Did you take shop class in jr./high school?

[juanbenae]

heck ya! if not for wood, auto, metal shop n being an aid for lazy ass PE teachers i'd have never graduated high school.

going into my junior year i figured out that all the cheerleaders, song girls, drill team and flag rags got credit for practice in 4th period PE in the gym part of the year. that's when I signed up to be a teacher aid for 4th period PE!!! i tossed a ton of balls out 4th period for 2 years when they were not practicing. i organized and took roll for softball, square dancing, and swim class 4th period.......

[zakthor]

I took 2 terms of technical drawing as a hs freshman 1983? Then disappointed the teacher by bailing and taking metal shop the next term.

I was maybe the only one in the class that read the entire textbook, even today I'm surprised by the stuff I learned from that book. Explosive formation?

I switched schools for the next year but that freshman metal shop was probably the best class I took in all of high school.

Checked back and today there's no more technical drawing offered, no more metal shop, and no more smoking awning behind the gym.

[Pazuzu]

No. I was college bound, AP classes all the way, too good for wood or metal shop.





I did hang out with the stoners, headbangers and wastoids. I learned my mechanical skills the hard way, by handing wrenches to my dad in the garage. Then by fixing things that broke, like off road rigs in the middle of nowhere. Then by fixing other things that broke, like giant telescopes on distant mountaintops. Now I project manage at a company that is basically a giant wood and metal shop, where I fix things that break, like CNC mills.

Therefore, shop class in high school is completely unneeded, since *I* didn't need it.

[flatbutt]

I too was college bound but took wood shop, basic electrical and mechanical drawing (drafting). The best was drafting as it helped me develop 3D perspective.

[look 171]

Just because of that one damn woodshop class in the 9th grade, here I am. It became my career. Wanted Woodshop so badly that I can taste it but my counselor would not allow it in the 7 or 8th grade instead, gave me cooking and printing. I hated cooking due to having to wash dishes. I was desperate to make a skateboard. Eventually, after many complains, I was in during my 9th grade year. I made a sailboat and got third in competition, but first in craftsmanship within LA school district. Still have it at my parent's house. I was in for all three high school years, along with architecture. Building things had become second nature for me, and won a couple first places in state competitions with furniture I made. I didn't come from a fram so my dad can make anything out of gold but can't turn a wrench to shut off the water to the house. College bound classes was like pulling teeth especially English and literature. I survived them. After that 9th grade year, I decided I want a career dealing with houses. Now, here I am, all fook up in this industry I have gotten to where I am today its because of those simple basic classes. I have no formal or apprentice training in the building business.

[rfuerst911sc]

Yep . One year of auto body and one year of auto mechanics . It helped plant the seeds of my DIY life. I never regretted taking those courses and strongly suggest to any youngster to take them if available at your school .

My oldest grandson has been taking various shop courses over the last two years . He has learned about plumbing/woodworking/automotive and has enjoyed all of it . May not turn any of it into a career but builds skills that last a lifetime .

[PorscheGAL]

I was in High School in the 90's. I was the only girl in the classes but I took:

Auto Shop
Electrical Shop
Masonry

And I was a TA in the Electrical Class for 2 years after that.

Anyone shocked I wound up on a Porsche Forum?

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by PorscheGAL

I was in High School in the 90's. I was the only girl in the classes but I took:

Auto Shop
Electrical Shop
Masonry

And I was a TA in the Electrical Class for 2 years after that.

Anyone shocked I wound up on a Porsche Forum?

I would have been shocked if you told us you didn't take shop classes !

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by red-beard

I also ended up in 2 home-ec classes, cooking and sewing. Very useful skills.

I agree. That would have been awesome to learn.

For me; metal and wood shop in Jr High. Machine trades all through high school working the afternoon in a machine shop.

I did take mechanical drawing in college as an elective.

Everything learned about cars was informal.

[stevej37]

There was no sewing offered in my HS...but I did take cooking....there were almost as many guys as gals in the class. I'm glad I took it.

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by stevej37

There was no sewing offered in my HS...but I did take cooking....there were almost as many guys as gals in the class. I'm glad I took it.

Don't recall if it was Jr. high or HS, but something called "Home Ec" (?) was offered that mostly females took .... don't know what they taught .... but I was really, really stoopid !

I remember Michael Jordan saying he took Home Ec classes .... he's no dummy

[oldE]

Woodworking in grades 7,8 &9. The letter box ( just like the one my brother made 7 years before), is in use today. The coffee table is around here somewhere. Other stuff was lost in the fire in '77. The skills I learned in those three years along with my Dad's example of building what was needed gave me the (misguided) confidence to build this house, the cupboards, some cabinets, the barn and the garage. Can't imagine being in the position we're in without it.

Best
Les

[GH85Carrera]

Yea, in 9th grade in Hawaii, I got to take wood shop.

I made a little table out of plywood. Not exactly quality furniture. My mom used it until her death as a plant stand and it was pretty ugly by the time we closed the estate after my dad died. It still sold for a dollar in the estate sale. My wife did not want it here.

My 10th grade class had a photography class and lots of photo gear. I was in heaven there. My final high school for 11th and 12th grades has no shop or any facility for it. I could have gone to FFA but I had no desire to be a farmer.

[mattdavis11]

Woodshop in 7th grade, 1 semester. I made a cutting board, nothing special, oak and cherry alternated. My parents have used it almost daily for the past 35 years. I even used it yesterday.

[cockerpunk]

yup, metalshop, woodshop, home ec, we did all this stuff.

[masraum]

I took a semester of what I think was called "industrial arts" which was kind of like "intro to drafting". I also took wood shop, but we moved part way through the year, so it was only a part of a year. I don't remember learning much in that class. When I was in school that I'd have been taking those sorts of classes would have been in the mid 80s.

Most of my learning came from my dad. Dad was a gearhead, so all of my car stuff came from him. Grandpa was a wood guy, but because we moved around, I didn't get a chance to learn from him, but did get some info from dad on wood working. Dad also taught me electrical some.

[dad911]

! semester of Mechanical Drawing and 4 years of electronics in HS. Last year was an independent study. At that time (1980s) our HS also had wood, metal and auto shops, along with industrial arts (screen printing, etc)

All gone by 2000. A small section of the metal shop was converted for the robotics team, but the school sold all of the metal working equipment.

Our middle school offered wood shop and home ec (cooking) 7th & 8th grade, so many girls signed up for wood shop (I don't blame them) we were forced to split classes and take both.

[MBAtarga]

Two years of technical drawing and two years of wood shop. The wood shop had lousy quality hand tools. Until I got more involved in woodworking as a hobby (now for almost 40 years) - I had no idea how useful a wood plane can be!

[911 Rod]

You had shop classes in junior high school? Before high school?
Shop classes didn't start until high school here.

[Scott Douglas]

Here's a story of just how good our shop classes were in high school.
Our machine shop teacher, Mr. Smith, was part owner of a company that made molds for dentures. He had some of his own machines in the shop class. One was an old Bridgeport mill. Shortly after I graduated, Bridgeport, the company, came to the school to look at his mill. They'd heard about it some how and wanted to buy it to put in their museum. They said it was the finest example in the country. He wouldn't sell it.
He taught us how to make threads on a lathe running backwards.
The reason he'd do it backwards was if the cutter got hung up on something while it was turning, it would lift the carriage off the ways rather than breaking the cutting tool off.
He had 'acid hands' and always carried an old oily rag in his shop coat pocket. Whenever he touched a machine he'd wipe it off with the rag before walking away from the machine. All the machines in his classroom were in great condition even if they were old.
I still have the little C clamp we made as a project, it's in my tool box right on top.