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 ...
I think any of us with curiosity and inventiveness have been targeted as what is now called, “domestic terrorists”.
I would not want to be a child in today’s environment!
Agreed. I was talking to my barber yesterday about how I don’t get our society anymore.
After graduation, he went on to the Hobart Institute of Welding Technology. That was a 9 month, full time trade school in Ohio.
Following graduation, job offers came pouring in
It all goes back to Jimmah Carter and the Department of Education, a pay-off to the teachers’ union.
The public school system is a sham. It is an indoctrination center for the Socialist/Communist movement.
By the way, a socialist is a communist without the gun.
My dad used to call me the “woodbutcher”
I think the people who knock trades are the people who are also not mechanically inclined themselves.
My son is really smart. Exceptionally good at math, science and computers(like almost all younger folks). He is NOT very good mechanically. Same with my younger brother and one older brother.
I have always been good at designing and building things. My personality type(from profile tests) is Creative Perfectionist. This makes me good a things like designing and building furniture. However, I would not make a good house framer because I am TOO SLOW.
I like it.
I’m more intellectually inclined than mechanical, which is why I’m a designer and not a linemen.
Being accident prone is a bad thing as a linemen.
I enjoyed some of the hands on work I did in University though.
There’s something to visual completion of a task.
I think the other main reason WHY so many schools eliminated shop class was LIABILITY.
I was in wood shop class in 1979 when one of my other classmates sawed about half way through his right index finger with the 20” band saw. The fact was he had smoked pot during lunch and was stoned.
Shop tools are very dangerous. I have had pieces hit my safety glass and would potentially be blind IF I was not wearing them. Accidents happen. They are more likely to happen when you do stupid things. This is one of the main reason why so many school systems eliminated shop classes.
I get a sense of satisfaction from it. I can say to myself, I did that. I accomplished something. I have also found it is helpful when my business as a broker has sucked. During the Great Recession I needed something outside of work to feel like I had accomplished something that day. When I went through a divorce in 1991, I spent a couple years finishing off the second floor of my house by myself. It gave me something to concentrate on.
Along that accomplishment line here is my most recent project.
I have four solid redwood Adirondack chairs I built in the 1990s. I sanded them(4 hours). Reglued and screwed several of the joints. Primed them with BIN Shelac primer(another 3-4 hrs). Then painted them with three coats of Sherwin Williams Urethane gloss White enamel paint($70/gallon). Each coat took another 3-4 hours for the 4 chairs. I did this over the last month or so when we have had all of these rainy weekends here in NH.
It would have been cheaper to just go buy new chairs. Especially when I considered my labor. Now, they should last another 30+ years.
That is neat.
I still have my shoeshine box I made out of cedar in 1963.
You’re kind of like the FR version of Gibbs from NCIS.
You should build a boat in your basement.
It’s a compliment if you’re unsure.
I’m not certain I would sit in those chairs if I did that work.
His bro went to a very expensive college...is a computer geek...and he's doing well also. It's really all about work ethics.
Last year I built a Pavillion in my garage. I built it out of 4x6 & 6x6 Pressure treated timbers/posts.
I cut all the pieces. Routered/cut the joints. Stained them and assembled the roof truss structure. Then once the concrete pad was poured, I assembled it on the other end of my house. I also built a small deck and stairs. Plus put a exterior door in where there had been a window.
The only thing I hired someone to do was to pour the concrete slab. I even did the excavation myself. I have a Massey Ferguson 37HP cab tractor.
You are far handier than I am. I’m good for labor though, strong back.
Yeah. First thing we need to do is kill all of the lawyers.
Then, remove the warning labels from everything and let Darwin do his job.
“Now you need a computer with $20k software, and hands like an Okinawan woman.”
I see the problem: Your car is too new.
Get something grumpy and aged.
Quickly. Before the prices really go up.
1971 Chevelle SS
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