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One problem I've seen is the reduction in the variety of high school courses. If you don't spend the time doing work in shop, you might not know that you really

• jzwinck 10y ago
  I recently found out that Chicago doesn't offer any shop classes to most of its high school students anymore. I learned this from a former shop teacher who has been forced to switch into teaching computer courses like Microsoft Office. Students used to learn Office by doing, now they have to learn to live with not being able to do much of anything physical with their hands unless they go to vocational school when they're 18+.
  • tjl 10y ago
    When I was in grade 7 I moved to a new town and therefore a new school. They actually had a requirement that everybody take both home economics and shop class. It was actually a combined course, for the first half the year you did one and the second half the other. Which was good for me because while I could cook and do shop, I couldn't sew. I still use the spice rack I made back then. I thought it was a pretty good idea since it meant that everybody would learn the basics of cooking, sewing, and woodworking. My high schools I went to all had some sort of vocational courses and if you weren't doing the advanced courses (in preparation for university), you were kind of expected that you'd do some of them. I moved for my final year of high school and while I was disappointed I wouldn't get to do another year of programming, they did have a electronics course (I built a small radio). I later learned that a few years after I started university, they cancelled the electronics course.