Cooking class ("Home Economics" ?) was super fun in 8th grade. I loved that class.
I doubt our schools where I am still have it, TBH.
I doubt our schools where I am still have it, TBH.
What happened to “shop class” in schools?
- Thread starter Soapbox Killer
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Yeah we had Tech class. Which, honestly, turned out to be relatively useful. Though, I would love to have learned how to wire a house at some point in my life before adulthood because I am horrified of electrics. Carpentry, cosmetic home renos like flooring, cabinetry etc, that's all pretty logical and straightforward to me. But electrical... I... I don't like wires.
oh yeah and we had Home Ec. That was pretty fun, too, got to eat more food that you learned how to cook. I can (and do!) mend any kind of cloth, now. Don't throw that blouse out, dear, I'll sew it for you! Oops, blew out my jeans again, bust out the patches and sewing kit! I actually really like sewing, and I have Home Ec to thank.
But still, I don't think we had shop class or any woodworking or mechanic stuff.
It's classism ya'll plain and simple
It's cool to know some carpentry and electrical if, and only if, you make your actual living some other way.
I can build cabinets, furniture, install light fixtures, set tile, install solar and battery systems, trim out a house and more.
This shit used to be universal, then we bred it out for sake of "it's someone else's job (someone of less worth)
It's cool to know some carpentry and electrical if, and only if, you make your actual living some other way.
I can build cabinets, furniture, install light fixtures, set tile, install solar and battery systems, trim out a house and more.
This shit used to be universal, then we bred it out for sake of "it's someone else's job (someone of less worth)
80s baby and we had it in high school. Heck, my brother who is a 90s baby had it has well. Salome high school.
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Yeah this is me too with sewing. I used my mom's sewing machine to patch up a favorite pair of jeans which had a gnarley tear in the crotch.
Was curious about my HS. We have a Woodworking 1 and 2 courses (Semesters) and an Advanced Woodworking (Year long) course.
It also looks like they now have a CAD course and some other tech-related ones.
I actually don't see Home Ec on there any more which is surprising.
I took woodworking but i honestly can't recall a lot of what I learned or anything.
I really do think it'd be beneficial for kids to have a course Junior or Senior year to learn more about stuff like taxes/filing and general maintenance tips and information. However a lot of that stuff is easily available online now, especially in Reels/TikTok in easily digestible formats for kids today. (Especially useful as it kind of seems like attention spans have gone down the drain for most)
It also looks like they now have a CAD course and some other tech-related ones.
I actually don't see Home Ec on there any more which is surprising.
I took woodworking but i honestly can't recall a lot of what I learned or anything.
I really do think it'd be beneficial for kids to have a course Junior or Senior year to learn more about stuff like taxes/filing and general maintenance tips and information. However a lot of that stuff is easily available online now, especially in Reels/TikTok in easily digestible formats for kids today. (Especially useful as it kind of seems like attention spans have gone down the drain for most)
I graduated almost 20 years ago, but my high school at all of those things. I was running a bandsaw, 3hp router, and belt sander in 7th grade. I learned how to wire a house in 10th grade. It seems insane looking back that the school would be like "here's a corded hole hawg, an augur bit, needlenose pliers, a hammer and some wire strippers, get at it kid!"
For those who don't know, a hole hawg is a large right angle drill, that,, as a modern cordless solution, has anti-kickback technology but the corded ones back then had no clutch and broke the arms, legs and jaws of many grown-ass men in the last 50 years.
Our high school had automotive repair, welding, etc. Lots of options. I hope it's still like that today, and I don't see why it wouldn't be. It was a small town high school but it seemed pretty well-funded.
For those who don't know, a hole hawg is a large right angle drill, that,, as a modern cordless solution, has anti-kickback technology but the corded ones back then had no clutch and broke the arms, legs and jaws of many grown-ass men in the last 50 years.
Our high school had automotive repair, welding, etc. Lots of options. I hope it's still like that today, and I don't see why it wouldn't be. It was a small town high school but it seemed pretty well-funded.
My kid went to a Career Center for vocational classes. I don't know what all they offered but he went for engineering and there were basically shop classes there. Got him quite a few college credits and introduced him to someone who got him an internship that really interested him during the summer. I like the push to alternate means of further education beyond the college tract.
For those who didn't have these classes growing up- have you found any good outlets for learning those skills as an adult?
