eclark1894
Visionary
Someone just told me something that I had a hard time believing. When did schools do away with Metal and Wood shop classes? Are Auto shop classes gone too?
-
Welcome to the Community Forums at HiveWire 3D! Please note that the user name you choose for our forum will be displayed to the public. Our store was closed as January 4, 2021. You can find HiveWire 3D and Lisa's Botanicals products, as well as many of our Contributing Artists, at Renderosity. This thread lists where many are now selling their products. Renderosity is generously putting products which were purchased at HiveWire 3D and are now sold at their store into customer accounts by gifting them. This is not an overnight process so please be patient, if you have already emailed them about this. If you have NOT emailed them, please see the 2nd post in this thread for instructions on what you need to do
WAYYY OT--Where's Shop Class????
- Thread starter eclark1894
- Start date
seachnasaigh
Energetic
You're not allowed to be a boy anymore, Earl. They drug boys to keep them from behaving like boys.
And why teach something useful like auto mechanics and woodworking when there is important social justice indoctrination to be done?
And why teach something useful like auto mechanics and woodworking when there is important social justice indoctrination to be done?
Interesting question Earl. I've not been in daily contact with anyone who has children in that age bracket where it came up in conversation in years, but I do have one friend whose son is turning 12 next month, and though she lives about an hour's drive from here, I'm going to ask her next time I speak to her. I remember the workshops for boys, and cooking classes for girls, back when I was in high school, but it's been so long, I have no idea whether they teach those types of classes anymore.
Now-a-days I wouldn't be surprised if those classes were replaced by tech classes (hardware and software). My same friend's son is extremely interested in creating computer games, and I think a lot of children his age (girls and boys) are more interested in anything tech than learning, for instance, how to make a toy train out of wood. I'm currently taking a Maya class, and my project this week is modeling a toy train, and there are a good many younger students in this, and my Blender class, than you would think, some of them as young as 11 years old.
If schools have stopped teaching wood, metal and cooking classes, it's probably because of the lack of (or minimal) interest in them.
Now-a-days I wouldn't be surprised if those classes were replaced by tech classes (hardware and software). My same friend's son is extremely interested in creating computer games, and I think a lot of children his age (girls and boys) are more interested in anything tech than learning, for instance, how to make a toy train out of wood. I'm currently taking a Maya class, and my project this week is modeling a toy train, and there are a good many younger students in this, and my Blender class, than you would think, some of them as young as 11 years old.
If schools have stopped teaching wood, metal and cooking classes, it's probably because of the lack of (or minimal) interest in them.
eclark1894
Visionary
I took Home Ec because I was made to. Metal shop actually scared me a bit. But wood shop, except for using the band saw, was pure fun.
The school I worked at until recently had ALL the kids, boys and girls, doing technology (including electronics, soldering and some machine tools) and carpentry. Pretty sure they still do, but I don't work there any more. Mind you, that is a) in the UK (where many schools don't have facilities to do those subjects), and b) a private boarding school.
Oh we had a couple of girls who took woodworking classes back when I was in junior high school, and a couple of the boys were in my cooking classes. However, I don't recall any in my sewing classes. Not surprising with the second class, as we created our graduation dresses in that class.I took Home Ec because I was made to. Metal shop actually scared me a bit. But wood shop, except for using the band saw, was pure fun.
That said, there's a boy who lives in this building who's probably a sophomore or junior in high school who's been taking cooking classes, and wants to continue studying to be a chef. He usually cooks something delicious for our annual holiday party every year, well at least for the past 3 years.
Auto shop has become obsolete these days, with all the computers and electronics in cars these days and needing special equipment to do diagnostics on the engine, and the various car companies being reluctant to share puts the price of that equipment out of the range of most schools to afford. There also isn't as much interest in such classes because kids aren't as interested.
When I was still working at a school, I was finding that it wasn't that kids weren't interested in the subject-matter, its that they weren't interested in a formal class structure and they also didn't necessarily want to publicise an interest in something if they weren't certain of the interest of their peers. If you asked the kids to sign up and show up at a particular time, you'd get nobody. If you set up outside the building entrance at break time (recess) with something opened up and tools around, you'd get a whole crowd wanting a go.
Yeah because it goes from being a "shop" class to being just something to goof around with during break or before/after school.
Bonnie2001
Extraordinary
The secondary schools run by the state over here all have metalwork and woodwork classes, and for both girls and boys. The church schools don't have those classes, I don't know why not.
McGyver
Energetic
Both my daughters have had "shop" classes... In 6th & 7th grade... But it's kind of a combo of wood, metal and some tech...
They call it "Technologies" classes. For some weird reason they won't have it in 8th grade next year. But they can take it in high school.
I don't know anyone who's kids have had auto shop classes... I think after the 80s they faded away in most regular schools.
Probably a lot of it has to do with liability and cost of materials and upkeep... Think of the cost of parts now... When I took auto shop in the early 80s, an alternator cost about $30 for a regular old 60s-70s car... Now an old car is early 00s and an alternator is around $200 or more.
A lot of schools in this country can't afford paper let alone cars and equipment for kids to work on.
On Long Island I don't think anyone still does auto shop, but in NYC some of the specialty tech High Schools still have them though.
As far as I know, Aviation High School in Sunnyside Queens (the neighborhood where they shot the first "Amazing Spider-Man" movie) actually still has two planes and a helicopter...
When I was a kid I was so envious of my friend who went there.
Some of the stuff my kids did in shop has been pretty cool, but most of the tools and machines they already knew how to use, as I've been showing them how to fix and make stuff since they were tiny.
One is really good with using a fire extinguisher too.
They call it "Technologies" classes. For some weird reason they won't have it in 8th grade next year. But they can take it in high school.
