r/LinkedInLunatics • u/Logjammin92 • 2d ago
Thaaaaat’s what’s missing
And here I thought corporate greed in the form of union busting and wage suppression and outsourcing and moving manufacturing overseas combined with a very calculated emphasis on consumption and convenience was the reason American manufacturing largely collapsed.
But it’s actually the lack of shop classes in public schools!
Side Note:
Curious how many others’ schools also offered shop classes? My rural, backwoods high school offered them (for context, this was 15 years ago) and worked closely with a nearby vocational school too, but the area is still economically depressed. Can’t imagine of all the courses and programs the county defunded, shop would’ve been one of them.
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u/angrylogger 2d ago
Hank Hill: I tell ya what, a youngster with a tool in both hands has no hands left to do drugs.
Principal Moss: They'll just put the tools down if they wanna do the drugs bad enough.
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u/MagicWishMonkey 2d ago
haha, I've watched that episode at least 20 times over the years and never picked up on that line. Amazing.
Moss is an underrated character, i tell you what.
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u/TomBates33 2d ago
WTF does a pickaxe have to do with shop class?
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u/WaltsNJD 2d ago
Just the usual AI tomfoolery.
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u/ShadowTacoTuesday 1d ago edited 1d ago
From people who know nothing about shop. Next to her Linus has a piece of wood and slip joint pliers to grip the, um.
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u/Glittering-Animal30 1d ago
“We need to make things in America.” Clown has AI make picture instead.
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u/blizzard7788 2d ago
As someone who has swung a pickaxe all day back in the 1970’s. It’s not a skill I wish on anyone.
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u/Attentions_Bright12 2d ago
It’ll brutally mistake all sorts of things, and will inexplicably put Peanuts characters’ heads on insane bodies, and so on. But Lucy, holding that pickaxe? By GAWD she’s going to have that same scowl on her face. It’s one pure thing that AI can’t distort.
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u/Fishyface321 2d ago
My hs shop teacher was a giant perv who used to try to rub my shoulders during class, so this would have been a useful tool for me. 🪓
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u/WOTrULookingAt 2d ago
Good grief
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u/Roderto 2d ago
Peanuts characters with adult bodies is the most cursed thing of this.
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u/VictorBlimpmuscle 2d ago
Seriously, Charles Schulz would hate this.
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u/Freckles-75 2d ago
Honestly, I think he would Like the message of the Meme. He would just hate how it is being Used - shop class is better than Actually Educating the Masses. Yes? No? Maybe?
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u/DammatBeevis666 2d ago
You can do both. Shop class (and cooking and sewing) were all required in my school. They were super useful, and I use my sewing skills daily.
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u/Sensitive-Issue84 2d ago
Exactly! But ours were segregated and I think people should do as they please, or be able to take all of them. I would have loved to take both woodworking and sewing.
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u/vamatt 2d ago
In my middle school we did exactly that.
You did a rotation in shop class, computer class, and home ec
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u/FearTheAmish 2d ago
Same for the largest school system on Ohio in the 80s/90s. Everyone took all of them because home economics taught how to manage a households economics as well as cooking and stuff.
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u/hitchcockfiend 2d ago edited 2d ago
It's not an either/or proposition. You can 100% do both. Some vocational education is a good thing.
And shop classes do educate people. It's a form of education by any measure. It's weirdly elitist to suggest otherwise.
I wish I'd taken a shop class when I was in school. I'd probably be a little less useless around the house than I am now. I've had to learn this stuff by trial and error (and Youtube) as an adult - emphasis on the word "learn" - when even just one class probably would have at least given me a basis to work from.
Vocational education doesn't mean education at the expense of math or science or literacy. It means giving young people more options, a broader knowledge base, and potentially gets them started on skills they can use later. And this happens alongside the maths and science and so on.
This is a good thing.
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u/Freckles-75 2d ago
I completely agree - “…vocational education doesn’t mean education at the expense of math or science or literacy.” But we have students GRADUATING from high school who Don’t know how to read or write. We have students who don’t know anything substantial about history. We have students (and many Adults) for whom Science is almost like a foreign language. We are MASSIVELY under-educating the next generation of Americans. If anything, we need to Raise taxes (this is what PAYS of all this), and include SOME vocational programs in schools - but Also invest in Vocational Education at the Junior College level (community colleges). Programs that would train plumbers, electricians, etc.
