The sad end of high school woodshop

[Mike Henderson]

It may be uncommon, but when you say "nobody makes cabinets from scratch any more" I think you mean you don't know of anybody who makes cabinets from scratch any more.

I know some cabinet shops that build from scratch, one down over the hill from me. They made our kitchen cabinets from scratch with raised panel hickory doors and for cheaper than I could buy them anywhere. I designed all of them and drew a set of drawings so what I got fit my space and needs. They stay busy year around.

The shop classes I had in Junior High School were not about preparing students for a trade but introducing kids to new ideas and possibilities while working with their hands. Almost everything was done with hand tools. I loved it.

JKJ

Yep, I should have said "almost nobody."

I took shop in middle school and all through high school. I enjoyed it.

I agree that we need to prepare kids for finding a job, but I'm not sure that doing woodwork, by hand or machine, is the best approach.

Mike

[Anyone who builds from scratch is basically selling time. And getting good pay for your time doing that is difficult. The number of woodworkers who tried doing custom furniture and failed is legion. You'll get a lot more for your time if you can program a CNC machine.]

[Rich Riddle]

You can see the droves of auctions selling off former high school shop machines all over the country. Times have changed....we're a dwindling crowd.

[Michael Yadfar]

You can see the droves of auctions selling off former high school shop machines all over the country. Times have changed....we're a dwindling crowd.

Those machines are usually beautiful vintage ones too! They usually sell for top dollar though

[Michael Yadfar]

My woodshop class was more than "here's a block of wood, build something". Each class had a different theme of what we built, so we learned the methods on how to build it, designed it using a CAD system, then built it. There were also some projects mixed in between. As said, it was a nice way to free your mind while doing something productive, but I guess then again that's not what school is for. Still, when you look at some of the classes taken, you really question things. For example, we had mandatory foreign language which I already forget, a bunch of math (basic algebra and geometry is all 95% of people need), 4 years of science which again only appeals to certain career paths (all my career involves is BIO), and health class (wth?). You also have electives like art and music that people won't make money off of, but I feel like those are important in the same way as shop (of course they're being shut down as well).

[Kev Williams]

Cabinets... The house I live and do business in was built in 1966, it still has the original 'made from scratch' kitchen cabinets. Nary a loose screw or piece of loose wood anywhere. Emphasis on WOOD.

My uncle, who started a cabinet shop in the 60's (that's still making from-scratch cabinets) made a large L-shaped desk for me back in '81 for my new Concept 2000 computerized engraving machine. The desk has since been split in half to better suit my needs, but I dare Hulk Hogan or Shaq to try to make the big half of the thing wobble in any way. It will move, but it won't twist or wobble a bit. Still rock solid after 35 years. There's a couple of other cabinets here in this basement he made that are just as solid.

It's a shame this kind of craftsmanship has been replaced with stapled together glued sawdust...

When I was in high school, there was as much extracurricular stuff available to learn as anything else- farming, drama, sports, sewing, cooking...

Me, I took welding shop , auto mechanics, wood shop and machine shop in high school. Are you telling me all these are all GONE these days?? (I really need to get out more!)

So--what do they have kids do all day in school? If they're not going to teach them any crafts, maybe they could teach them to stay off Snapchat while driving 107 mph (this was on the news this morning)...

I've been self-employed since 1975, 3 years out of high school. Between then and now I've owned several cars, boats, motorhomes, ATV's- still do actually! -- And then there's all of the machinery necessary for my business, most of which is listed in my signature. I fix and maintain almost everything myself. In my entire life I've given mechanics less than $10000 of my money, and aside from a few computer repairs, I've paid no one to fix or maintain any of my work equipment. I've always been mechanically inclined and a fast learner. Which helps because I've never been to college.

But I did take welding, auto mechanics, wood shop and machine shop in high school. Thankfully.

[John K Jordan]

I agree that we need to prepare kids for finding a job, but I'm not sure that doing woodwork, by hand or machine, is the best approach.

I'm not so sure junior high school is the time to actively prepare kids for finding a job. I think at that age it is better to introduce them to EVERYTHING possible so when it is time they will at least know what is out there. Wood, metal, pencil, whatever - I think it is more a matter of learning to use the hands to engage the mind.

Our Jr. High shop class in the early '60s began with everyone using a hand plane to make a flat, square edge on a piece of wood then on to a few other simple starter tasks. The teacher then directed kids to various things appropriate to their aptitudes so almost everyone was doing something different. I remember using rotary cutting tools to creating miniature fantasy scenes by cutting shapes deep into the bottom of thick blocks of clear plastic. Some played on the lathes or cut shapes on the bandsaw or made little stools and painted them. Some did simple metal work or something else that interested them. Some with little aptitude or interest didn't do much more than show up. I thought it was a wonderful time, just as much fun as the later art and music classes and the science labs.

In high school my counselor steered me away from more shop and towards math and science so I instead did things in the basement with wood, metals, electronics, chemicals, and fire. All my friends were hard-core "makers" long before it was a buzz word. The big science fairs were the highlight of the year. (That's another thing going extinct) Some of my friends got patents, won awards, and were recruited by big tech companies (like Bell Labs and Westinghouse) based mostly on things they did and invented and made out of school, for example: a continuous-operation cloud chamber, a home-made electron microscope, a miniature (and illegal) TV broadcast station, a clever but suicidal jet backpack. Good fun.

