Posted on 07/26/2023 12:25:01 PM PDT by CFW
As school funding became a matter of standardized test scores in reading and math, the budget tightened for classes that taught woodworking and printmaking. From the 1990s to the early 2010s, students took fewer credits in shop class — or as it is now called, Career Tech Education — according to data from the National Center of Education Statistics.
Instead, the priority turned toward securing students spots in four-year degree programs.
But with more job openings in the trades and more questions around the value of a four-year college degree, high schools are turning their attention back to equipping the next generation with hands-on technical skills.
In 2015, 125 CTE-related policies were approved across 39 states, according to the Association for Career and Technical Education — boosting funding for CTE programs was one of the top categories of those policies.
And during the 2016-2017 school year, 98% of public school districts offered CTE to high school students, though the types of programs varied widely, according to the Department of Education. That comes after a years-long lull period, which means many high schoolers missed out and only discovered opportunities in the trades years after graduation. But as demand for trade labor grows, so too does the focus on CTE in high schools.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
Yeah, it isn’t easy.
That’s why I said...”get control of your school boards”, in my OP.
Enjoyable thread - thanks for posting it.
Nice. We used to be normal.
I’m not certain what happened…
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I’m not sure what happened either, but I’m sick of it.
Nice. Was it in alternating light and dark wood?
Same. I’m largely checking out of certain parts of life so I don’t stroke out from anger…
Yeah, it isn’t easy.
That’s why I said...”get control of your school boards”, in my OP.
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Its a very good opinion, but like you acknowledge it takes work and isn’t easy.
Another factor the liberals on the “non partisan” school board have going for them, is those elections are always in the Spring after the big elections in November.
They’re low turnout elections that benefit the liberal status quo in the education sector. Current and retired people involved in the education system are the ones that vote.
Best news all day.
I’m not afraid to tear apart a lawn mower thanks to Ag. class.
I would try on an old lawnmower, but new ones seem to be crap.
At least the ones I’ve seen.
My cousin has a refrigerator that’s from the 1950’s and still works perfect.
Everything is cheap crap now. (Not Pelosi level fridges)
Thanks for the details. The basic shop classes in woodworking and welding would be much more rewarding than social studies and the history classes they teach today. Our high school dropped college prep typing which would have many my life easier.
I might have never graduated from college if I would have had to take a foreign language. Today it is required. However, compound interest calculations play a much greater role in most college graduates’ life than a foreign language, but knowing how to calculate an installment payment is not required for a college degree. Insanity.
Got ya beat. Still have mine from 1981.
I couldn’t use power tools at 6 years old. :)
I did finger paint though.
I had mandatory shop classes in junior high way back in the early 1950’s. Learned how to operate a lathe and many other machines. I also worked construction during summers when in college. I learned how to do everything. Never had to hire a carpenter, electrician, plumber, or any other craftsman my entire life.
Also, for two weeks of the school year, we had to take home economics and the girls had to take shop. Made great cookies in the home ec class.
Yep. Oak and walnut.
Nice, same.
Had to rip and plane the strips with handsaw and handplane.
“home economics for girls.”
I still make tuna and noodle casserole, and coffee cake, from recipes in Home Ec in the ‘60s.
I was monitored because “I don’t want to have to call your mother”.
To be fair, I am dangerous to myself…
News a couple years ago showed a wood shop class at one of the local high schools, primarily AA. The kids they showed had no idea how to use a hammer or saw. My dad taught me such things.....must be tough growing up without a dad.
““Why do you listen to a shop teacher missing fingers?” - Tim Allend”
in 7th grade we had a science teacher who indeed had cut off a finger on the bandsaw in woodshop ... every once in a while we’d call him at home and ask him if that finger was still missing ... we were BAAADDDD WIDDLE KIDS ... for real ...
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