Education

I was wandering about the school today, particularly the student parking lot, when I noticed something that I had noticed earlier, a hole in the chain-link fence. Several years ago, a tree had fallen on that fence and the custodian at the time had used a piece of chain-link to patch the hole. Some industrious students had re-opened the hole so they could sneak out of the back of the school, for the pleasures of the local convenience stores and the city park.

I decided that the thing to do was to patch the hole. The educational system frowns on the students skipping class, and that corner is hard to watch. So, this afternoon on my way home from work, I stopped at the local hardware store. This store caters to the suburban home owner, but I took the chance that they'd have what I needed.

"I'm looking for some hog ring pliers."

The guy didn't know what to think, but we went to the tool aisle and in short order found a hog ring plier, made by Decker. Then I told the guy I needed some hog rings.

"All we've got is shoat rings. Will that do?" So, we've got this kid working in a hardware store that doesn't understand what a shoat might be. I explained it to him. Then, I demonstrated how the pliers and the ring work together by clamping one of the shoat rings on a parts rack.

Then, I had to explain to the checkout girl what a hog ring tool does, and what a shoat might be. A couple of customers listened with interest. I have done my part to educate the suburban population on the proper application of a hog ring.

Tomorrow, the new custodian and I will fix that fence. I bet he's never heard of a hog ring either.