How did your shop classes effect your life?

I took the carpentry class in high school, graduated in 53 and got in the carpenters union. Now retired with over 50 years in the trade, sure come handy when I builted my garage to work on my rod but the wife says, that will easy for you to do and while your at it .

 

I took shop all throughout high school. Auto tech was only offered senior year. and all we did was change oil for the other teachers in school. Pretty lame, and I didn't learn a damn thing.

 

I learned alot about cars in shop since my dad was not a car guy at all.....my shop teacher was kool used brealcreame and smoked camel straights in the shop,in the photo below is the drafting shop teacher covering while the real guy was out for a week and I was rebuilding the bigblock in my 66 biscayne 2dr factory 396 th-400....while I was in other classes this little prick came by and threw all my parts new,used what ever,in the parts bin because it didnt lokk important to him...I got suspended for 3-4 days right after this was taken for tellin him off............1974

 

Good for you, growing up in Europe, we didn't have Auto shop.
But, when we graduated, we knew how to build a bitchin' birdhouse out of fuckin' wood.

 

My parents offered a full ride to go to the Univerity of TN. I said fuck that, I was gonna use my skills and go right into the sheetmetal union. Hell those guys were making $12.50 an hour.... How could I go wrong? (What was I thinking?) Just about the time I got topped out in the local, the local went under in Chattanooga, and the closest local was Knoxville, Tn.

Started up my own company that was Millright backed through the local. We did heavy millwright work, pipe fitting, iron work, and best of all, I still got to do my sheetmetal work. This fiasco went on for about 15 years, until I figured out that was doing ALL the work and getting 1/2 the money.

Rolled my 20 years of knowlege into the local 175 Electricians union.

Re-opened Dad's old Speed Shop and have loved every minute of since.

When I'm not at the "Real Job" I try to work on the hot rods.

Kevin
Ooltewah Speed Shop

 

I wish that California had money to hire shop teachers again.Because my high school has the facilities, but they saddly lay vacant

 

Nice!
You ever build a tool box? Out of wood!!

 

It's probably not the money, they can find money for every other foo foo bullshit thing that comes along. I suspect that a lot of the problem is that shop class is looked down on by the snooty yuppys that run most school systems these days. Another big problem is the behavior of todays youth. I bought a complete foundry setup from our local high school because the shop teacher said you just couldn't trust the kids with molten metal. I also bought a milling machine from them, that some asshole had fucked up, so rather than try to find the money to repair it they sold it, it wasn't replaced. They gradually rid the shop of most power tools just to reduce their liability, because if some jack off gets hurt screwin' around, sure as shit his parents will sue. It's a fuckin' shame.

 

it didn't

 

My high school shop classes were in a body shop.
....in a deserted industrial park on the west side of Dayton, Ohio. My first job was sandblasting. One summer I blasted and painted a fleet of water trucks for a local construction/paving company. The insides of the tanks were big enough that you could walk around in them, so I got the job of coating the tanks with a pressure pot full of DP40 and a disposable paint mask. DP40 is good stuff, but luckily scrubs off your teeth and gums with a little elbow grease.

Then on to spraying straight Delstar and Delthane on electrical boxes- before I could have the privilege of learning to wet-block for hours on K200 on old Jags, street rods and musclecars.
Ended up being the painter before I left that place for a better job. I laid 40 coats of black laquer on the XK120 from "The Great Race", dissassembled/reassembled lots of XK-E's, and '68-'72 Corvettes, painted numerous Brookville cars, and watched a real Old-timer leadwork a couple of old Packards. I'll NEVER work that hard again.
Good times, man.

__

 

RoddinRon
You HIT the nail right on the head.
We need military type discipline in our schools
No learning can take place with out control.
Cal

 

Didn't start until I was retired. Took 18 month automachinist course at a local community college. Tuition was cheap so I netted around $600.00 a month from GI Bill while going half a day to school...rebuilt two flatheads and a Jeep engine for myself @ cost of parts....turned a couple hundred cranks, rebuild a bunch of heads...graduated and haven't used any of the skills since.

 

Future Farmers of America-FFA

I learned to weld a little and speak in front of a crowd.Most classes teach you one or the other.

I had to learn about both. Still working at getting better at both.

 

High school auto shop; it was the instructor that recommended me for a part time, after school job at a Standard-Chevron Dealer. It became full time by my senior year, and taught me, I DID'NT WANT TO WORK ON OTHER PEOPLES CARS, just my own and friends. When I got "drafted", I became a Medic, and that lead to a career as a Registered Radiologic Technologist ( X-Ray Tech ). Just thought it better to work on/with people than cars, and a lot cleaner too. Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

Never took a class cause i was around the stuff all my life and wasnt planning a career in the field, but sat in on a bunch of "intro" classes in free periods in HS. One thing I noticed, what would appear to be common sense, was a rare commodity. I watched 3 kids try to keep a car from rolling by pushing against the back while one jacked up the front. and once saw another pair testing for spark by holding the wire while one kid cranked the engine....the poor bastard never let go and tested the whole set...The teacher did interject on both accounts but not until he and i had a good laugh!

 

Yup, RoddinRon got it right. It's all about law suits and liability. As a "shop" teacher for 33+ years I saw it go from, "The teacher is always right." to "The student is the customer and the "customer" is never wrong - especially when the customer's parents came to the school saying, "I am going to sue." That in turn promoted the view that, "We do what is in the best interest of the student."

 

It may take a few years guys and gals, but it is going to get better.
One of the big pushes that is in the works is Sustainable Technology.
Basically, how to make something using basic skills with local materials and basic tools.
The group that is in the pipeline now is looking forward to returning some of the basic skills to what is now called Engineering and Technology Education.
I owe a lot to Mr. Kelsey(RIP) and Mr. Ellis.
They both ruled, metaphorically and literally.
With encouragement from my father, and what they taught me in shop class, I knew I could make anything. I build what I drive, and restored three older houses.
Now, after almost 30 years, I am going teach the class I loved in school.