Another wood shop program bites the dust

[twistsol]

Our school eliminated the position of our wood shop teacher last week. We lost home economics a couple of years ago and I think metal shop has been gone a long time but I don't know for sure. We still have small engine and agriculture classes, but I wonder how long those will last.

What are our kids going to do for the basic everyday skills that they'll need? Do any of you still have industrial arts programs in your public schools or are they under the knife like ours? Do/did you, as a parent, try pass along these skills to your kids and how successful have you been?

[DLyon]

I am 36 and very few of my friends have any mechanical aptitude. Guess I was lucky growing up with a father that could teach me these things.

[Hellrazor]

Shops are a thing of the past. Our Middle School dropped the metal shop program 8 or 9 years ago and wood about 5 years ago. Our new High School was built with a wood shop only 5 years ago. He said he is down to 4 wood shop classes next year and he is teaching an engineering type class for the other periods. My guess is the wood shop will close either next year or the following year in order to add another engineering classroom. They have a laser engraver, modeler, etc in the engineering classes.

The only way they are going to learn about tools is to take classes at vo-tech.

[cwithboat]

What are our kids going to do for the basic everyday skills that they'll need?

It is not only skills, but a basic awareness of how the world works. In jr. high I took both wood and metal shops. In wood shop I used a lathe to make a bowl. I have never used a lathe since, but the use of the lathe taught me some very important facts about safety. In metal shop I made something out of copper which involved heating the metal. Somehow some solder got in contact with the copper making a mess. Gee, how about that! Things can behave a lot differently when they are hot than cold.
Elimination of what I would call life experience classes(art, music, shop) in schools has been accompanied by "teacher days" crowding the schedule.

At this point I will stop because I might start mentioning performance review, which would be political.

[Hellrazor]

You guys see how the world is changing. 30-40 years ago everyone tried to do all of their own work. Today everyone calls a contractor to do the work. 30-40 years ago everyone lived in a humble house and today everyone is looking at small mansions.

One group lived within their means and the other is dependant on credit cards. I bet my credit card company hates me. I charge at least 10-12k a year, pay it off on the first bill and collect the 1-2% kickbacks. They loose $$ on me.

[RobC]

I am 36 and very few of my friends have any mechanical aptitude. Guess I was lucky growing up with a father that could teach me these things.

I'll second that! I'll be 39 in a few weeks and when I was growing up I didn't have the opportunity to take shop where I grew up (I went to Catholic schools, which is a whole 'nother set of issues... ) but I hung out with my Dad and I actually absorbed a few things while being a little PITA! A lot of my friends and peers have no mechanical abilities whatsoever. They are amazed at what I do in my house and the projects I build, which are mostly carpentry related as opposed to finer woodworking.

On a happy note, my three year old daughter is completely enamored with my tools and wanted nothing more for Christmas last year than her own set of safety glasses and a power drill so she could work with Daddy. Which of course, I made sure she got... I'm looking to see if her public schools offer any sort of shop classes, which I will encourage when the time comes.

[Russianwolf]

My Psudo-Son-in-law doesn't even know how to change the spark plugs on a car, or change the oil. I'm still trying to figure out why he isn't interested in learning this stuff.

[182much]

schools

Makes you wonder where all the "lotto" money is going.
Here in California the Gov. is wanting to use future Lotto money to bail out the deficit.

I thought all this money was going to the schools, but by all the spending cuts, these $$$$ must be going into somebody's pocket

[Rand]

One group lived within their means and the other is dependant on credit cards. I bet my credit card company hates me. I charge at least 10-12k a year, pay it off on the first bill and collect the 1-2% kickbacks. They loose $$ on me.

First of all let me commend you for not carrying credit card debt. I do the exact same thing as you. I use a divident Mastercard and pay it in full every month.

Don't worry about the poor credit card company losing money on you though. Everytime you buy something with your card the merchant pays a transaction fee. The cash you get back is just a piece of that fee.
Some gas stations around here are now charging 10 cents less per gallon if you pay cash.

