They're not, really. 3D printing simply hasn't taken off as promised and society is collapsing all around us anyway.

Plus he is making himself wholly dependent on corporate proprietary software to express thoughts for him, meaning now he cannot speak for himself or articulate his own ideas, leaving him vulnerable to whatever tech giants want.

What happens when Chat GPT starts censoring answers, or making shit up and the teacher catches him? Or he has to use the skills he is supposed to be learning on the fly (which happens all too often, especially critical thinking skills) without access to his workshop? Is he going to carry a 3D printer wherever he goes?

He is really selling himself short by using the few skills he has to get around learning anything else useful. That's the kind of mindset that is going to cause civilization to collapse, prevent progress, allow fascists to take advantage of the fact that he is uneducated to brainwash him, and endanger himself and those he loves.