I loved shop classes and woodworking classes…TOOLS!
11 thoughts on “Bring them back now!”
When I was a young jacker the whole world wanted American products . It was the best that man could build . Then in the 70’s the banksters started shipping industry overseas and importing junk back for us to consume . My Grandpa was a mechanic . The 50’s and previous cars were completely rebuildable. Shocks , brakes , generators , starters , horns , engines , trannys , etc . Everything on a 1949 Buick was rebuildable and worth rebuilding . We need to go back and recapture that vision of building the best . I completely disassembled a 47 and 49 John Deere Model “B” tractors and took the best of each part and built one fine tractor . The amazing part of this story is that in this process I did not break off one bolt or nut . Quality and engineering genius throughout .
we have too. there are way too many kids who know nothing about tools or how things work today. the damn peanut man (?) did away with a lot of it with his damn dept, of ed. crap.
My favorite class too. Woodworking and made useful stuff. Also metalworking. Fairly dangerous tools too – wood lathe, metal brake, power saws. Do they still have that anywhere? I’m thinking the lousy stinkin lawyers killed that shit off a long time ago.
Shop class doesn’t fit in the niche that receives federal funding. Neither does band or music. Whaddya know, two subjects that require precision of numbers in order to work right or sound right. New math doesn’t work in marching band or trying to build straight cabinets. If you know your way around a manual lathe or a table saw, you’re gonna have a leg up on the rest of society.
as the dollar became worth nothing under Dick Nixon (who took us off the gold standard and it then took two dollars to buy the same produce that just the day before cost only one dollar) and good machinists wanted higher wages to feed their families (and blacks – yes,even back then – were being convinced that they were being treated like slaves), the media convinced the general public that they could get the “same” product for far less money made by cheaper overseas labor (because rapacious unions)
and the Vietnamese communists bought the media who convinced us that we should be ashamed of being an American
Should I go on?
In the early 70’s Basic Industrial Arts was a staple for high school boys and girls although the girls were more inclined to choose Home-EC. Drafting, electronics, woodshop and metal were the 4 quarters for the year. From there, you could go on to full year courses in any one of the four. Learned more about life from all those elective courses than anything else the high school had to offer. Looking back, i sure did spend a lot of time there.
My HS had dropped everything but woodshop by then – I offered to teach Basic Electricity/Electronics in my Senior year but didn’t realize you needed a Teaching Certificate to do so. I could have easily done so, by my Sophomore Year I was fixing/rebuilding color TV’s (back when you COULD!)
Took me many years later and working for Keytronic as a tester and later a Machine Controls Engineer to work closely with a Master Mold Maker machinist who was a freakin’ genius with metal. Can’t do welding, but I bet I could after a week of instruction, simply because I understand metal and heat control. The niceties come after DOING it for a while…
Auto mechanics I was REAL familiar with, having been doing 1/4 mile racing and rebuilding what I blew up…
Me, my wife, and children are originally from California. I was from SoCal and my wife was from the Silicon Valley. I had shop in elementary school in the 60s and could have picked either a mechanical or car mechanical field in HS or the pre-college field in HS and this was in the early 70s to 75 when I graduated HS. I picked college as I went to UCLA and took Electrical Engineering and it was a good choice as I met my wife at college.
I later ended up on the East Coast due to business and my sons went to middle and HS through Loudoun County VA from 97-05. Both me and my wife had issues with the teachers, the admin, and the school board as they did not teach properly and we could not get LCPS to correct them. Me and my wife ended up tutoring our sons in all classes and bringing them up to speed in things that were not taught.
When my sons graduated each chose not to go to college but to different Trade Schools. This was less then half a year of college and they are making around 6 figures a year, have houses, cars, and good bank accounts. Both are in their 30s and one is married with a family.
God Bless Mike Rowe and your family.
My son took agriculture class his senior year and fell in love with mechanics ( always had an interest even as a toddler. Received an academic award for small engines complete with a gold pin to wear on his graduation gown. Starts auto mechanics this fall at the local community college. Because he is small engine certified he can go straight in the program and skip the English and algebra. 3 semesters and he will be employed. It’s basically an apprenticeship at local dealerships. Through word of mouth he already has 3 offers at high end mechanics shops.
In 1980, I started teaching Jr High Industrial Arts. By 1985, my state had removed the requirement for all 7th graders to take either I.A. or Home Ec. I was the last shop teacher at 3 schools over 3 years, then re-certified to teach Jr Hi science. I tried to keep the science labs as active as possible, but no way did they get the hands on experience of a shop.
