> when I was a kid in the 8th grade it was standard practice to have the boys and girls switch shop/home ec classes a few times during the school year Growing

> when I was a kid in the 8th grade it was standard practice to have the boys and girls switch shop/home ec classes a few times during the school year Growing up in Norway, "home ec" was a mandatory subject, 2 hrs/week, for everyone in 6th grade and again in 9th grade. Shop class was also mandatory for everyone: I remember in 10th grade everyone made their own outdoor knife (well, we made the sheaths from leather, the handles from wood, and then we got the blades and joined them in; no blacksmithing). In 9th grade we also had outdoor cooking (on a fire) for a rotating 1/4 of the class every week, summer and winter. Fun times, smelling so badly of campfire that the 1/4 of class was shunned by others for the rest of the day.