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

If so, what did you take and how did you like it?

For perspective....

My junior high years were 1965 through 1968.

High school years from 1969 to 1972.

Took printing, wood shop, and metal shop. We also had an automotive class but I got all that already from my Dad, who was a "car nut".

To this day I still have stuff I made from all 3!

I also feel it helped build my confidence in being handy with my hands in building and repairing things....something which has served me well throughout my life.

1973 to 1976 I took woodworking, tech drawing and engineering.

We were lucky to have a huge workshop full of old and new lathes, a furnace, a milling machine. Some of the old lathes were big long ones that had been used to make heavy artillery guns during WW2.

This stuff alongside the usual maths, science and English. Yep, I liked it all. But mainly I liked things made of steel.


Edit. I was a farm boy and had to fix things. If you got someone in to do it you would go broke. Plus lots of hard work such as digging post holes, building fences, carting hay bales..

Hi Baz,

In Junior High we were required to take wood shop, cooking and sewing- this would have been early 80s.

I think this was a great way to teach kids some life skills.

I sewed a skateboard pillow if memory serves and made a decoupage wooden cut out of the state of MN. They also had us do a few electrical and plumbing repairs.

In HS I took a couple elective wood shop classes, which I don’t think taught me much as far as fine wood working- I remember turning a few bowls and making some banks.

I was a pretty small kid and the age for smoking was 16yrs and the smoking area was down at the end of the shop hallway- I was a bit scared that the “tough” kids would pick on me, but they never did.

We need to bring back the manual skill classes to the schools, not everyone is going to grow up to be an office manager.

Rutager

Yep ... wood shop in 7th & 8th grade ('73 & '74). Don't know what happened to the gun rack that used to be in my bedroom, but the long Mohagany enclosed shelf thingy is still above my old bed tho' :)

I also worked in a machine shop for three summers after graduating hs....

I still have both my gun rack and my shelves!

And a letter holder that looks like a horse....lol.....

I took wood shop and drafting in high school. I thought I’d become an architect but that didn’t pan out. Loved both classes though.

Yes, 9th grade. Gun rack.

Let's see, jr high I took every shop class offered. They had a full suite of offerings. Print shop, wood, metal, industrial arts and drafting. I still use the desk caddy I made in wood shop.
In high school I took all the auto shop I could, which was kind of hard to do being a university prep type student too. Took machine shop too, which was quite the experience. My sister had taken it the year before and was top student in the class. I knew the teacher (Mr. Smith) always gave the girls in the class an advantage by starting projects and handing them to the girls to complete. It was tough because there were two of them in my class. I still ended up as the top student and he acknowledged how hard I had had to work to do it. And yes, he remembered my older sister so knew the familial pressure I was under.
On graduation from high school my auto shop teacher (Mr. Johnson) told me he looked up my school records and saw that I was only one class short of completing an Industrial Arts major as well as the Uni prep.
I recently was able to get in touch with Mr. J. and told him how much what he had taught me in his class had helped me throughout my life. His methodology of diagnosing problems for the Plymouth Trouble Shooting contest have stayed with me. I was able to participate in it way back when. I would have been a two time participant but my junior year he chose the senior team even though my partner and I were faster in the practice runs he ran us through. It was always inspiring to walk into his class room and see the trophies his past teams had won on the national level.

I took all the shop classes through HS 69-71...but the one class that I regret not taking was
building trades class.
It was only available to take in the senior year and the students built a whole house, ground up, and it was sold at the end of the year on bids.

A sell-supporting class that taught a lot of building skills.

Every year produced a new home....they are all in the same general area yet.

I still have the fish bonker that I made in grade 7 or 8.

In junior high school, I took metal shop, wood shop and drafting all three years. In high school (75-76), I took some kind of automotive shop my sophomore and junior years.

I still have several things I made from wood shop and metal shop.

I took wood shop in HS. Maybe a full year? Not sure.

But the real education was in my dad’s shop at our home. Big metal shop. Still has it. Mill, several lathes, shaper, and several tons of useful crap I will need to dispose of some day soon.

Wasn't offered. :(

Didn't get wood working. Did metal shop, print shop/photography, and a very good electronics class in high school. I also ended up in 2 home-ec classes, cooking and sewing. Very useful skills.

Print shop 2 years. That was a good one for the future! :D Learned typesetting on huge printing presses and developing film in the darkroom.

Wood shop, ceramics (still have some of my projects), typewriting and “home economics” which was cooking and sewing from what I remember. The only thing I remember cooking was English muffin pizzas.

Also took some kind of auto shop class. This was in the late 70s or early 80s. My written project was on the new technology of fuel injection, why it was superior to carbs and was the future all cars. My teacher disagreed on that last bit, because it was “too hard to work on.”

Haven’t done much typesetting or darkroom work in the last 40 years, but learning to type was helpful, also I still have a sewing machine and do some repairs (car covers and other such manly things).

7th grade I had a semester of wood shop and one of sheet metal shop. 8th grade started out in combustion engine shop. We broke down and rebuilt Briggs & Stratton and Tecomseh mower engines. Next was going to be automobile engines but my family moved from New Hampshire to Guam mid semester before that happened. On Guam I got shoehorned into drafting but caught up real fast and really liked that. Then it was wood shop again for the final half year of 8th grade. But it was more advanced stuff than I did in 7th grade in New Hampshire. Power tools instead of hand tools. 9th grade (was called Industrial Arts instead of Shop on Guam) was electricity, pluming and air conditioning. Well rounded practical education all in all.

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

I did in High School and it was fantastic.

Well FWIW, Herr Oberst - the skills that you now possess to fabricate, repair, create, and build things sure don't seem to reflect it.

Not to mention how well organized you are with your tools, etc.

A big attaboy from the collective, sir! SmileWavy

Yes i took as many shop classes as i could. year 1998-2003. Mostly to get out of real classes and do something that interested me. It was 7th and 8th grade shop class and home-ec. Made model rockets , clip boards, cd racks and such. Then in high school it was basic electrical, wood working, technical drawing. I made a few benches and i remember my brother made a skateboard. He cut down wood on a big band saw and laminated it all in shape. we didnt have any auto or metal shop available. The wood shop / technical drawing teacher also was a luthier for many years he tried to make it an elective and succeded. One of my friends took the class it was very difficult i dont think he fully finished his guitar but he went on to a violin making school in Salt lake city. Anyway in the last two years of high school we had a program that you could go to vocational school for half the day. My brother went for auto shop and i went for carpentry. It was great. I went on to be a carpenter and my brother a mechanic and he still is. But they had all kinds of classes. Heavy equipment, welding, electrical, auto body, small engine, cad, cosmotology, cullinary, supermarket. It was called Boces and kids from all the area schools could go there even adults but they had to pay for the classes

Thanks, man! SmileWavy

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.......

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.

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. :p

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.

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.

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 .

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 :)!

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.

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 :D!

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

! 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.

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!

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

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.