When I was a young jacker the whole world wanted American products . It was the best that man could build . Then in the 70’s the banksters started shipping industry overseas and importing junk back for us to consume . My Grandpa was a mechanic . The 50’s and previous cars were completely rebuildable. Shocks , brakes , generators , starters , horns , engines , trannys , etc . Everything on a 1949 Buick was rebuildable and worth rebuilding . We need to go back and recapture that vision of building the best . I completely disassembled a 47 and 49 John Deere Model “B” tractors and took the best of each part and built one fine tractor . The amazing part of this story is that in this process I did not break off one bolt or nut . Quality and engineering genius throughout .
we have too. there are way too many kids who know nothing about tools or how things work today. the damn peanut man (?) did away with a lot of it with his damn dept, of ed. crap.
My favorite class too. Woodworking and made useful stuff. Also metalworking. Fairly dangerous tools too – wood lathe, metal brake, power saws. Do they still have that anywhere? I’m thinking the lousy stinkin lawyers killed that shit off a long time ago.
Shop class doesn’t fit in the niche that receives federal funding. Neither does band or music. Whaddya know, two subjects that require precision of numbers in order to work right or sound right. New math doesn’t work in marching band or trying to build straight cabinets. If you know your way around a manual lathe or a table saw, you’re gonna have a leg up on the rest of society.
as the dollar became worth nothing under Dick Nixon (who took us off the gold standard and it then took two dollars to buy the same produce that just the day before cost only one dollar) and good machinists wanted higher wages to feed their families (and blacks – yes,even back then – were being convinced that they were being treated like slaves), the media convinced the general public that they could get the “same” product for far less money made by cheaper overseas labor (because rapacious unions)
and the Vietnamese communists bought the media who convinced us that we should be ashamed of being an American
Should I go on?
In the early 70’s Basic Industrial Arts was a staple for high school boys and girls although the girls were more inclined to choose Home-EC. Drafting, electronics, woodshop and metal were the 4 quarters for the year. From there, you could go on to full year courses in any one of the four. Learned more about life from all those elective courses than anything else the high school had to offer. Looking back, i sure did spend a lot of time there.
My HS had dropped everything but woodshop by then – I offered to teach Basic Electricity/Electronics in my Senior year but didn’t realize you needed a Teaching Certificate to do so. I could have easily done so, by my Sophomore Year I was fixing/rebuilding color TV’s (back when you COULD!)
Took me many years later and working for Keytronic as a tester and later a Machine Controls Engineer to work closely with a Master Mold Maker machinist who was a freakin’ genius with metal. Can’t do welding, but I bet I could after a week of instruction, simply because I understand metal and heat control. The niceties come after DOING it for a while…
Auto mechanics I was REAL familiar with, having been doing 1/4 mile racing and rebuilding what I blew up…
Me, my wife, and children are originally from California. I was from SoCal and my wife was from the Silicon Valley. I had shop in elementary school in the 60s and could have picked either a mechanical or car mechanical field in HS or the pre-college field in HS and this was in the early 70s to 75 when I graduated HS. I picked college as I went to UCLA and took Electrical Engineering and it was a good choice as I met my wife at college.
I later ended up on the East Coast due to business and my sons went to middle and HS through Loudoun County VA from 97-05. Both me and my wife had issues with the teachers, the admin, and the school board as they did not teach properly and we could not get LCPS to correct them. Me and my wife ended up tutoring our sons in all classes and bringing them up to speed in things that were not taught.
When my sons graduated each chose not to go to college but to different Trade Schools. This was less then half a year of college and they are making around 6 figures a year, have houses, cars, and good bank accounts. Both are in their 30s and one is married with a family.
God Bless Mike Rowe and your family.
My son took agriculture class his senior year and fell in love with mechanics ( always had an interest even as a toddler. Received an academic award for small engines complete with a gold pin to wear on his graduation gown. Starts auto mechanics this fall at the local community college. Because he is small engine certified he can go straight in the program and skip the English and algebra. 3 semesters and he will be employed. It’s basically an apprenticeship at local dealerships. Through word of mouth he already has 3 offers at high end mechanics shops.
In 1980, I started teaching Jr High Industrial Arts. By 1985, my state had removed the requirement for all 7th graders to take either I.A. or Home Ec. I was the last shop teacher at 3 schools over 3 years, then re-certified to teach Jr Hi science. I tried to keep the science labs as active as possible, but no way did they get the hands on experience of a shop.