Woodshops like this one at Seattle's Central Community College are quickly disappearing. Photo by Joe Mabel. Permission granted by photographer.
Shop classes have all but disappeared from many American schools, and at first glance that might seem like a logical step. Why would today's wired kids need to know how to work with their hands? The answer is that they still need the inspiration and understanding that results from turning something digital into something real.
As the Wall Street Journal recently reported, manufacturing jobs paying upwards of $80,000 a year are going unfilled in an era when unemployment hovers around nine percent. Three factors are contributing to the shortfall in workers. Baby boomers with sophisticated machine skills are retiring in large numbers at the same time that parents and guidance counselors discourage kids from pursuing careers in manufacturing. Additionally, the U.S. education system isn't producing enough graduates with the math and science proficiency necessary to operate and repair computer-controlled factory equipment.
Given the limits of a one-size-fits-all education, it's hard to imagine how kids with the talent or inclination to qualify for skilled, secure jobs in the trades will even recognize it. The way to discover that you love woodworking is to build a piece of furniture; the way to determine you have the talent to be modern-day machinist is to operate a milling machine and create a mechanical part. And today's factory workers aren't just button-pushers; they need the math skills necessary to make intricate calculations daily.
As for wired kids preparing for wired jobs in a wired world, even the most sophisticated design software can't substitute for an appreciation of how materials truly behave in a finished product. The choices an engineer or designer makes while creating a new product are often determined by what happens during the fabrication process. But what if no one ever taught you how to make anything?
Parents are aware that arts and music are evaporating from schools, and they are doing what they can to replace those experiences through extracurricular activities -- in part because they understand their greater value. The ability to read music can enhance math comprehension. Art exercises the vital right side of the brain. And shop class is no different. Parents should consider investing in after-school activities that teach kids how to make furniture, jewelry, clothes and robots when they're signing up for soccer camp and gymnastics classes. Here is something even more radical: take them to a Maker Faire in addition to a professional sporting event.
There are different ways to engage students, and making an object from start to finish is a proven method of making the concepts they learn in school relevant to life. Have we become so focused on cost-cutting that we forgot project-based learning is highly effective? The workforce is composed of all kinds of learners performing all kinds of tasks; the one room in any school building that can captivate all of them just might be the one with the lathe. It's not too late to unlock the door and dust off the equipment.
Flickr photo by Chewonki Semester School
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As a current student that came from a desk job, I can say that shop class is an incredible way to become an entrepreneur. I have started my own business because of the skills I have learned at the school. I may not be making as much money now (hopefully more in the future), but I can tackle anything made from wood. It is a great feeling of independence and achievement.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/SCCC-Wood-Construction-Center/100329966714403
However one aspect of your article which I have strong doubts about are the claims of the WSJ article you cited. Its not uncommon to see this type of 'feel good' piece run in a newspaper like the WSJ, which is primarily consumed by the same people who pocket the labor arbitrage associated with offshoring our manufacturing.
My first engineering job was as a production engineer at a semiconductor company...The skills I learned in Junior High shop, soldering, splicing, and reading circuit diagrams, were invaluable.
Today's "wired" kids need to spend some time tinkering with the real world.
the U.S. education system isn't turning out enough people with the math and science skills needed to operate and repair sophisticated computer-controlled factory equipment, jobs that often pay $50,000 to $80,000 a year, plus benefits. Manufacturers say parents and guidance counselors discourage bright kids from even considering careers in manufacturing.
"We get people coming in here all the time who say, 'I can weld,'" says Denis Gimbel, human-resources manager at Lehigh Heavy Forge Corp., of Bethlehem, Pa., whose products include parts for ships. "Well, my grandmother could weld." He needs people who understand the intricacies of $1 million lathes and other metal-shaping equipment.
What shop class in the nation can prepare a high school student to understand the intricacies of $1 million lathes and other metal-shaping equipment?
Shop is of value because, if for no other reason, it prepares kids to do basic household chores and tasks without calling a handy "person" every 30 minutes. While in college, my roomates and I saved several thousand dollars because we knew how to start stalled garbage disposals, clear clogs, do computer repair, etc., all ourselves. Being independent isn't a bad thing.
I know for a fact that while many of my friends are willing to work waiting tables and running registers, even the untrained jobs at the steel mill in town pay more than those ever will, and offer more security, but none of my graduated friends wants a job for forty hours a week if they have to work with their hands. They'd rather sit behind desks, using their brain rather than their hands. They think someone else will take the job, though they are unwilling, and my recently unemployed friends (I live in Alabama; those tornadoes destroyed homes AND jobs) still don't want to check the steel mill because they think they've got degrees, and aren't quite desperate enough.
The good news is, lots of people my age do make clothes, thanks to shows like Project Runway, which showcases designers. If HGTV were to target younger audiences, I think it would change that.
http://www.heroturko.com/ebooks/901357-stan-gibilisco-teach-yourself-electricity-and-electronics-fourth-edition.html
Now the electronics can be simulated with the electronics.
http://www.physicsbox.com/indexsolveelec2en.html
I wish I had stuff like that when I was in 7th grade. I don't even recall a teacher suggesting a good book that wasn't what they regarded as literary drivel. Most educators were not into science and technology. They were into CULTURE.
Now the technology is taking over the culture.