I took shop and home ec when I was in middle school. We made letter openers and wooden shelves and candle holders in shop, it wasn't anything like fixing cars or the like.
Home ec was more fun, I made a pair of boxer shorts and a teddy bear and learned how to cook.
Home ec was more fun, I made a pair of boxer shorts and a teddy bear and learned how to cook.
OP
OP
Still have them where I live. The classes are actually not part of a school but the whole district so kids from other schools actually can meet up and take the same classes. They allow high school kids to choose going there as an elective class during the day and during the evenings, adults take classes to learn blue collar jobs.
They not only still exist, there are far more options now.
My daughter is taking agriculture, with the plan to eventually move into archeology. Since she is ahead in all her required courses she also has the opportunity to start college classes at a local college her senior year of high school.
My daughter is taking agriculture, with the plan to eventually move into archeology. Since she is ahead in all her required courses she also has the opportunity to start college classes at a local college her senior year of high school.
Teacher here. They absolutely have declined. Almost disappeared. Most schools are relying on the construction class at the local tech center to take the place of it for anyone interested.
Very much so; the school I used to work at partnered with a local community college to offer a shop class, kids could learn all sorts of trade skills. The school also got a bunch of grants from local businesses to buy state of the art equipment. Over the semester they'd build a small home in the shop so kids could learn about plumbing, electrical, woodworking, etc. This was a school that had an enrollment of about 1200 kids and they had to shut down the program due to lack of interest. I think in the last semester the program was offered they had like six kids, and four of them were there because they needed an elective to fill out their schedule so they couldn't care less about the class.
Interest in trades have declined dramatically, not like it was high when I graduated high school in 2007 but it's even worse these days.
I liked shop class a lot in middle school. I dont remember actually having any options for things like that in high school, and this was back in the 00s.
I wish we learned more. I self taught a lot of home maintenance and car maintenance basics. Would've loved to actually have classes on them.
I wish we learned more. I self taught a lot of home maintenance and car maintenance basics. Would've loved to actually have classes on them.
I wonder what vacancies look like in trade based fields. Feel like there is going to be a lot of money and jobs are going to be super expensive soon enough. As someone that sits all day just typing for work, I actually enjoy the house work that I can do. Mostly electrical and basic woodworking, but its great to truly use my hands for something
It's been years, but I remember not wanting to do shop classes and activities simply because of the amount of dudes involved. I seem to remember being interested in home-ec, but my schedule never really allowed for it. I had to do intro to tech to get into computer classes, but as soon as I was finished I never went back to those shop classes.
Auto was the popular classes for boys. It was in a different building so kids would smoke, or look at girls, or whatever they do on the way over there. It was an excuse to leave the building.
Auto was the popular classes for boys. It was in a different building so kids would smoke, or look at girls, or whatever they do on the way over there. It was an excuse to leave the building.
I took metal shop, wood shop and 3D Art (which was basically just making stuff out of clay or woodwork) in high school and didn't really learn anything from it. Just made crappy rings and bird houses. It was mostly the class that everybody goofed off in to be honest. I think there's a difference between that and actual vocational/trade schools.
My school had so much. I didn't do shop but we did... I don't even know how to describe it... like print shop? We made our own business cards and note pads from scratch using these crazy old looking ink press printer things where you actually lather a dollop of thick ink onto rollers and transfer your design onto a metal sheet or something. Then we used one of those huge digital guillotine paper cutters to slice everything up. then we silkscreened stuff onto tshirts, it was crazy! But first we had to draw our designs and then digitize it in adobe illustrator on Apple eMacs. My first time using OS X, I couldn't believe how mich it felt like decades ahead of XP. I was converted then and there.
I loved all of it. I hope it's all still there.
I loved all of it. I hope it's all still there.
I graduated HS in 2010 and my school had nothing like this. But there were also discussions about cutting extra band programs like Jazz and marching, and art stuff all the way back then. So wouldn't be surprised if this had already been cut sometime before I got there
I took some of these in JR/SR year as I had enough core class credits.
One was a "graphics" class. We got to use a printing press, screen printing, photography, and a few other things I can't recall now. Lot of fun but some of it ended up as free labor for the school lol. We ended up printing flyers for some school functions as well as making t-shirts for some of the clubs and some they sold. Photography was kinda fun as we got to manually develop film in a dark room too.
Also took an electrical class. Learned how to do wiring and a few other tasks. It was taught by the HS football coach so in some ways you could tell he didn't give a shit.
