"I am a woodshop"

[Scott T Smith]

Great video! I lament the loss of some of the technical training in our schools.

http://profoundlydisconnected.com/i-am-a-wood-shop/

[Brian Elfert]

What trade does wood shop prepare one for? I took wood shop in high school in the late 80s and it was my favorite class, but I have no idea what trade I could take on by knowing how to use a table saw, band saw, jointer, radial arm saw, etc. Even small cabinet shops seem to have a lot of automation.

Now, if the students at that high school are learning how to build a house then the class would help them learn a trade. We certainly didn't build any houses at my school.

[paul cottingham]

It gets kids working with their hands, and seeing that working with their hands may be a viable work path. I don't see it being any more irrelevant than anything else kids learn in school.

[Scott T Smith]

What trade does wood shop prepare one for? I took wood shop in high school in the late 80s and it was my favorite class, but I have no idea what trade I could take on by knowing how to use a table saw, band saw, jointer, radial arm saw, etc. Even small cabinet shops seem to have a lot of automation.

Now, if the students at that high school are learning how to build a house then the class would help them learn a trade. We certainly didn't build any houses at my school.

The shop class that I took in grade school back in the early 70's taught me not only woodworking, but also fundamentals of electricity. It helped me to secure my first paid job at age 11 wiring houses for a church member during the summer. Learning how to use tools, how to take a project from idea to completion, how to search for answers to joinery challenges also helped to create and nurture a sense of independence, confidence and a love of working with all types of tools that has benefited me throughout my life.

Shop class is not just about woodworking - it's about teaching young adults the basics involved with living on your own and the satisfaction resulting from being less dependent upon others. It also is about opening one's eyes to the wonders of how things work in our world. And finally, it is about opening your eyes to what your own true potential is, instead of just learning about what others have done.

[Dave Ray]

I think wood shop is important in that it teaches kids to think, to plan. Where do I start, what do I do next? What tool do I use, what kind of wood and why? It teaches pride in accomplishment. Look I did that, I built this. It teaches appreciation, how could they do that without power tools. It leads to more advanced projects, which in itself refers them to books, libraries, museums and best of all sites like SMC for inspiration

[glenn bradley]

That was great. I always enjoy this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cC0JPs-rcF0

[Brian Ashton]

What trade does wood shop prepare one for? I took wood shop in high school in the late 80s and it was my favorite class, but I have no idea what trade I could take on by knowing how to use a table saw, band saw, jointer, radial arm saw, etc. Even small cabinet shops seem to have a lot of automation.

Now, if the students at that high school are learning how to build a house then the class would help them learn a trade. We certainly didn't build any houses at my school.

I have honestly no idea how you could say that. Directly you would have basic skills for furniture making (by furniture I don't mean Ikea™ crap), cabinet making (quality cabinetry has a lot of solid wood included), joinery (finishing carpentry, many high end houses incorporate solid wood joinery). Hand tool skills are transferable also to such endeavours as boat building.

There are far more small shops that get by using the basics such as a tablesaw, planer, jointer bandsaw and lathe than have invested in overhead routers and such, especially furniture making.

[Brian W Smith]

What does it prepare you for?

Tongue fully in cheek;I reckon,advanced math(algebra,calc,trig),metrology....with a heaping of geometry,spooned on top of mechanical aptitude.....don't really prepare much anymore?

[Fred Perreault]

What does it prepare you for..... hmmmmm

Well, I suppose that Woodshop and Mechanical Arts (taught at many schools) might be to students and educated adults what reading, writing and arithmetic would be to these same soon-to-be members of society. "Shop" classes may not be relevant the same way they were 30, 50 or 80 years ago, but I believe that they offer the student an opportunity for a well rounded education and to utilize what they are being taught in other classes. Should we teach math only to students that will become nuclear physicists, or english composition to future writers of fiction novels? How many 20-30-40- somethings do you know that can't change a flat tire, or tighten a loose doorknob or cabinet door hinge, or repair the light socket in a floor lamp (or a lightbulb)? We do have a lot of technology related classes in schools, but much of what is out there is electromechanical. In fact, maybe there should be mandatory "laboratories" in school where they teach the mechanical arts and wood shop. Keep in mind that maritime schools still teach about wind power.... how archaic" :-) :-)

[Brett Luna]

In my junior high shop class, we built the corner of a house from foundation to roof. We wired it. We snipped, rolled, and bent the duct work. We hung a window. We laid brick. I didn't buy my first home until I was 43 and in all the DIY I've done since, I've relied on the foundation those lessons laid down. They didn't lead me to a trade but the lessons stuck all the same. I also value the lessons I learned using power and hand tools. One of my favorite memories is getting a better score on a simple piece of stock cut and smoothed with hand tools than with a previous piece made using power tools.

Besides, it's not always what you learn. It's what you learn to love.

[Jim Rimmer]

What trade does wood shop prepare one for? I took wood shop in high school in the late 80s and it was my favorite class, but I have no idea what trade I could take on by knowing how to use a table saw, band saw, jointer, radial arm saw, etc. .