The point is for me, and for others I knew, I believe it was the three years of Jr High shop classes that triggered a life-long interest in analyzing, planning, creating, crafting, and making things work. I wonder what will trigger such things in kids today.

JKJ

[Rod Sheridan]

You folks are overlooking the big picture. How can a school afford a ww shop when nowadays they need to install gender neutral toilets???

Bruce

LOL, if they can't afford the cost of modification (changing the sign on the door), they're not going to be able to afford a shop facility..............Rod.

[Rod Sheridan]

I live in a large urban center.

When my daughter was taking wood shop in high school, she started skipping after a few classes. This was brought to our attention at the parent/teacher meeting night.

She was skipping because she was bored. At home she was qualified to run everything except the shaper, at school she was in a female only class and non of the girls would use any of the shop equipment, they spent their time doing their nails and talking.

After the meeting, the teacher then allowed her to use more shop machinery, and make a wood working piece, as opposed to the acrylic keychain fob that was the focus of the shop class. She was used as an example and mentor for other kids in the class.

My daughter was the only student who lived in a house where people made and repaired things, for everyone else it was a straight consumer society.

One of the schools in my area was converted to a Tech school, with fantastic woodworking machinery such as A CNC, sliding table saws etc., most high end Euro machines. The school closed 3 years later due to lack of enrollment, the demographics in my area do not support craft/trades/technology as a viable career plan.

The trades I deal with cannot find apprentices, and when they do, all I hear are complaints that they can't perform basic arithmetic calculations, or read a ruler.

Hopefully, the environmental concerns that are becoming more common will have a positive effect on the shop culture as we once again begin to focus on product lifespan, ability to repair products, and the desire to purchase more locally produced and manufactured objects from food to furniture and appliances..............Rod.

[Chuck Wintle]

When I was in elementary school, twice a week the boys went to shop class and the girls went to home ec class. When I go to high school there still was shop but the environment had become dangerous. Too many kids not listening to the teacher and getting hurt on the machines. Not long after that there was no more shop classes of any kind. Probably better to let the students stay ignorant than to face a bunch of lawsuits.

[Stephen Tashiro]

The problem I see with woodworking is that very little "woodwork" is done by an individual any more. In order to be cost competitive, the product has to be made in a factory in very high volume - and that means computer controlled machinery.

Also, any product of moderate size is less likely to made of wood nowadays.

An argument for shop classes can be made if they are relevant to the home owner or even "home renter". But how many people have convenient access to a shop nowadays - or space to construct one? Browsing YouTube videos on woodworking, we see woodworkers like Matthias Wandel and Izzy Swan appear to work in somewhat rural settings where they have space for machinery and access to trees. Perhaps urbanization is another explanation for the demise of shop classes.

[Roger Feeley]

Has it been mentioned that shop subjects aren't part of the standardized tests? They aren't and schools are zeroing in more and more on teaching to those tests. "Force Multiplier" type subjects like shop, debate, music are coming in a distant second to whatever might be on this year's tests.

I am not a fan of standardized tests for many reasons. I was a teacher for 8 years and my wife was principal for 30 and we don't see much if any benefit from state assessments.

[Jim Becker]

The true bottom line here is ... money. (We don't need to get into the political side of things and torpedo this thread relative to reasons)

Non "core" curriculum has very pointedly taken a major hit over the last decade because of school funding not keeping up with costs. "We" are all to "blame" when we complain about school taxes and don't also insist that our states fund education to the level required to pay for the facilities, teaching talent and other factors such as insurance. As with any budget, school districts have had to make difficult and disheartening decisions around the arts and practical skills training within the public school environment simply because there is little or no money to fund them. We should all have some empathy for that given we all also have to "live within our means" and make difficult choices around what our own budgets can support.

So if you are concerned with things like the arts and technical arts like woodworking disappearing from schools...help them find the money to support it.

That said, I'm truly thankful that I live in a geography that does have the ability to fund these things and are available in my school district and surrounding school districts.

[Malcolm McLeod]

The true bottom line here is ... money.

Some districts have lots of it. Local Grand Prairie ISD (::big) CFO was having bags of cash delivered to her office in armored trucks; story yesterday indicates it was north of $600,000. Apparently, her co-workers were not alarmed by this. She got fired (...the horror). Co-workers are being given eye-exams (OK, I added that.)

Couple of years back, Dallas ISD (~$1,000,000,000/yr budget) had new Superintendent come to town and use her ISD credit card to furnish her house. No word on whether she set up a wood shop in the garage. She got fired. Makes tools for a couple of woodshop classes seem downright reasonable.

...Perhaps proof that 'administration' can get too big?

[Jim Becker]

Malcolm, there will always be "some folks" out there that are dishonest, etc., but overall...the problem of disappearing non-core curriculum is largely funding related.

Of course, there is also sometimes lowered demand for things like "woodworking" and "metalworking", etc., with students because of so many other distractions. That doesn't help when what money is actually available is being divvied up, either...

[Michael Yadfar]

Overall it's very disappointing regardless of the reason, it kind of make you think what things being done now will be cut from the curriculum 50 years from now. I sort of debate whether woodworking is actually a dying hobby or not, as many woodworking companies are doing great, especially the home market brands like Grizzly. I would think that there's a pretty big market for people non 55+ out there for sales to be doing well. Overall, I still think it's safe to say it's not as common of a skill as it used to be. It's unlikely to be the case, but it would be cool in a way to be one of the last woodworkers in 50 years, but I'm sure that's hopefully not going to be the case.