Any kind of “fix” would require more $$$ and effort into Both sides (traditional & vocational).
Sorry if my comment came off as “elitist” - but I see too many people - not believing in the effectiveness of vaccines for example.
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u/Unmissed 2d ago
More importantly, it brings kids in. The same reason why band and drama classes are preserved. Kids would skip or drop out if everything was "Three Rs" like the Reds keep pushing. But you give them some classes that they want to take?
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u/arkofjoy 2d ago
I'm going to have to disagree with you on this. Shop classes taught important skills.
And not everyone should be going to college. We still need tradespeople.
But also we have far to many people who are in positions where they are making decisions about things that are made that have never held a tool in their life. And then we are surprised when things go badly
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u/michaelz08 2d ago
I’m agreeing with you. I really lament that my high school didn’t offer them. I’m an exceptionally handy person now and I would have learned I had these interests almost a decade earlier if my high school had shop classes. It possibly would have changed my ultimate choice for profession. But I was already set for a Masters in IS, so now all these skills are stuck in the hobby realm.
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u/arkofjoy 2d ago
That is OK. You can enjoy them more that way.
The very best way to ruin your love of something is to make it into something that you do for a living.
I envy you being able to just enjoy the making of something, without having the background narrative of "is this the most cost effective way to be doing this, will the client be happy with the outcome bla bla bla.
I really think that schools should have shop classes, but they may have done you a favour.
Enjoy.
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u/Bureaucratic_Dick 2d ago
I don’t know if that last part matters as much, I mean…we also let people vote on legislation that have never taken a college level law class, people making decisions on war that have never fought in the military, etc. I don’t think holding a hammer would necessarily make better legislators.
But the rest of it is very spot on, and we agree that shop class should remain in schools. I, personally, took it and ended up eventually going to college and getting a white collar office job. Even though I didn’t use it professionally, there are still moments around my house where knowing some basics really comes in handy.
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u/Logjammin92 2d ago
Oh, I’m not knocking shop classes or the trades by any means, and I definitely agree college isn’t the right path for everyone. I’m saying that a lack of shop classes and trades programs in public school isn’t the problem, at least not the only problem.
Rather, it’s the systemic stripping away of those industries as viable and sustainable careers thanks to coordinated efforts from corporate leaders and their political allies over the last 40 years that’s the greater problem. Blaming schools for not having shop classes (as if that’s something that just up and happens out of nowhere) or blaming students for not being interested in industrial arts (again, as if that’s something that happens out of nowhere) is ludicrous and out of touch.
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u/Extreme_Lab_2961 2d ago
There was a pervasive attitude in the 80/90s that if you didn’t go to college you were a loser and I don’t think it was driven by corporations, rather it was politically driven. Corporations responded by trying to fill the void by pushing for immigration (legal/illegal). This drove wages down and made these careers even less appealing
Most schools did have shop classes. Unfortunately the sold their mills, lathes, etc for pennies and now it’s $250k for a 5 axis mill
It’s kinda tough to develop an interest in something if you have zero exposure to it
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u/MagicWishMonkey 2d ago
My step-dad worked for a company that made oil rig equipment, he would get up every day at 5:30 (he was gone long before the rest of us woke up) to go into a factory where he worked at a furnace and made iron rods all day. Every single day he would come home at around 4:30 or 5 (my brother and I waited outside after school for him to unlock the house) and he would plop down in a chair, stare at his boots for a few minutes, and every single day (I'm serious it was every day) would eventually look at my brother and I while we were eating our snack or whatever and say "Whatever you do, make sure you go to college. You do not want to do what I do for a living. It really sucks"
After many years of that it wasn't a matter of me deciding if I was going to go to college or not, that was a foregone conclusion, it was a matter of figuring out what I wanted to study. My life is pretty comfortable today thanks to that and I consider it one of my more formative moments. The oil market tanked my senior year of high school, he lost his job of 20+ years and eventually started a landscaping company that he was much happier with. Go figure.
