Schools reviving shop class

The best advice I ever got (after my Kindergarten teacher telling me, "Now young man, you should _never_ pass up the chance to go to the bathroom.") was my shop teacher advising:

>Before hitting the switch on a power tool, slowly count to 10 under your breath to yourself on your fingers, visualizing all the forces involved and planning out the entirety of your movement and how you will be moving the stock/tool, and considering what might go wrong and the results thereof and what will protect you (all guards should be in place and all suitable PPE worn) or where you should be positioned so as to avoid any potential projectile, reminding yourself that you want to be able to repeat that count in the same way when the tool is switched off.

Sawstop wouldn't have a business model if all tablesaw accidents were tried by a jury of shop teachers.

While I was lucky to have shop classes in my school, this curriculum makes me extremely jealous, to be honest. We didn't have neither welding, nor forging, nor working with fiberglass composites nor "big" projects, had to learn it all by myself. Still, those classes taught me the basics of actually doing something with my own hands, which is pretty important.

I also remember that we were trusted to behave like adults in front of heavy machinery like routers, circular saws and lathes. No incidents whatsoever aside from minor cuts, which is normal. We were genuinely interested and behaved accordingly, nobody wanted to get hurt and / or get kicked out of the class

P.S. Not sure of how it works in the US, but we also had "shop classes for girls". The curriculum for those consisted of the basics of cooking, baking and working with fabrics (starting from sewing two pieces together in grade 5 and gradually evolving to designing and sewing clothing for yourself by grade 9). Though, in my opinion, those things shall be taught to everyone, not just girls

Wow, I wish I'd had this.

Closest I got was building theatre sets. But they were some awesome sets, with huge moving parts counterweighted via airline cable and sandbags, and we conceived and designed it all from scratch under very little supervision. Come to think of it I'm sure it wouldn't fly these days (I remember a substitute teacher walking into the gym flabbergasted at one point when I was climbing in the rafters drilling anchor holes for pulleys... the regular guy knew well enough when to be present and when to stay away).

Did a lot of the same in middle school in the late 1970s. Less of the home repair stuff, and no welding or machining.

We used hand tools and small power tools (hand-held drills and sanders), and drill press and scroll saws. Only the teacher could use the table saw, planer, and jointer.

One kid made a muzzle-loading rifle as his project. Can only imagine the hue and cry that would cause today.

I entered junior-high school (as it was then called) in Pasadena, California, in 1969. In seventh grade, all of the boys took four 10-week modules: electricity (make an electric motor), print shop (typesetting by hand and printing with a platen press), wood shop, and drafting (pencils and straightedges). The girls took a year of home economics; my two older sisters learned how to sew in those classes, and one made most of her own clothes when she was in high school.

The next year, the classes were made co-educational, with students choosing which stream to take, but at least in that first year the gender divide remained sharp. I chose to take drafting for all of eighth grade; there was only one girl in the class.

I can’t say that what I learned in those classes paid off for me directly, but I did pick up knowledge and skills that I applied indirectly in my later careers: from printshop for writing and editing work, and from drafting for learning how to use drawing and graphics software.

It would been nice if I had learned how to sew and cook then, too.

i went to middle school starting in ‘98 (7th grade). I used a hand saw, glass cutter, sandblaster, and drill press. That was just a quarter. The second quarter we had home-ec. Stitched and baked and maybe something else. In shop I made a book shelf thing and a nameplate (sandblasted mirror)

In 9th grade I used a jointer and a band saw, built deep bookshelf out of poplar. In 10th grade I built a night stand (used shaper, Joiner, jointer, etc..)

The table saw was off limits in every class I remember, but most the other things were usable. With saw stops available, I think that reduces liability quite a bit.

Also in high school I did drafting and cad (2D and 3D).

Anyway, that was across 3 school districts in two states, and was as recent as 2003 - so it’s not like shop/industrial arts stopped being a thing 40 years ago.

I didn't have access to heavy machinery or welders until high school (14-18), but I was very fortunate to go to a high-school that taught most of the above while I was there in the late 2000s.

The "product design" class (which was really either woodworking or metalworking depending on which stream you ended up in) was definitely my favourite class, and I think the most useful for later life too.

> In today's world, parents (and lawyers) might find it unsafe for boys (very few girls elected to take these classes) but in seven years of shop, I only recall one serious accident involving the loss of a finger tip.

A lot of the danger can be ameliorated by using CNC machines instead of circular saws and hand lathes. Standing 3-6 feet away from the machine when something goes wrong is way better than being 3-6 inches away.

Gantry CNC machines are superior to table saws for almost all sheet goods, anyway.

Sure, the jointer is still kind of dangerous. However, it has a very specialized function and normally you can keep your hands safely away from the blades with various push mechanisms.

> Maybe another aspect missing from schools lacking shop is the sense that you're trustworthy enough to put in front of a potentially lethal machine, a little bit of self worth goes a long way.

I have the distinct memory of this thought crossing my mind during orientation in shop classes. The instructor gave us the rundown of how to be safe and then he actually let us use cool machines without hovering around us every second of the period! The trust involved in that exercise was immense, and even kids who were the class clowns in other classes rose to the occasion and were responsible in shop class.

