I have fond memories of shop class in middle school. It was required for all the boys for half a year (girls got home economics), and in summers they ran it for anyone wanting a fun activity. I read an article in the Wall Street Journal about how in many places in the U.S. schools are bringing back shop class to better serve students. After decades of schools catering primarily to the college-bound (and especially STEM), there is a return to providing students with more options. And this time it isn’t just for the guys.
What Shop Did for Me
By middle school, I knew I wanted to be a scientist and took all the math and science classes that were offered. But I loved my required shop class and took extra classes when offered during summer school. My father taught me how to use hand tools, but my shop teacher, Mr. Klein, taught me how to use the big machines, and more importantly about shop safety. I still remembering his shouts of “don’t stand in the line of tangency”, when he caught a student standing in a dangerous place where a machine kick back might occur. This hands on experience was fun as well as educational, and today woodworking is a hobby that offers a nice break from my job that requires long hours in front of a computer screen.
STEM Is Not Always the Best Choice
I don’t understand why there has been such an effort to promote STEM to students when there are so many other good careers. I love science, and that was my direction from an early age. But most of my classmates in school didn’t like science and math. They were bound to a different path. For most students, STEM isn’t their passion, so it isn’t the best career choice for them. Just because a student is good at math doesn’t mean they should become a scientist.
Another consideration is that many STEM fields do not have much of a job market. Perhaps it is because so many students were pushed into STEM that the job market is overloaded. Sure, there are shortages of technical people in some areas, but that shortage is not across the board. Recently I have seen discussion about an over-supply of computer engineers, while my friends in electrical engineering talk about a shortage of talent in that field. Apparently writing software code is more appealing to today’s college student than making the hardware to program.
Schools Are Bringing Back Shop Class to Better Serve Students
It is nice to see that many schools are bringing back shop class to better serve students. For too long we have thought of an education as consisting only of quantitative and verbal skills. These are certainly foundational, but shouldn’t an education involve perceptual-motor skills as well? A well educated person should be able to do basic math and communicate clearly. But shouldn’t everyone be able to use a screwdriver and understand how things work? For students whose interests and talents do not lie in the academic realm, there should be choices provided in school.
Trade occupations, like carpenters, electricians, and plumbers are vital to society and make great careers. Schools should encourage students who enjoy working with their hands to consider those career paths, and they should provide classes to help them learn the fundamentals and explore their interests. My high school trained students to be automobile mechanics, which many of my classmates eagerly pursued. It also provided preparation for STEM occupations with math and science courses. Our schools should do both to better serve students.
Image generated by DALL-E 3.0. Prompt “Image of an electrician working on an electrical panel.” “This is good, but don’t make the person look ethnic.”
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