We had some other "shop" classes that I knew of but never took. Know we had woodworking, auto (taught at local Comm College) and a FFA class. Maybe some others I'm forgetting.
This was like 20 years ago tho.
One was a "graphics" class. We got to use a printing press, screen printing, photography, and a few other things I can't recall now. Lot of fun but some of it ended up as free labor for the school lol. We ended up printing flyers for some school functions as well as making t-shirts for some of the clubs and some they sold. Photography was kinda fun as we got to manually develop film in a dark room too.
Also took an electrical class. Learned how to do wiring and a few other tasks. It was taught by the HS football coach so in some ways you could tell he didn't give a shit.
We had some other "shop" classes that I knew of but never took. Know we had woodworking, auto (taught at local Comm College) and a FFA class. Maybe some others I'm forgetting.
This was like 20 years ago tho.
Basically describes how I feel lol. They are useful skills to have but I'd legit rather take up working overtime at an office job and using the extra money I make from that to pay someone else to whatever home improvement thing I need done than to do it myself.
School where I work has auto shop. I hear the teacher has deals with suppliers around town for cheap parts. Then he has the students use said parts to fix up teachers' and friends' cars in exchange for pizza and soda, which he then sells to his own students for cash for more cheap parts.
Highly illegal black market, actually. Anything where money leave's a child's hand into a teacher's has to be documented, approved, and filed six different ways. In triplicate. No way he's doing that.
Highly illegal black market, actually. Anything where money leave's a child's hand into a teacher's has to be documented, approved, and filed six different ways. In triplicate. No way he's doing that.
My school district doesn't even have a foreign language offering anymore. School budgets are stripped so bare in most states that you're lucky if you have a class under 30 for a core subject because there's not enough funding to pay enough teachers. Hell, I manage 16 grade books for separate English classes and run a Yearbook as an extracurricular because there's not enough funding to hire another teacher.
But we have enough money to field about 12 different athletic programs! Priorities.
But we have enough money to field about 12 different athletic programs! Priorities.
i think these days they should create a class called home care where they teach you how to patch up holes in walls and even wire up a plug. many kids these days don't know how to do any of this. even simple stuff like checking your oil in cars would be good to teach.
School I visit has a big ass shop. Had to use a vice in there to vent some sheet metal for a Xerox sensor.
We still have all of that here, and even some more advanced carpentry classes we definitely didn't have when I was a kid. This is a rural town, though, so ag / metal shop and auto shop and woodshop are all things kids either already know how to do (easy A's!) or actually want to learn.
I was excited when I got to college and finally had the opportunity to seek out a class like this myself, since my prior schooling had no such thing. Got to build a bunch of things out of wood using tools that could chop my fingers off, it was fun.
I got banned from Shop going into High School (at my parents request) because they thought I was too careless/clumsy for it. (turns out I was having issues with balance and vision from an allergy to a medicine I was taking) -- it turned into Advanced/ROP Theatre in my school.
Born in 79 here and I had wood shop, home ec, auto, electric, etc in my ordinary high school.
I never took any of the woodworking or metalworking classes, but my HS offered three different cooking classes so I took em all! I also took small engine repair which was one of my most fun classes that year, it barely felt like a class at all. Learned lots of practical skills and was even able to put them to use when our home lawnmower needed some fixing. I also excelled at the drafting course--this was when they did ALL of it with paper and pencil. While I had no interest in actually becoming an architect, I figured it would be useful as someone who liked to draw as a hobby. And it was.
I figured all those sorts of classes were still popular with kids/teens, would be shocked if they were being phased out due to low interest. I would be inclined to believe that many schools probably don't give much of a damn about so-called electives that don't contribute much to test scores, but that's a crying shame and I'd want to move districts immediately if that were happening to my kids.
In a lot of ways, today's kids are learning a lot less of the real world skills they will need in their actual lives than in the past. The entire public education system in the USA needs to be reevaluated for how well it prepares people for their lives.
I figured all those sorts of classes were still popular with kids/teens, would be shocked if they were being phased out due to low interest. I would be inclined to believe that many schools probably don't give much of a damn about so-called electives that don't contribute much to test scores, but that's a crying shame and I'd want to move districts immediately if that were happening to my kids.
In a lot of ways, today's kids are learning a lot less of the real world skills they will need in their actual lives than in the past. The entire public education system in the USA needs to be reevaluated for how well it prepares people for their lives.