<html> <body> Hi Jeannie,             &nbs= p;            I can't resist adding my 2 cents. Having done many hands on training classes, I can give voice to my observations.  The ladies that I have worked with appear to be far more nimble, and accurate than their male counter parts. Certainly in the piano factories they very capably  out shine the men. I have always felt privileged to work alongside the fairer sex.   They are no less and no more in anyway, Just equal. Regards Roger At 05:27 PM 1/22/2006, you wrote: <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite=""> Wim, Not to be confrontational....But, when you make general, sweeping statements about how women do or don’t behave, that IS being sexist!!!  If you were to make the same sort of generalities about a minority group, I think you could see how that would be equally as misguided.   Perhaps the observations you’ve made about your wife, may just have to do with your wife and not all women, as you suggested.  There are many reasons why she may have preferred tuning.  There are many reasons why she may be mechanically challenged...one of which is that the toys and opportunities marketed for girls offer them little in that direction.  I had no brothers and I never got to have all the “cool= ” toys and games that all the boys got.  (At least to me they were way cooler.)  Back then, parents thought they shouldn’t cross over the gender lines with those things.  Changing diapers on baby dolls was the most mechanical thing some of us got to do.  And if you take a stroll down the aisles of Toys R Us, you’ll see that it hasn’t changed all that much.    When young girls are encouraged to have their own tools, build things, fix things, take things apart....they are having some of the basic experiences that begin to develop mechanical reasoning.  At least in this area, things have begun to change.  It is the attitudes of those of us making decisions for young women that still need to change.    I kindly suggest to you, Wim, that you might re-examine your thinking about such things.  Step up to the 21st century.  A lot of us are here!  :>) Respectfully, jeannie   Jeannie Grassi, RPT <a href="mailto:jcgrassi@earthlink.net">mailto:jcgrassi@earthlink.net</a>   <hr> <div align="center"></div> From: caut-bounces@ptg.org [<a href="mailto:caut-bounces@ptg.org" eudora="autourl"> mailto:caut-bounces@ptg.org</a>] On Behalf Of Wimblees@aol.com Sent: Saturday, January 21, 2006 3:36 PM To: caut@ptg.org Subject: Re: [CAUT] Differences?   In a message dated 1/20/2006 10:49:27 P.M. Central Standard Time, jim_busby@byu.edu writes: <dl> <dd>A serious question here; I’ve got thr= ee daughters and a son who have learned to do quite a bit of piano work. The girls all love to do tedious shop work but HATE to tune. The boy loves to tune but doesn’t like shop work all that much. I just thought it was their personalities until I started having students work here at BYU. Seems the same applies. I don’t want to come across as sexist in any way, but I want to understand why. All the female students seem to excel more at the shop skills, but seem to dislike tuning. It seems harder for them than the guys. They seem to be less aggressive and more perfectionists and can hardly stand it if they don’t get it right NOW. There are other teachers besides me so I don’t think my teaching style is to be blamed. I guess the real question is, do women (physically, mentally…) have a harder time learning to tune?? I really want to encourage more women to take up the trade. (Help!) <dd>  <dd>Jim Busby BYU <dd>  </dl>Jim   Women are perfectionist, and they do have a LOT more patience than men. Again, not to be sexist, but that is why they make good secretaries. They catch all the mistakes their male bosses make.   But on the other side of that coin, 20 years ago I taught my wife to tune. She did fine with that, but she is more or less mechanically challenged. She does not do well using tools. So when I tried teaching her regulation and do minor repairs, it just didn't register with her. I think part of the reason is that she didn't do the same thing within a couple of days. I could teach how to do one procedure, but unless she could do it again within a week, she would forget what to do.  I taught her how to do let off on a direct blow action. But when I tried to show her the same thing on a drop action, it didn't register with her. The same with making repairs.   Wim </blockquote></body> </html>