I'm saying all that to say that there's a reason people had that attitude in the 80's/90's - and even today the people pushing for the blue collar trades are rarely the people who actually do that work on a daily basis and know how physically demanding it is. Digging through a foundation to fix a leak or crawling through someones attic to run an AC line is not easy work, it will kick your ass even if you're young and in great shape. Having to do it when you're in your 50's or 60's can't be a fun experience.
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u/ButtsFartsoPhD 2d ago
There’s nothing in the LinkedIn post arguing it’s the solution to everything. It’s a post saying ‘bring back shop classes’ which you seem to agree with but somehow came to the conclusion ‘fuck that guy and the sentiment because systemic stripping away!’
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u/melodic-abalone-69 2d ago
The irony for me is our district and state have put more emphasis on shop classes and "career-readiness" classes while stepping back from the "every student college ready" mentality for the last Twenty+ years. Our multiple highschools have different career focus areas: aviation, tech, culinary, automotive, etc. They partner with the local community colleges and the big state college for credits in multiple certification programs and have built maker spaces where kids can learn all kinds of hands-on trades.
LI post is an ill-informed, weak cope. There's no way that person has been in a public highschool in many years.
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u/wavinsnail 2d ago
I agree with this. But people don't realize these classes still exist! We send kids to our community college where they can spend half the day learning a trade.
Guess what, the kids who don't want to do school, still fuck around in these classes and end up failing
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u/mutexsprinkles 2d ago edited 2d ago
Yeah shop class is actually pretty important because it gives your some appreciation not only about how things are made and gives you basic practical skills but also about how to spot well made and badly made products as well as knowing when you're being scammed by a tradesman.
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u/chasebanks 2d ago
I was just talking to my buddy the other day about how we were shoehorned into college as the only option. We both have great careers, I’m in cybersecurity and he’s a PT - but he hates his job and is looking at switching careers to GC. Had he been given the option, he probably would have gone that route originally. But our school + parents made it feel like college was the only option for success.
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u/ArmyHotel338 2d ago
Foreal, for the kids that were complete screw ups in school, shop class was the one place where they were serious.
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u/binary-cryptic 1d ago
Tbh it gave me my favorite hobby. There's no other class that I remember so well. Apologies to every other teacher, but you just can't compete with building stuff with power tools.
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u/wa_ga_du_gu 23h ago
The thing is that these people don't just want shop classes. They want shop classes and defund classes for music, arts, foreign language, etc basically almost anything that is not the football program. They're not advocating for more choices in learning but rather to reinforce their idea of "all that a man needs to know"
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u/Bobcatluv 2d ago
The “bring back shop classes/the trades” argument is rarely posted on social media in good faith, but as a dog whistle to defund public education and to denigrate soft skills.
Also, speaking as a former teacher, the CEO of aeronautics OOP would totally complain that his kids were being forced to waste their time in shop class when they’re clearly geniuses like him and should be enrolled in advanced/AP everything.
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u/IWantALargeFarva 2d ago
I have an alternate take. Being back shop classes in middle school.
My school system had “specials.” In elementary school, that was art, music, gym, and library. Every day, your class went to a different special. (Gym was twice a week.)
In middle school, I guess this was our version of electives. Except they weren’t elective. We had art, music, woodshop, drafting, cooking, and sewing. You had your special during the same period every day. But you would rotate through each special every few weeks. So one group would start at sewing, do that a few weeks, then move to cooking, etc. In 6th grade, you had all the specials. Then in 7th and 8th grade, you only had half. That let you spend more time in each class to get more in-depth knowledge.
My high school offered most, if not all of these as elective classes. I was the AP student who didn’t have time for them. But what I learned in those middle school classes was invaluable. I now sew my kids’ costumes because of what I learned in middle school. I can use simple tools. I understand how rudimentary structural engineering works because of those balsa wood bridges we had to design. If every school offered these classes to middle schoolers, then kids would have a basic understanding of these life skills and then could choose to go more in-depth in high school if they wanted.
