outs" to be learned in that field of technical drawing. There is a shortage of this kind of technical educated people in the Netherlands. Since 2 years he started his own business and is his own boss. He is hired into big companies to help out with the BIM-drawing.
ReplyDeleteIn this YouTube is explained what BIM is. (Building Information Modeling) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Do2Vm22OCm4
Thank you for making this post and make me going back to the time Jeroen came home excited about all the new things that he learned. IHVJ
Thank you for being willing to share this story, Astrid, because I'm as thrilled and excited for Jeroen as you are (if that's possible!). And to think it all happened here, with your guidance, of course! So many kids are floundering in this day and time. If only they had this kind of opportunity to apply themselves to something that excites them...and that is genuinely needed in this world!
DeleteThese are not classrooms I am familiar with. I hope more females take up the challenge!
ReplyDeleteI suppose the classrooms upstairs look familiar to all of us, Marie, even though we didn't see them. But these technical rooms downstairs are totally out-of-this-world to me. What a way to learn, especially skills that we NEED everywhere!
DeleteAs a woman with very little technical knowledge (or curiosity) I cheer for this school and all schools like it, and for girls to pursue them. I think my lack of curiosity is about believing I couldn't get it, it was a boy thing, so I shut that out. It hurts me that we in the U.S. have tended to look at technical skills as not as valuable as academics in the "normal" topics. I believe it is changing here, and I'm so happy about it. It's very sad to me that technical jobs at the auto makers that graduates were assured of back when I was in school are almost gone. We are smart enough to do this right. Thank goodness it was there for Jeroen!
ReplyDeleteThank you for this exciting post!
I think you have just described, Ruth, part of why this experience moved me so surprisingly. We Americans tend to assume the "gymnasium"/college path is THE way to go, often at the denigration of all things technical...to our great shame and loss. No wonder so many students flounder, totally missing the opportunity to find what makes them tick. Nicholas is almost 20 and still has no sense of what he really wants to do. I really do hope we ARE smart enough to figure this out going forward. Thanks for engaging with this post, which means a lot to me!
DeleteWat een leuke actuele log op een andere site van je, die ik toevallig ontdekte.
ReplyDeleteIk heb jaren op een technische school gewerkt. Dus heel leuk en goed herkenbaar
Translated: What a nice topical log on another site of yours, which I happened to discover. I worked at a technical school for years. So very nice and easily recognizable
DeleteThank you so much, Marjolein, for finding me here. We keep learning more and more about each other, don't we!!! It will be such a wonderful day when we finally meet you face to face. Hopefully that will be sooner than later!