Lio by Mark Tatulli for March 21, 2014

I used to have a teacher who told us that we’d wind up as ditch diggers if we didn’t study. Thing is, they dig ditches with backhoes, and heavy equipment operators earn more than teachers.

Considering Lio has a high propensity for robotics and science at such a young age, I’d say he’ll be fine. Heck the reason he doesn’t do well in school is probably the same reason a lot of smart kids do. He’s bored.

I really like Dad’s thinking. He manages to be proud of his son and confident in him despite all the pranks! Good for you, Dad!………………………………………………………Back in the Way-Back-When days, I had a summer midnight shift job in a factory where some of the guys would run forklift races. And then there were other things we sometimes did that might be considered dangerous and/or foolhardy. Thankfully, all survived.

Seeing it on the side of their rockets made me go look it up.

My son used to tell me he was going to grow up to dethrone Bill Gates and would then buy me a purple truck. I’m still waiting.

Last month I was trying to figure out how much gas I would need for a trip I was planning and I realized I was using algebra. Guess Mrs. Dobbs was right.

At least all your teachers weren’t actively working behind the scenes to have you removed from their classroom. I started school right after IDEA (the public-school counterpart to ADA, which became law in 1978) became law, and on an almost weekly basis, someone would go to the principal, go to the superintendent, go to my mother, etc., with the latest research showing what irreparable harm a “special needs” child would do to a regular learning environment. (My “special needs” were/are that I’m hard of hearing and am missing part of one leg.) Of course, once they discovered that I had an advanced vocabulary (my mother had me reading the Boston Globe at age 5) and had at least a general understanding of current events like (at the time) the Falkland Islands Crisis, then they were all too happy to not only have me in the classroom, they were all too happy to take credit for it.

Almost nothing I learned in school has helped in in real life. But learning how to LEARN, that has helped me immensely!

Dad neglected to think through to the next headline; Ditch digging robots rampage through city.

Given that Lio’s robots tend to run amok or explode, Dad’s being a tad over-optimistic here.Not to mention the angry hoards of laid-off ditch diggers attacking the robot factory…

Ah yes. Dad does indeed know his boy.

A great dad

This reminds me of when I brought home a bad report (every time through the 11th grade) my dad never got angry he just said “Well, the world needs ditch diggers too.” Fortunately I woke up my Senior year and applied myself and ended up on the honor roll that year. In the past 40 years I haven’t had to do an “honest” days work. “Honest” being defined as getting hot and sweaty to earn a living. lol

Even industrial electricians sometimes have to dig ditches by hand

Lio obviously inherited his imagination from Dad!

Because he knows lio can.