[stormdog74]

Makes you wonder where all the "lotto" money is going.
Here in California the Gov. is wanting to use future Lotto money to bail out the deficit.

I thought all this money was going to the schools, but by all the spending cuts, these $$$$ must be going into somebody's pocket

The schools get more money thing was a "promise" made to get the lottery passed, but opponents said that when hard times hit, the schools would take a hit on their normal funding because "they have lottery money" - and that is exactly what happened.

[stormdog74]

I think a lot of it is that shop classes don't sound impressive to most parents who want to think all of their kids will become doctors, engineers, etc. This is why many schools are pushing to teach "higher math" classes, such as calculus - it sounds good, but most students are not ready for it, and it is therefore "dumbed down", so that when they go to college most test two courses below their last high school class. But it makes the parents proud to say their kid is in "calculus".

[BobSch]

Don't worry about the poor credit card company losing money on you though. Everytime you buy something with your card the merchant pays a transaction fee. The cash you get back is just a piece of that fee.
Some gas stations around here are now charging 10 cents less per gallon if you pay cash.

I recently heard an interview with a station owner. He gets 16¢ a gallon (more than most) and the CC company takes 2-3% of the ever-growing retail price. As he said, if you don't have service bays or a quick shop, you're not going to be in business long.

[rnelson0]

My Psudo-Son-in-law doesn't even know how to change the spark plugs on a car, or change the oil. I'm still trying to figure out why he isn't interested in learning this stuff.

I suspect from your tone that your SIL doesn't do a lot of other things, but in his defense, have you looked under the hood of a modern car? I've changed my alternator, distributor cap, sparkplugs etc. when I was younger, but I wouldn't think of it these days. Too much car-specific knowledge required plus electronic crap to get in the way. Heck, if I change the oil myself, I can't make the "Check Oil" light go off because I don't have the computer module. For me, it's worth it to pay someone else to do those kinds of chores.

Plus, it gives me more time in the shop.

[Rslaugh]

.....I bet my credit card company hates me. I charge at least 10-12k a year, pay it off on the first bill and collect the 1-2% kickbacks. They loose $$ on me.

Don't worry - they're doing just fine on your account. They're collecting more than the 2% from most of the merchants who accepted your card.

My wife opened a small vintage fashion shop last year and thought she had to accept credit cards. I said let's see what happens. She's maybe lost 3 sales because she only accepts cash or checks. Because she's small the processing company would get over 3% plus monthly fees.

Back on topic... I was riding with my step grandson last week who's in 9th grade. I asked him if they still had shop classes. He said what's that? I explained and he replied no but they did have a "practical life skills" class where among other things they spent a couple of weeks with MS Flight Simulator and a couple more on GPS's plus 4 other things that seemed equally fluffy. I'm surprised one of them wasn't learning how to program a universal remote control.

The guys who work for me think i'm nuts for everything I'm doing on the house. They hire contractors to do major things like interior painting.

....Heck, if I change the oil myself, I can't make the "Check Oil" light go off because I don't have the computer module. ....

As I was about to comment to just disconnect the battery my thick head realized you were making a funny. Must be that getting older thing.

[os1kne]

I agree that schools dropping shop and home economics classes will have serious repercussions in our society (it probably already has). Large-scale product manufacturing has been on a downhill slide for decades and that can't be a good thing.

~25 years or so ago, when I was in Jr. High school, I had wood shop, metal shop, cooking and sewing. At the time, it didn't seem very practical to me. My family moved just as I was going into High school, so my brother that is 2 years younger didn't have those classes.

My dad is very handy with automotive and home repair issues. I would often help him with all sorts of projects while my brother watched television.

Today, I'm more handy than most guys (still not as handy as my dad, but that's ok). I'm constantly working on various home improvement projects, while my brother is wishing and waiting for when either my dad or I have a chance to help him out with anything that's more difficult than painting. I can cook, not gourmet, but well enough to get by. If I need to hem a pair of pants or sew on a button, it might not be pretty but it'll do.

Anyway, before long we're going to be a society of people that can't do much of anything but spend money paying other people to do the most basic things.