Practical experience is important and is what is lacking in the newest generation coming into the engineering schools. Without it, these students are handicapped from the start. This is why a kid who grew up wrenching on the farm or in Dad's Garage or Body shop has a huge advantage over a kid who's only tool that fits his hand is an X-box controller. My son is an ME and he's told me of a few things that he has seen when he was in school.
For example: A group of kids were bolting an engine into a Baja car they built from scratch. They struggled and struggled to bolt this engine into the frame and just couldn't get the bolts in. There was much discussion about why the bolt holes didn't fit and how the measurements could be off, etc. etc. My son went over to see what the problem was and noticed somebody had tightened the first two bolts as soon as they were put it. He suggested they loosen the bolts, wiggle the motor to align the holes, place ALL the bolts first, then tighten them down.
Now you or I would just know to do this automatically without so much as a fleeting thought to do it any other way. A kid with no practical experience just doesn't know and such a simple thing becomes a major hurdle. They also twist off bolts because they don't have a "feel" for how much torque to apply to a wrench, or cross thread a bolt for the same reason. The "feel" of a wrench in your hand only comes with using one. They also try to bust a tightened nut loose with the open end of a wrench instead of the box end. Pain is a good teacher because that learned experience when the wrench slips off will be remembered. Busted and scrapped knuckles have a way of reminding you not to use a wrench that way again. Maybe a socket and T-handle would be an even better choice. You can "tell" them how to do it but for most, they have to learn for themselves by doing. Someone once said; "Good judgement comes from experience, and a lotta that comes from bad judgement". That's why hands on learning is much more powerful than the lecture.
Benjamin Franklin said; Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.
Mind you, these are smart kids. They can learn anything. They absorb information like a sponge and will be good MEs but without coming into Engineering school without practical experience like previous generations, they are going to be a little slower getting up to speed.
I'll add this story as well. My son-in-law is a Marine and until just recently was a Crew Chief for the V-22 Osprey. This is a fairly complex machine with three engines, redundant mechanical drives between them, redundant hydraulics and electronics, etc. He was taught how to tear one of these machines down to the frame if necessary, make repairs and put it back together again and has done it many times both on base and while deployed. He has a few stories to tell also about the quality of practical mechanical knowledge (or lack thereof) walking through the door from the high schools of today. Luckily the military is pretty good at training fresh minds to handle the job and there's lots of checking and rechecking of the work and repairs but again, they do some pretty stupid stuff that is traced back to a simple lack of experience with anything beyond a laptop or X-box controller.
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