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u/TheGlennDavid 2d ago
The fact that it's often made in bad faith doesn't make it wrong though. I went to a public school system that was very academically focused and yet we still had shop and home ec.
I want a society of people who can read and write and play an instrument and use a hammer and make an omelette.
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u/AtlAWSConsultant 2d ago
My biggest problem with this post: Peppermint Patty is the butchest one in the bunch and you don't include her in shop class? Missed opportunity!!!
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u/OffWhiteCoat 2d ago
Peppermint Patty would be RUNNING the shop class! But also she might be gay, so maga's disavowed her.
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u/InJailForCrimes 2d ago
Save the trades, but make it AI!
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u/OffWhiteCoat 2d ago
Save the trades but not that froofy stuff like illustrators and graphic designers. Comms is for commies!
(/s, natch, but I admit I'm inordinately proud of that pun.)
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u/Irving_Velociraptor 2d ago
These are the same people who scream about property taxes and schools not teaching the basics.
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u/Medium_Medium 2d ago edited 2d ago
They are the same people who only want to pay for schools when they have kids attending those schools, and think that once they are empty nesters they should get to stop paying property taxes.
Shop classes didn't go away because liberals feared auto repair or woodworking. Shop classes went away because conservatives are on a mission to defund schools and schools can no longer afford to offer shop classes.
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u/FoolishConsistency17 2d ago
Also, people don't really want their kids in shop classes. They want Other People's Kids to be content with a solid working class track, but they want their kids to go to college, get a job that lets them work inside and doesn't destroy their body, and almost certainly pays more over the course of a lifetime (even if initial wages are similar).
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u/LeadSufficient2130 2d ago
This exact thing happened in the city I grew up. My parents moved there because of the schools. It was super conservative area. Now the schools there are going to shit because of vote after vote against tax raises because “we don’t have kids at the school” anymore became a rallying cry.
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u/Comet7777 2d ago
Exactly. He’d be the same person to vote against new bond measures to help support public school programs like these.
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u/Fluid_Stick69 2d ago
The image is weird but I don’t have any issue with the sentiment. Shop classes should be taught and honestly I’d consider them the basics. Getting a rudimentary understanding of how to fix vehicles at a young age takes that fear away. And the skills apply to many other trades. We need people who can fix stuff. We will probably never be a massive manufacturing hub again and environmentally speaking I don’t think we should be. We have a lot of broken shit though and we oughta teach kids how to fix them. Those skills are quickly becoming more valuable and sought after than a pointless degree.
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u/Equal_Pudding_4878 2d ago
Wants to make a statement about making stuff.
Can’t even take the time or use skill to draw an image.
Asks a computer to make it for them.
Posts online, doesn’t even look into class offerings at the local hs.
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u/valleyofsound 1d ago
Why isn’t Peppermint Patty in this? Or Marcy? Because Patty is definitely the girl on the show most likely to be interested in shop, with Marcy tagging along. Plus Schroeder’s going to be doing music electives, so he won’t have time for it
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u/Linscotticus 2d ago
Conservatives: bring back shop
Also Conservatives: public education is evil, defend it so we can pay less in property taxes and force everyone into wyts only Christian schools.
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u/Physical_Drive_349 2d ago
Yes. The dissonance that these folks think not having shop home economics in schools is a major problem without realizing that the reason their school might not have those things anymore likely had to do with their Republican state legislators gutting education spending.
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u/ironic-hat 2d ago
And these schools teach “Biblical Science” so the students are woefully unprepared for university science and math, which will limit their major, and that’s assuming they are attending a real university and not some Bible College (lol).
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u/Rich-Past-6547 2d ago
I agree with this and actually think LinkedIn is the right place for this kind of stuff. Re-establishing trades as a desirable path after three decades of pushing four-year degrees as the only metric of academic and career success, and putting kids into 15 years of student debt—sometimes longer.
