With the nice warm weather, I thought about starting my lawnmower. Then I thought about this picture of a small engine I took in the Randolph FFA shop. Instructor Ed Terry teaches a section on small engines in his Ag Mechanics class. There is a small engines class where students tear apart an engine and put it back together. In this class it is just the basics of maintenance. As Terry put it, "things last a long time with a little maintenance."

I had to laugh as Terry told the story of teaching these students about small engines. Their assignment was to get the engine started. One group of students pulled and pulled and could not get the engine to run. It can be very frustrating when that happens. They finally gave up and asked Terry for help. He asked them to tell him what an engine needs to run. They said a spark, gas and air. They had checked, there was a spark, the air filter was fine and there was gas in the tank. Terry asked whether there was gas getting to the carburetor. When they checked, there was no gas getting to the carburetor because Terry had plugged the line with a small wooden rod!

With another group of students, Terry put a piece of cardboard over the air filter. They could not get their small engine to run either! I am certain that these students will remember this lesson the rest of their lives. When their small engine will not run, the first things they will check is the gas, spark and air. These type of classes in vocational agriculture education are more expensive for high schools than a math class. However, offering good, practical education you can use the rest of your life is important, too!

loading...

 

 

 

More From KDHL Radio