WSJ:
In America’s most surprising cutting-edge classes, students pursue hands-on work with wood, metals and machinery, getting a jump on lucrative old-school careers.
School districts around the U.S. are spending tens of millions of dollars to expand and revamp high-school shop classes for the 21st century. They are betting on the future of manual skills overlooked in the digital age, offering vocational-education classes that school officials say give students a broader view of career prospects with or without college.
With higher-education costs soaring and white-collar workers under threat by generative AI, the timing couldn’t be better.
In a suburb of Madison, Wis., Middleton High School completed a $90 million campus overhaul in 2022 that included new technical-education facilities. The school’s shop classes, for years tucked away in a back corridor, are now on display. Fishbowl-style glass walls show off the new manufacturing lab, equipped with computer-controlled machine tools and robotic arms. more
When I was in HS, our shop class was attending night-school in the afternoon.
Then the Vocational schools started, replacing night school.
Excellent. Get boys enrolled in those classes as young as possible. Bring retirees in to mentor as well.
I hate to tell them this, but manufacturing will probably be the first thing hit with AI. The ground work has been laid. It would be damn simple really.
Even if you do not make a career out of it, the benefits of knowing how and being confident enough to TRY to build and repair things with your own hands and head are PRICELESS. I took one cabinetmaking class as an adult and use the various skills constantly…and just for my own enjoyment.
The US has been hurting for qualified machinists for years now, not to mention electricians and plumbers. Some plumbers make more than doctors. Auto mechanic/technician is another good profession to get into. We have more than enough lawyers.
Yes, AI is very close (Elon has predicted “singularity” within the next few years) but still, boys need to know some very basic skills that our fathers were taught by their fathers;
A rudimentary understanding of an internal combustion engine, how to change a tire or your oil.
Tool nomenclature, what tool for what objective.
How a toilet works.
The different types of wood, which wood goes for which project.
Electricity basics.
Growing up raised by a single mom, I never learned any of this. Oh, and youtube how to videos are great.
While we are on the subject, bring back Home EC (for girls). Ladies, learn how to cook, your sexual market value will skyrocket.
Human filth using organic tissue to fold metal on brake … a task better left to Elon’s AI robots. Go enforce Rule-34, erectile flesh suits. Feel orgasmic bliss or RobbieThe will make you feel pain.
MrLiberty, you hit the nail on the head (so to speak)!! I took every shop class I could and it has paid off in HUGE savings as it set me up for a lifetime of home & auto repair & misc. maintenance and improvements. Familiarity with tools and materials is a solid foundation for anyone to have. Even if nothing else, it would help a person know if they are being scammed by some repair man or contractor.
I know it goes against the elites (lie) that we all live in the ‘information age’, and are above such base and dirty work. But there are things a man should know how to do.
Ask a plumber what his work smells like, he’ll say it smells like money
Sorry but anything coming out of a suburb of Madison, WI. I view with extreme skepticism. It is a democrat shit hole. The center of creation for woke bullshit like “inseminated person.” $90 million campus overhaul in 2022? Fishbowl-style glass walls?
Mom made sure I could cook and keep house.
Dad made sure I could change my own oil, tires and spark plugs.
Do my own flush job and use power tools.
Who needed Girl Scouts?
I took shop in Jr. High in the early 70’s. Mr. Vern Morgas was our teacher. As a bonus, he also taught the qualifying classes for SCUBA — which I also took. I don’t dive anymore, but I still yearn for a wood lathe of my own. I’m not finished yet, though, and maybe I’ll have one someday.
(This was FUN! Was wondering if Mr. Morgas was still around and found this wonderful piece about his early SCUBA. I didn’t know he’d bought his first tank from Jacques Cousteau! He was a really great shop teacher, too.)
…forgot the link: https://www.pugetsoundinstitute.org/puget-sound-voices-vern-morgas/
Took every shop class except auto shop. Did ROP electronics too… I didn’t take auto shop because I learned it from my neighbors when I was like 5… Handing them wrenches and learning all the naughty words…
The funny thing is, with a STEM degree and all those shop classes… I can pass for an EE with other EE’s. The ME’s usually trip me up and figure it out. But it takes them a bit… 😉
Residential,commercial, industrial electrical/electronics. Construction trades. HVAC, plumbing. Hydraulic and pneumatic actuators and controls.
These all need skilled bodies and most of these jobs pay quite well. AI isn’t making inroads on these for a very long time.
When you get good at those jobs above you won’t have to look for work. Last time I applied for a job was 1985. Since then employers have called me with job offers.
“AI isn’t making inroads on these for a very long time.”
Would you let an AI controlled robot into your house to fix an appliance?
I actually suspect the AI stuff is going to lead to a new “-ist” or “-phobe”. Ala… “That’s AIist! You sick technophobe!” It’s the only way they’re going to get the returns they’re looking for. Demonize actual people, demonize their aversion to the technology.
KR
My dad as well as his older brother could build anything because they learned all those skills growing up during the Depression in the 1930’s. My dad was a master mechanic and businessman owning his own Shell gas station and later auto shop with my youngest brother. He did it for 60 + years from the early 50’s until about 2015 when he finally gave sole responsibility to my brother. And both my dad and my uncle made a good living working for themselves. He also never threw anything away because there was always a use for whatever small screw, nut, widget etc. that he had a massive collection in his garage. He was also an excellent woodworker and general all-around handyman. My son inherited a lot of his skills from his grandfather who mentored him in all things practical when he was growing up. I got the brains in my family that I inherited from my mom and am a lousy mechanic (just ask my dad and my 3 brothers) although the Navy did teach me how to work and trusted me enough to work on F-4 Phantom fighter planes as a plane captain/crew chief in the early to mid 70’s.
About Effin’ time!