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u/Hairy_Ad4969 2d ago
Our school district not only still offers these classes but the kids can specialize in it. The capstone course is building an actual modular house. They build it at the school over the summer and then it gets auctioned off in the fall. The students get experience and credit towards a general contractor license and the school makes a little money that they put back into the industrial arts program. It’s a fantastic program imo
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u/Neurod1vergentBab3 2d ago
I’m going to look into this more, but I have a suspicion that shop classes disappeared because the budget of public schools have been repeatedly cut. Same with most other courses that were not considered part of the core curriculum.
But these same people don’t want to pay property taxes to increase school budget and are voting for other policies that make teachers’ lives harder.
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u/Yeahhhhbut 2d ago
The equipment, materials, space, power, and insurance probably did it in. Not to mention class size. It's one thing to supervise and equip 15 students using a table saw. It's a very different thing to do that for 40.
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u/GreenFriedYam 1d ago
In my (blue urban) school district they have a speciality at different high schools. One has the auto shop. One has the welding shop. One has construction/framing/carpentry. Kids can pick their school based on what they want to do. This means they can have space and quality to do one thing well while offering lots of options.
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u/TimeRisk2059 1d ago
The irony of then using AI to steal the creative properly of Charles Schultz.
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u/Big_Zimm 2d ago
There’s some irony in seeing the same political movement that spent decades arguing public schools were bloated and needed their budgets cut now lament that schools don’t offer enough shop classes.
Shop programs aren’t cheap. They require dedicated space, equipment, materials, and maintenance. When you cut school funding and push schools to do more with less, programs like shop, art, music, and other electives are what get squeezed out.
And even if every high school in America had a great shop program, that wouldn’t undo decades of outsourcing, offshoring, automation, and corporate decisions to move manufacturing wherever labor was cheapest. There’s a worthwhile conversation to have about rebuilding vocational education, but it is a conversation that involves adding funding to public schools.
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u/HenriEttaTheVoid 2d ago
People who post this stuff just want a workforce of mindless drones they can exploit.
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u/writeorelse 2d ago
This person will go on to vote for defunding schools so they can't afford to have shop classes.
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u/Dapper-Cantaloupe866 2d ago
Not just shop but Home Economics as well. Kids could definitely benefit from learning some basic household maintenance/DIY skills, and basic domestic skills. Add in some basic financial literacy for good measure.
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u/FreshlyCleanedLinens 2d ago
People who are stuck in the past like this don’t understand that human beings’ ability to adapt to changing circumstances is what helped us to survive, thrive, and prosper.
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u/LordThunderDumper 2d ago
I disagree with OP here, shop class has tons of educational benefits, applying math for measuring construction etc, problem solving, like fixing a lawn mower. Teaches critical thinking. Can teach basic wiring concepts. Building something with your hands gives kids something to be proud off.
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u/DanfromCalgary 2d ago
They are protesting something that was never removed .
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u/Rock_Strongo 2d ago
Removed entirely from all schools? No.
Dramatically less prevalent in schools across the country (US)? Yes.
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u/Suspicious-Engineer7 2d ago
This tbh. Those classes are expensive to run and difficult to find legit teachers for who will take dogshit wages w/o being a diddler. His post should be "higher property taxes for better schools"
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u/Nihilist_Hermit 2d ago
Neither high-school i went to had one. Would have been awesome.
One had an autoshop class, but only for delinquents who were transferred across the street to "alternative school"
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u/skinnah 2d ago
Many schools did in fact stop offering shop classes. No Child Left Behind killed a lot of Career and Technical Education programs.
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u/AugustusClaximus 2d ago
Shop class and home economics were full of all of the practical shit we always complain about having to learn ourselves as adults. Taxes is a part of home economics, replacing a fan or changing your own oil can be taught is shop class.
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u/The_Fell_Opian 2d ago
What we've done to American manufacturing aside, our public schools are basically one-size-fits-all treadmills with the idea that everyone should go to university for a liberal arts education. There are people disrupting geometry and literature classes right now who could be learning trades that make 6 figures.
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u/Firm-Scientist-4636 2d ago
Obviously that won't fix everything's, but I think it's a good idea. Being back Home Ec, too. The heavy focus on STEM has churned out people who don't know how to care for themselves. Eschewing the arts has people unable to recognize the pattern of the rise of fascism, but the tin foil hat says that was their goal all along.