Really?? You've never had to measure anything? You don't deal with angles? You've never had to convert and add fractions? Have you not had to look at a complex process or project and try to determine the component parts of that process or project and how to break it down and complete those sub-parts and then pull it all together for a final product? I don't just mean a house or coffee table - it could be a computer program, a jet engine, a bridge or anything. Learning woodworking involves planning, math, measurement, communication skills, ordering of materials, sequential processing and many other skills that transfer to other things in life. Maybe you won't grow up to be a master cabinet maker but you will learn some skills that transfer to just about any career path.

I think and hope you made the above statement tongue-in-cheek to spark conversation.

[Fred Perreault]

..... and what about home ownership, the goal of many industrious Americans. Can we imagine paying an outsider for all of the maintenance and repairs that a home might need in 5-10-20-30 years of ownership when a little DIY knowledge could keep the costs down, the pride gleaming, and the sense of satisfaction on the rise? Now, of course, there is a learning curve, and I am sure that we all have burned a few woodworking failures, and had to call in a professional to rescue a DIY mission once in a while. In our local high school, not a tech school, (1,000 students 9-12) they have metal shop and wood shop. In wood shop they have built skiffs, canoes, guitars, and an assortment of small and medium size projects. I have spent time over to the side with those interested in turning, helping them on the lathes. And there are 20% young women in the classes, showing less ego and more patience and greater attention than the young men. Long live the trades.

....failure breeds success....

[Mike Lassiter]

Really?? You've never had to measure anything? You don't deal with angles? You've never had to convert and add fractions? Have you not had to look at a complex process or project and try to determine the component parts of that process or project and how to break it down and complete those sub-parts and then pull it all together for a final product? I don't just mean a house or coffee table - it could be a computer program, a jet engine, a bridge or anything. Learning woodworking involves planning, math, measurement, communication skills, ordering of materials, sequential processing and many other skills that transfer to other things in life. Maybe you won't grow up to be a master cabinet maker but you will learn some skills that transfer to just about any career path.

I think and hope you made the above statement tongue-in-cheek to spark conversation.

I think some people have a natural desire to want to know how things work, how to do things, how to make things. I took "shop" and it fed that desire to know and learn more. I lived at a boy's home about 5 years. I built a 8 foot long eating table in shop for the new cottage for us to have our meals on. I walked a class mate to the doctor's office after he cut the tip of his finger on a table saw. That taught me to pay attention, tools don't care what they cut. The environment offered us a place to work with our hands and tools that we had no access to otherwise - like that monster 220 3 phase planner or shaping machine so we could experience and learn. Some did learn, some took shop to fill time and get out of other classes. I personally took a lot away from the class, that showed me I could do things myself. It is likely how some decided to work in trades like carpentry, or cabinet making after getting some time to "play" with the shop equipment. Just as we need to have some understanding of math, reading, and so forth; I think boys need some exposure to such things to give them a hands on experience that they can do things they have never done. I've been blessed with building homes, wiring, plumbing, masonry, roofing, and other things that have saved me ten's of thousands of dollars over the years. That I had the childhood learning experiences I did gave me the confidence to try new things sometime because I couldn't afford to pay someone else, other times because I wanted to do it. Every task undertook was a step toward knowing more and being confident enough to try more. I continue still doing new things and learning about the unknown to me. The things I have undertook in my life have saved me much money and suffering.

What would it cost to have your water heater replaced on Thanksgiving Day? I had to replace mine last year because after 17 years it started to leaking. No water cut off valve to it, had to turn off water at the well, so the family is all coming to our house for the Thanksgiving meal, but we have no water! Trip to Home Depot the night before for a new water heater, and a little time on my part and our family meal and day was saved.

I know I am partly the person I am thanks to Mr. Halley - my shop teacher, and to the many others that have couched and helped me learn by doing.

[Mark Bolton]

What trade does wood shop prepare one for?

Honestly. You're not serious are you?

[David Weaver]

In my high school, it prepared a lot of the student athletes to be academically eligible whereas they wouldn't have been in more academic classes.

Our shop class and industrial arts classes were a place for teachers who didn't want to do much, or a place to park a football coach so they would stick around. We had two years of required industrial arts, I don't remember any of them. I have no clue if our school shops are still open, many of those around here have been sold.

In terms of cabinet making places around here, I worked in a very large corporate factory in the 1990s and the radial arm and bandsaw were used only to cut cabinet corner braces, and only one person out of 500 ever used them to do that. The rest of the stuff in the factory was automated. A stack of panels went into some CNC machine the size of a house and out of the other end came panels (sides, backs, bottoms and tops) cut, literally in order of the order tags for cabinets. That was nearly 20 years ago now.

The only people in the factory who did something that resembled shop were the maintenance men, but most of the time the maintenance men changed bits on machines, etc. If any of the larger equipment went down, it required outside expertise to get it back online.

If I wanted to learn to do something similar to wood shop, I'd apprentice with someone who has a business - which really means more like offering to be minimum wage help if they have enough work to do that, and see if they'd take you on. The prospect of what is now terminally a $15 an hour job with the promise of buying a business (where you would then end up above $15 an hour) as someone retires at *very great risk* and on an after tax basis doesn't seem very attractive.