Who took shop class in school?

[fred woltersdorf]

shop was required way back in the olden days when i went to school.woodshop with mr govoni,drafting with mr dimick(the coolest teacher i ever had), and metalshop.built a coffee table in woodshop.i think the only power tool we could use was a lathe.don't remember much about metalshop.drafting served me well as i worked as an engineer for 35 years.

[Joe Unni]

I took a quarter each of wood shop, metal, shop, cooking and sewing in the 7th or 8th grade. It was a requirement.

The only project I really remember is a napkin holder and one small side project the teacher (Mr. Valenti) let me do. It was this tiny cross (maybe 2 1/2" x 1 1/4") that I gave to my mom. We had just lost my dad. I punched INRI on the back. To this day she still has it displayed on the Madonna she has on her dresser.

I can't say that I "got the bug" from shop class, but I do remember what it felt like to shape the wood with rasps and sandpaper. I seem to remember the pleasing feeling when rough and sharp would give way to silky smooth and rounded over.

Oh, the year before I took shop, Mr. Valenti lost two fingers - right in class My hope is that he wasn't giving a safety lesson.

High school...

My name is Joe Unni and....I was in the band.

Enough said.

Great thread and some very fond memories.

Thanks,
-joe

[lou sansone]

took all wood shop I could get

7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th grades

lou

[Mark Singer]

I took many shops in Junior High and then in high school it was math , science, and actually it seems very blurry....was I drinking? Was I at a concert? Were there girls? I can't remember

[Ray Moser]

Had to take Industrial Arts (shop) in 7th and 8th grade. The teacher made you start by handsaw cutting three boards for a bench hook. When you had cut them, he would check them with a square and if there were not perfect-"Do it over" Pretty tough for a 12 yr old to hand cut a 6 inch wide board perfectly square. In the meantime he sat around with his feet up on the desk. I was an adult high school math teacher myself before I realized that his idea wasn't to make us experts with a hand saw but rather to keep us busy while he did minimum work. In spite of him, I enjoy woodworking and still probably couldn't cut a 6 inch board perfectly square with a hand saw.

[tod evans]

wood, metal,auto and drafting.....but like mark, it`s all a blur .02 tod

[Jim Becker]

I had drafting and electrical shop...didn't take wood shop for some reason. Thus, I didn't start woodworking until about 6-7 years ago as a branch out from home improvement projects.

[Rick Thom]

I count myself fortunate to be educated in a time and place where practical skills and knowledge where seen as important. 2 years in elementery school (shops) and 4 years in secondary school (science and technogy) gave me a good knowledge and understanding of most trades including ww, auto mech, welding, sheet metal, electrical, drafting etc which eventually led me into civil engrg and a 25 year career in telecom.
I had excellent teachers throughout my formal schooling and many since.

[Richard Wolf]

From the other side.
It was 1970, I was 22 years old. I just graduated from college and my first teaching job was in Ossining, NY, (Home of Sing Sing Correctional Facility).
I was teaching wood shop and had some kids in my class that were 19 years old. I can tell you that most of them were not college bound.
Tools and machines were old, very little money in the budget for wood or supplies. It was a real challange.
The only bright side to that job was that I was the HS ice hockey coach. We played all our games at Rye Playland, where the Rangers still practice.
Unfortunitly, programs were cut the next year and someone with more senority bumped me out of there.
I finally moved to Long Island and taught for eight more years but for I realized I hated kids.
I think I also realized I wasn't the type to work for someone else. While it seems like a dream job, be in a wood shop all day and mold minds, it wasn't all it was cracked up to be. When I left teaching in 1979, the money wasn't even enough to justify as combat pay!

Richard

[Russ Massery]

Where I went to high school shop was a requirement. It was a great program, it consisted wood, metal,electric,drafting,and small engine repair. They came in great use later on in life. My interest in woodworking started from my boss retiring and setting up a woodshop next the machine shop I worked in at the time. He offer to help build some kicthen for my old house. I enjoyed it so much, I started putting a shop together for myself.Have doing it ever since.

[James Ayars]

I took the combination half year wood shop/half year home ec class in 7th grade('76-77) as it was required of everyone. Neither was any fun or educational. I had been helping my dad for years building things. Also the previous year, I had started spending my summers and weekends roofing houses with my dad as he believed young men should do physical work thus driving nails and using a saw were nothing magical to me.

In high school, I spent my time in chemistry, physics, German etc. Plus our high school had no wood shop just auto tech, graphics, print shop and drafting.

The high school I teach in now had a wood shop until about ten years ago. Great equipment, but the teacher really couldn't do much with it as his classes were full of low life trash and hoodlums. He was a good teacher but had his fill, took a reduced retirement to get out early and now works part time at Wal Mart. All that A+ equipment disappeared in a couple years, probably into a school board members garage.
James

[Gregg Mason]

Took it, liked it. We had a great shop with big iron. And a great instructor.

[Roger Bailey]

I took woodshop in jr. high. I still have the bowls I turned. My teacher left me with a desire for woodworking and the knowledge to appreciate great craftsmanship when I see it. I do not know what ever happened to Mr. Tom Holcomb but I would like to say thanks to him and all the shop teachers out there.

[Shelley Bolster]

No woodworking class here, I had two strikes against me. One, I was a girl and two, I was taking the Academic courses. However, the fact that I was on the University entrance program never stopped them from throwing me into a sewing class (where I learned to sew a tote bag while wear a dress I had made at home ) and a cooking class. The boys made cool stuff like pizzas and steaks but us girls had to learn all about nutrition and how to make an awesome white sauce! Classes in early seventies up here still were governed by gender....sorry Wes, but I agree it is a good thing to allow both sexes to experience "the other side" although I can understand your utter boredom taking those "home-ec" classes.......now you know what girls for decades have had to endure!

[Allen Grimes]

Unfortunately I went to one of those high schools that recently cut the shop program, right before I started going there. I would have loved it though.