The Death Of Shop Class And America's Skilled Workforce

[Slap Stick]

Lessee....no jobs available but reinstating the draft gets you training for....what?

 

[747mopar]

Lessee....no jobs available but reinstating the draft gets you training for....what?

Marksmanship

 

[Darius]

Marksmanship

Respect, responsibility, accountability, work ethic, ALL of the things one is exposed to in shop type classes and the things parents seem to have forgotten are important to teach their kids now days.

 

[steve from staten island]

Respect, responsibility, accountability, work ethic, ALL of the things one is exposed to in shop type classes and the things parents seem to have forgotten are important to teach their kids now days.

Some parents, not all.

 

[funknut]

Shop class and home ec have been long retired from any schools where I grew up. I will say in the last 5 years I have seen the introduction of 3D printing in the schools around here, which has at least provided an avenue for kids to create physical things. The hands-on interaction of designing and creating something with mechanical components that then requires assembly has seemed to spark an interest in other mechanical things as well. My kids have come home from school with some simple but neat 3D printed projects that got them asking questions about how other mechanical things work.

Recently I've had my daughter ask to help when I rewired the basement. My son has replaced wall outlets. Screen time is a massive distraction that I can relate to somewhat (my parents had cable TV and computer games were getting common when I was in high school), but it was a completely different ball game when I was growing up.

My grandfather was a machinist and a child of the depression and WWII. He never threw anything away, and we spent a bunch of time in the shop together on various projects. Mostly repairing old tools, lawnmowers, things like that.

Another problem these days is nothing is built to last. Nearly everything you buy is engineered to fail within a short time, and very few are serviceable. Instead of learning how they work and repairing them, you just toss them in the bin and go buy another. Even repair parts for many major appliances are priced in a way that unless it's a cosmetic or minor repair, you're almost better off buying a new one.

It's an uphill battle. Time will tell if my kids are headed toward a trade or a desk job, but for now it's about teaching them how things work so they can be a bit more self sufficient.

 

[steve from staten island]

The problem is there are few job opportunities for apprentices. Why should you hire an apprentice and train them when you have a dozen experienced journeymen and even masters who have been out of work for extended periods of time showing up looking for jobs and willing to work for less? I have a brother-in-law who is a mechanic and he's told me if you want a job at a shop you better have at least 10 years of experience, multiple certifications, and your own tools. Training is not enough to get a job these days because there are too many experienced folks to hire someone with no experience. This is why a draft makes so much sense. They get the training and the experience.

As for immigrants, you are 100% correct, but let's not forget they are here just as much because of the votes they generate as much as for the cheap labor.

My point exactly! There aren't enough jobs and id say the apprentice ranks are not what they once were. As far as immigrants voting. If there legally here and become citizens then they should vote. Id bet you lunch that most of the ones we see doing construction/ laborer work be it working for a landscaper to busing at a restaurant are not legally qualified to vote.

 

[Kern Dog]

Not every young person has the want or desire to work at a computer terminal all day long. There are some hands on people still around. It's sad that our school system is eliminating these classes.

I have a theory....
Who runs the school system?
Liberals.
Who makes money from the school system?
Liberals.
The only way that Liberals can maintain control is to get more people to join them or become dependent on them. What better way than to indoctrinate them through a system where they are "Educated". If a student shows anything other than Liberal logic, their grades suffer. If the student dares to question their Liberal professors, they are outcast.
You hear teachers and the media telling everyone that they have to go to college. Now you know the dirty secret behind that...

 

[PP1RT]

The responsibility falls back on the parents. If they dont have shop class in school you need to teach them at home. Get some basic woodworking tools and make birdhouses then work up to some simple furniture pieces. Remodel a room in your house. Do a simple electrical project...rewire a lamp or add an outlet to a room. Do a small welding project...if you dont have a welder ask a friend to help using their welder. These kids learn more without their jokester friends around anyway.
It comes down to parenting. It is not the schools job to teach them everything they need to know. It is the PARENTS job.

 

[idrivemopar]

Shop class was awesome!!! Learned how to use a table saw, radial arm saw, planer, joiner, wood lathe, metal lathe, oxy/acetylene torch for welding, how to forge, shape, and harden metal, polish metal and plastic, finishing wood, basic functions of gas engines and systems, planning and costing projects and a whole lot I have forgotten.

This is the cannon I made out of solid brass on a metal lathe, it was fun!

 

[BeeKool]

I was fortunate enough to have the best shop in the state. A former alumni donated a few million $$ in 1980 to fund it.
We had a car hoist, paint booth, wash bay.
An entire set of tools from Snap On, a planer for heads/blocks and a valve grinding setup.
An entire professionalwoodworking section
An entire welding/metallurgy section.