I don't know anyone who's kids have had auto shop classes... I think after the 80s they faded away in most regular schools.
Probably a lot of it has to do with liability and cost of materials and upkeep... Think of the cost of parts now... When I took auto shop in the early 80s, an alternator cost about $30 for a regular old 60s-70s car... Now an old car is early 00s and an alternator is around $200 or more.
A lot of schools in this country can't afford paper let alone cars and equipment for kids to work on.
On Long Island I don't think anyone still does auto shop, but in NYC some of the specialty tech High Schools still have them though.
As far as I know, Aviation High School in Sunnyside Queens (the neighborhood where they shot the first "Amazing Spider-Man" movie) actually still has two planes and a helicopter...
When I was a kid I was so envious of my friend who went there.
Some of the stuff my kids did in shop has been pretty cool, but most of the tools and machines they already knew how to use, as I've been showing them how to fix and make stuff since they were tiny.
One is really good with using a fire extinguisher too.
eclark1894
Visionary
I never actually took auto shop in school, although I had a couple of friends who did. I did do a lot of the work on my car myself. Up until I got too old and cars got too sosphiticated.
Rokket
Dances with Bees
We didn't have auto shop, but I did take a class where we had to take apart and repair a two stroke engine. That class served me well because I brought in the old man's lawn mower engine to work on. I made a lot of money with that mower...
We had wood shop, too. 7th and 8th grade you were not allowed to use power tools. From what I understand, both of those classes as well as any art or music class is now gone from the curriculum due to budget cuts and a shrinking population in the town I grew up in.
We had wood shop, too. 7th and 8th grade you were not allowed to use power tools. From what I understand, both of those classes as well as any art or music class is now gone from the curriculum due to budget cuts and a shrinking population in the town I grew up in.
Bet ya the sports teams are still going strong though. That's my biggest pet peeve about the cuts in schools. Sports, which are after school electives, are protected while the arts are being cut left and right because they serve no purpose, supposedly. We have great artists, singers, and musicians, not to mention conductors because of the arts, where would we be if the arts had been cut before John Williams graduated? I'm sure the iconic sounds of the Original Star Wars movies would be much different and maybe not rememberable at all.
Yes I consider shop a part of the arts.
Yes I consider shop a part of the arts.
Rokket
Dances with Bees
Actually, the sports programs are dying out too. I am not sure what the level is below B as far as school size, but there used to be 3 schools in 3 different locations: K-3 in one town, 4-6 in another town, and 7-12 in the middle. Now they are down to 2 schools, and will soon close a second one. My brother's graduating class was the largest one to ever graduate from there, and it was only 45 students. My class was 35. I graduated in 1985, and the town was dying out then...
The shop classes were mandatory at Jr High level for boys in my day, and homemaking was mandatory for girls. Both of those, and Auto Shop, were optional elective classes in High School. But once again, mostly for boys or for girls. They didn't let girls take shop classes. I don't think they actively bared boys from homemaking classes, but you would rarely find a boy who would have signed up for any of those anyway.
And I wouldn't be surprised to hear that, yes, they are no longer being offered as a routine requirement. They may all be properly regarded as "life skills" in that they teach kids the proper use of the tools, but what they were classified as was "vocational training".
The schools' purpose is to train the future workforce. It's no longer expected that most of the students are going to spend their life working in factories. And while it would be nice to keep the classes, the equipment is expensive and schools have a finite budget.
And I wouldn't be surprised to hear that, yes, they are no longer being offered as a routine requirement. They may all be properly regarded as "life skills" in that they teach kids the proper use of the tools, but what they were classified as was "vocational training".
The schools' purpose is to train the future workforce. It's no longer expected that most of the students are going to spend their life working in factories. And while it would be nice to keep the classes, the equipment is expensive and schools have a finite budget.
ockham
Member
A lot of the technical stuff was specialized into tech schools starting in the '60s. Community colleges are now doing an outstanding job of training people for REAL jobs, and many of them have arrangements to overlap part of the last year or two of high school. This works better than the wood shop and metal shop courses I took a long time ago, which were pointless.
Ordinary schools should be offering a course in running a household. Handling money, dealing with neighbors, when to call the cops, washing dishes, basic cooking, mousetraps, unclogging a drain. Some of these things were in home ec in the old days, but everybody needs these skills.
Ordinary schools should be offering a course in running a household. Handling money, dealing with neighbors, when to call the cops, washing dishes, basic cooking, mousetraps, unclogging a drain. Some of these things were in home ec in the old days, but everybody needs these skills.
Some form of a "Life Skills" course is definitely needed. Because you really can't count on the kids being actually *taught* the material by their parents. And, I suspect that some things do come better from a 3rd party, anyway. Much like Driver's Ed and the mandatory Health and Safety class which was around 9th grade. All things considered, that was probably a reasonable age to take it.
All of those could probably be combined into one course and spread over a couple of years.
All of those could probably be combined into one course and spread over a couple of years.
They do Life Skills classes in several schools in the UK, although I don't know whether they are mandatory. Some schools even have realistic (electronic) baby dolls that the kids (both girls and boys) take home for a day and have to care for properly, dolls which record how they are handled and so on. Other schools run business awards, where the kids set up a (real) business- often with a mentor from a local firm- raise money by selling shares, and run it for a set amount of time (such as a year) before winding it up and distributing dividends, then present the whole experience to a judging panel who give awards to the best. I suspect neither of these are common to everywhere in the country, unfortunately.
I'd certainly agree that things like handling bank accounts, tax, budgeting and so on ought to be covered at school for those kids who won't cover them at home.
I'd certainly agree that things like handling bank accounts, tax, budgeting and so on ought to be covered at school for those kids who won't cover them at home.