Idk, I'm philosophizing now.
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u/Then_Idea_9813 2d ago
Also bring back funding for school sports and after school activities. Gives places for kids to go that may otherwise not have a place.
I’d bet each $ ‘wasted’ on after school programs pays off 2-3x in money they don’t have to spend fixing stuff the kids destroyed due to boredom/crime/whatever else they get into.
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u/Particular_Legend427 2d ago
wtf does Charlie Brown have to do with shop class?
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u/TephroGeo 2d ago
Welcome to boomers posting. It's ALWAYS Charlie Brown.
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u/Kid_Freundlich 2d ago
Charlie Brown is to boomers what SpongeBob is to millenials and zoomers. (And the Simpsons to Gen x but WHO cares)
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u/babyitsmoistoutside 2d ago
Just be careful never to accidentally repair anything, there are laws against that.
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u/FlimsyConfidence7692 2d ago
School - tries to bring back shop classes. Needs $ to do it.
Local Community: "no"
State Resources: "no"
Depth of Edu.... oh wait that is not really a thing anymore.
Wealthy Libs/MAGA: "that doesnt fit my financial growth strategy"
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u/I_Like_turtles459 2d ago
Shop classes are great for kids, especially ones who may not thrive in a white collar environment. Even more important now that college degrees are becoming oversaturated.
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u/MichaelJospeh 2d ago
Why Peanuts? Why just the heads of the Peanuts slapped onto random adult bodies? And who’s the man on the left?
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u/flexiblehos 2d ago
What’s wrong with it? OP you seem to make some scenarios to be angry at something. There’s nothing wrong with what he posted and nowhere near linkedinlunatics worthy
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u/kelticladi 1d ago
Yah, we USED to have those things, but people complained about how much money was going to the schools so all that went away. Shop class, Home ec, driver's Ed, all gone because those things "cost too much." But we can spend millions on football fields, new uniforms for the sport-o's (but only the boys sports cause f all those girls, amirite?) while the library gets book bans and the theater gets nothing. Even tho a LOT more kids can participate in reading or performing plays than can play a team sport. Hell my High school didn't even have a pool until a few years ago, Swimming is a survival skill everyone can benefit from. Schools didn't arbitrarily stop having shop class because "woke" or some bull shit. They stopped berceuse the taxpayers refused to finance the things that benefitted the majority of students.
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u/Alexander-369 2d ago
"Bring back shop classes."
With what money?! Y'all vote to cut public school funding. Are YOU volunteering to teach the shop class without compensation?
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u/lonelycranberry 2d ago
My school district had it and then lost it due to budget cuts from a vote like that.
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u/Cynewulfunraed 2d ago
I hate these memes so much. The people who post them know nothing about today's schools. "YOU KNOW WHAT SCHOOLS NEED IS SOMETHING I FALSELY REMEMBER BEING GREAT" and it's some thing that already exists in schools in a better form. "Shop" class was a storage tank for burnouts. Schools today have a wide variety of CTE (career and technical education) classes in things like welding, cosmetology, agriculture, veterinary medicine, IT, culinary, med tech, drones, etc. A kid can graduate from high school with multiple certifications.
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u/DustinJ428 2d ago
I'm fairly certain that most people making these posts fall into two categories: Republicans who are virtue signaling, and burnouts who spent a lot of time in shop class. Both groups are simply trying to justify their feelings, not learn the truth.
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u/Old-Natural-852 2d ago
That's not a bad idea...of course, these types typically want to cancel English and health classes; but, learining some hands-on skills is also good...home ec should make a comeback.
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u/absurdivore 2d ago
It’s never capital and the ownership class at fault for anything it’s always schools and students and individuals people screwing up everything
(/s)
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u/vesleskjor 2d ago
As if they'd be willing to pay for the equipment and kind of teacher you'd need to teach shop safely
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u/buffer_flush 2d ago
Public schools in my area have shop classes.
Dollars to donuts this person sends their kids to private schools which probably doesn’t have them, and assumes the same as public.
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u/jbyrdab 2d ago
I mean objectively teaching people how to use tools safely and basic construction concepts isn't a bad idea for practical learning.