I took every shop class offered.
Small engines, Auto 1&2&3, woods 1&2, welding/ torching/brazing, advanced welding, metals/machining.

I would often cut all of my other classes to spend an entire day swapping a transmission in my Chevelle or replacing a motor in my truck. Many fond memories

My shop teacher is still alive, is a very good man.
He taught me, my older brother and my dad. Spent almost 40 years teaching shop at Alden High School

 

[Z-Man]

Shop class, The only class I ever got A's in. Made a brass cannon that shoots 45 Caleb. musket balls. I think it's illegal to own now.

 

[Z-Man]

Picture of cannon

 

[747mopar]

The responsibility falls back on the parents. If they dont have shop class in school you need to teach them at home. Get some basic woodworking tools and make birdhouses then work up to some simple furniture pieces. Remodel a room in your house. Do a simple electrical project...rewire a lamp or add an outlet to a room. Do a small welding project...if you dont have a welder ask a friend to help using their welder. These kids learn more without their jokester friends around anyway.
It comes down to parenting. It is not the schools job to teach them everything they need to know. It is the PARENTS job.

Your right however what about the kids that have bums for parents, not really right for them to be punished for having worthless parents?

 

[747mopar]

Picture of cannonView attachment 507560

Very cool!

 

[4mayhemi]

It comes down to parenting. It is not the schools job to teach them everything they need to know. It is the PARENTS job.

This^^

There is a quilt-sewing forum somewhere and right now Ethel is ranting about the discontinuation of H.S. sewing class and espousing conspiracy theories on schools about why her grandkids won't be sewing. Its up to Ethel to teach that, and up to her grandkids to take a liking to it. Being good at it and entering a professional sewing trade is another matter.

I'm all for shop classes, but there were about 3/4 of kids in my shop classes that today I wouldn't let them lay a finger on my electrical, auto, drafting, graphics, or woodworking projects.

 

[steve from staten island]

Id bet kids today if given the opportunity would enjoy building something with there hands. Maybe a model, we lived at the bottom of a hill so we'd build these soap box cars. They were as crude as crude could be but we had lots of fun. It was nothing more then a 2x4 with a cutout wood soda crate, a axel off of a baby carriage and you steered with your feet and a rope. We'd build them in a couple of hours then race all day. ----------later on maybe another day we would have one of those volt and a half dry cells, we'd wire them up to bulbs, little electric motors and knife switches we found in our fathers work shops. Spent hours doing that. What do these kids do now? Play video games all day.

 

[Richard Cranium]

What do these kids do now? Play video games all day.

Unfortunately, that's it exactly Steve. Having 3 boys of my own (27, 25 &19), that's all kids want to do today. For the most part, kids just don't play outside anymore. The only kids you see outside are toddlers and up to age 6.

 

[PP1RT]

We didn't have an auto shop teacher in school and my dad is not mechanically inclined but I figured out and learned by working at a shop part time. Needed the money....no hand outs.

Don't buy the kids video games. Don't just hand them cash and send them to the mall. Make em work for everything but help and teach them along the way!

 

[WileE]

I nailed a roller skate onto both ends of a 2x4, nailed a wooden milk crate on one end, and built myself a scooter. Later, disassembled and restored bicycles. Then, worked on nothing but cars till I got married. Self-taught to do plumbing, carpentry, electrical, HVAC, tiling, roofing, landscaping, etc. I never went to trade school. Sometimes, it's just ambition.

 

[drobertson]

I graduated from High School in may of 2016. While in my senior year, there were lots of rumors and claims that a new building would be constructed within 10 years, to replace the old high school. Unfortunately, there was no plan for any vocational courses such as welding, auto, and acriculture.

I look back at this, and am very thankful I was in the right place at the right time, where such classes were available for me. I am forever grateful that I was allowed to bring in my Charger, and bring it back to the streets during class. While other students built lawnmower engines to learn basic engine theory, I rebuilt my 318 (including boring it .040 over, with guidance from the shop instructor) we also rebuilt the 727 auto trans, and I'm sure I could do it again. At the end of my senior year, I had a fun car to drive around and enjoy. If it weren't for auto and welding classes, I'd likely have no interest in these cars, because they're so damned expensive - in running/driving condition.

As luck would have it, we moved and my younger siblings will not have the chance to take shop classes. Because of this, my younger brother practically gave up on fixing his '72 Chevy c20, and bought a gay-*** 2006 Subaru fag-mobile. Because "japanese cars are superior"... I'm sure he'll change his damn mind when the "Dinosaur" is on the road with a 500 cube big block... lol.