Clueless

I think all high schools should offer classes on automotive mechanics. Whether or not they should be required classes, I'm not sure, but I really wish I would have been able to spend a semester in a class that would have provided me with some basic knowledge on how a car runs. I'm not talking anything too in depth -- just something that teaches young drivers where the different parts of the car are, what things are called, and how the hickymadoodle turns the thingamajig to make it all run. Now that I am an "adult," I find that knowledge of cars is an area in which I am completely and totally lacking.

I took my car for its state inspection today, and of course, as car places always do, they called back with a laundry list of extra things that needed to be done to it aside from what I took it there for. Something about rusty rotors or worn brake pads or fluid exchanging. I don't know. But I do know that as soon as the words "totaling around $485" came out of the lady's mouth, I felt my lack of automotive knowledge become painfully apparent. Of course, I did what I always do with car places, which is pick my jaw up off the floor and tell them that I have to get back to them after I talk to someone else. But then I have to struggle through trying to explain to someone else what I was told so that it makes sense in a way that I can even go about getting a second opinion.

Luckily, my car doesn't actually need what Sears recommended to pass inspection, and Guy's uncle is a mechanic who can give us a less money-grubbing opinion of what truly needs done, but I can't help but wish that I would have had the opportunity in my school days to learn about and understand one of the most critical aspects of my daily life. Thanks for nothing, PTHS.