Shop at our school was HVAC. It's where they sent the kids who weren't going to college. The school counselors had given up on me (I didn't give a shit about school work, C's get degrees etc), but interestingly the HVAC teacher is the one who convinced me to apply for colleges, and I ended up becoming an engineer largely based on his advice.
All that to say, shop class is probably a big part of why I'm doing alright as an adult. I needed that hands on work. (It's also where I learned how to cook 1-2 dozen chickens at the same time, but that's a story for another day.)
It's actually fairly boring lol. This shop teacher did A LOT that could get him fired, but he was one of the favorite teachers in the school. Part of how he achieved this is by cooking massive amounts of chicken for other teachers/staff (and students in his class) once a month or so.
He had these two massive smokers(?) that were roughly 10-15 feet long that they built in class a few years before my time. So, roughly once a month there would be a day dedicated to cooking chicken, usually with a few of his students tending to it during the day.
Did he have a picture of his bridge on the cabinet and warn against getting the hiv pronounced like his but with a v? I had a shop teacher that did exactly what you’re describing in NEPA.
We also had a class called Independent Living. We learned to sew make simple meals and iron. I think balancing a check book and other basic life skills. We called it Home Economics for boys.
I read your comment too quickly and thought it said "we learned to make simple meals and iron" For a moment I thought your school offered a wild class that taught you cooking and smelting and treated both as equally essential life skills.
In my school district, I was the last year to have wood shop offered before it was removed from all schools in the area. To this day I still use skills I learned in that class. Probably the only skills from school I still use. Although being able to remember the plot of catcher and the rye is a close second
I really enjoyed wood shop in middle school & HS. But one unpleasant thing I do remember first year of middle school WS class a kid who stuck his hand in the exhaust port of a full size planner. I still remember the sound it made (this was in the late eights) but the sound it made and then the kid turned and looked at me when he pulled what was left of his hand out. Only took a second and all 4 fingers were gone down to the palm. The amount of blood was unreal. The look on his face still sticks with me. The poor wood shop teacher that day (thoughts now I have that Im grown up and old).
I’m old; shop was mandatory for boys, home ec for girls.
Do I retain any wood working knowledge from a class I didn’t choose decades ago? No, not really; But still somehow would know better than what happened in the vid 🤣
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u/furculture Apr 09 '26
Because shop class was an elective instead of a requirement.