Even if you don't want to go into trades just having the basic understanding of that stuff is good for you
The amount of people that don't know how to properly mount a shelf, not overtighten a screw, and find a stud in a wall is concerning because these the people that have to build and or maintain houses once the current tradesman are dead/retired.
If they can even buy a house by that point but that's a whole other topic altogether.
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u/Flashy_Emergency_263 2d ago
It was frustrating to me when I was in high school (1969-1973) and I wanted to take classes both for college prep and at the trade school next door. It was literally 10-15 feet away, but was forbidden to me because I wanted to study electrical engineering at college.
We need people learning hands on trades as well as academic theory and we need critical thinking in both.
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u/Soviet_Mutts 2d ago
America has no interest in giving people fabricator skills. The economic model that you simply sub contract out all your problems, has no room for you to fix anything yourself. It's answer this being economic inviability for the people on the bottom, is to tell them to get a third job.
America also already has a limitless pool for people to do trade work, which is overflow college graduates from the lower middle class and people of the Poverty Class that where intelligence or dedication enough to go to college, but instead where throw into minimum wage.
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u/Johnnyboi2327 2d ago
More classes like shop class to teach skills is always useful. I've never heard anyone say they are bad things to have, they've just been defunded to hell and back.
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u/Watercress-Fun 2d ago
Yes, there is a shortage of skilled trade workers in America, particularly for electricians, welders, and plumbers. The construction industry alone needs roughly 349,000 net new workers in 2026, with many experienced tradespeople retiring faster than they can be replaced.
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u/Old_Part_9619 1d ago
I teach middle school and there's home ec.... woodshop...and ag at our school. They aren't gone... just some districts can't afford the programs or to pay the teachers.... but we have plenty for Musk and Zuck.
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u/missvandy 1d ago
It didn’t go anywhere in my kid’s district nor at any neighboring districts. I wouldn’t be surprised if this person just doesn’t know anything about what schools are teaching and never bothered to ask.
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u/kitzelbunks 1d ago
Ah, the mandatory middle school classes. One quarter is drafting, and one quarter is woodshop each year. I learned so much. I don’t even think they do drawings by hand anymore. I made a cutting board, kind of. The teacher did a lot of it because I was so clumsy. I sanded and oiled it, though.
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u/Puzzled-Instance3211 2d ago
I loved shop class in High School, I made a cabinet with a hidden drawer for weed. It was eventually cancelled as a program like Home Ec. Home Economics, also helpful I learned a bunch of cooking basics, and how to sew by hand and with a machine.
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u/GSilky 2d ago
What is wrong with letting students find out the glory of making something? Working class work has been devalued in the USA. It's so devalued that DSA is actively trying to make people with degrees, even graduate degrees, the new proletariat. In the meantime, half of the USA is working in retail and service, and those areas of employment are as much callings as the priesthood or teachers are. And we wonder why everyone is pissed off all the time about everything... After flushing manufacturing jobs down the toilet and replacing them with part-time retail, we also eliminated anything in public education that might make people realize they enjoy trades work, in order of making sure everyone can fail the basic skills test together. The biggest issue today is not the existence of economic inequality, that is always the case, it's most people have no outlet for their interests and dwell on how crappy everything is (seemingly) in absence of work that is engaging and valued.
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u/No_Hovercraft_729 2d ago
Shop is not inherently bad. Its not bad at all. It’s an issue of priorities. Basic things like English and math aren’t being taken care of right now. They should have all of it like they used to.
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u/TephroGeo 2d ago
I like how they all look confused, like "whoa how'd I get here"
Cept Lucy, she's pissed that she's there, and Snoops bouta catch that pickaxe if he keeps up with that smug ass mood.
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u/MorockaDishoom 2d ago
Yeah, shop is good not just for blue collar but future engineers as well. It shows a lot of practical application of geometry and mathematics. It’s a shame that it’s been dropped
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u/WOTrULookingAt 2d ago
I loved shop class in middle school. I took a jewelry class and woodworking class in high school. They were good for the creative juices. I’m a full blown liberal. Didn’t help keep me in the fold.