I can only imagine how important this kind of experience would be for today's kids of the helicopter generation, many of whom would be receiving this type of trust to handle danger like an adult for perhaps the first time in their lives.

This is why Sloyd woodworking is taught in northern European countries:

>Students may never pick up a tool again, but they will forever have the knowledge of how to make and evaluate things with your hand and your eye and appreciate the labor of others.

https://rainfordrestorations.com/category/woodworking-techni...

A slightly different angle could be whether it needs to be school and can't be handled by the town in a different setting for instance.

I grew up in a town that had a community center where kids of my age played in bands, learned crocheting etc. School was boring, but it was short, and it was easy to meet with other kids from other schools, including other towns. Kids doing classical music have the same experience in general I think.

As someone who was shoved and occasionally bullied while operating machines like belt saws... I'm not sure it was worth it.

Perhaps with stop-saw like inventions it could be safer, if the patents ever expire so schools could actually afford them.

We had a metal lathe in our high school shop class. I still can’t believe someone didn’t kill themselves on that. I think wood lathes are fine, but honestly that should be kept out.

I generally agree, young people respond well to responsibility. And whilst it doesn't help me day to day, knowing how the make dovetail joints is one of the things I cherish most from year 10.

Are shop classes mandated by states anywhere? No schools I know offer it. I am not sure if it’s a good or bad thing. I’ve heard of children having accidents in those classes - sometimes not just an accident but the result of other children intentionally harming them. On the other hand, I feel like our society has lost the ability to DIY and do things that are … less online. Maybe shop classes can help with that.

I would create a modern version of Home Economics to teach things the average person should be able to do.

1. Basic cookery. Including how to use the stove top, induction range, microwave, air fryer, stand mixer, and oven. How to choose a refrigerator, dishwasher, and other big ticket appliances.

2. Basic economics and finance. What is taken out of your paycheck e.g., state and federal taxes, social security and Medicare taxes, health insurance premiums, and contributions to 401k etc. How do credit cards work, how do car loans work, and how do mortgages work. Understand the different interest rates they charge. How do medical, auto, and home insurance work. How to file a tax return.

3. Elementary engineering. Basic concepts of how things work and how not to get injured. How electric circuits work (avoid touching the hot wire to something other than the terminal). How the house electrical circuits work. What is the purpose of the breaker panel and the GFCI mini breaker. How fires start and how to put out an oil fire vs regular fire. How to start a wood fire including feather sticks, fire steel, and steel wool & a nine volt battery. How house plumbing work including where does the pee and poo go. How the HVAC, furnace, and mini split work.

4. Basic technology. How to stay safe online. What to do if your credit card or identity is stolen. Password managers, MFA, and passkeys. How to shop for a mobile phone and understand all the fees the carrier will charge. How to use a LLM and ChatGPT.

We called that "Home Ec" (as in "Home Economics") when I was a kid. (I'm an elder millennial.) To be honest, I didn't find it particularly useful, and I think many of the calls for "practical" classes in primary or secondary education miss the mark.

Something like 25% of high school students can’t do basic arithmetic and you want them to budgets and retirement planning? I’m not saying “home ec” (as it was called through the 90s - no idea what happened to it) isn’t potentially useful, only that we might have bigger fish to fry.

As for trade skills, sure, no issue with that.

Civics, ethics, and cooking too. :)

Media (and now social media) awareness and understanding (I was lucky enough to take a course in this, back in... 1989/90)

It is mind-boggling to me that one of the most important numbers in life - the 2% inflation rate target - is not taught to everyone.

It's the financial equivalent of not teaching what temperature water freezes at.

Half of those are things that parents should learn them, and the other half are things most won't ever actually do. Buying an appliance is not a thing you need class for, your parents can take you with them when they're buying one and show you the process... and roofing.. well, let's be fair, most people won't be doing that themselves.

In my small country we have a website where random people can post suggestions for the government, and if it gets enough votes, some PR representative has to look at the suggestion and write a answer.... every few weeks there is a suggestion about how schools should teach kids stuff that their parents should teach them at home... even cooking, cleaning, etc. Have the parents really "failed in life" so much, that they can't even teach the kids to cook and clean and wash, etc.?

Shop class... somewhat understandable, power tools are not realy a thing parents living in apartments in large cities have, so yes, that's beneficial to kids... but other stuff?

drywalling is so far from basic. that shit is so hard

2 of my big safety lessons from elders when I was growing up:

- my Nana always wore her hair up when in the kitchen, she had worked somewhere she saw a woman get scalped by having her long hair pulled into a mixer

- my Dad was wary of synthetic clothing after having seen people in fires have synthetics melt onto their skin (not sure if this was in the Army or growing up in St. Louis)

Might be a clip on tie.

I remember wearing ties but tucking it into the shirt (in between the buttons) and also wearing an apron. Incredibly unsafe to just have a tie on normally around machinery so imagine that is just for the photo op.

hard agree, that might be the end of him if it wasn’t just for a photo op

All the kids had knives and throwing stars when I was that age. The boys anyway. I carried a pocketknife all through middle and high school.