Flutterby™! : Death of Shop Class 2012-05-30 16:31:38.190009+00

Death of Shop Class

2012-05-30 16:31:38.190009+00 by Dan Lyke 3 comments

Reinforcing my preconceptions: Forbes: Tara Tiger Brown: The Death Of Shop Class And America's Skilled Workforce.

Shop classes are being eliminated from California schools due to the University of California/California State ‘a-g’ requirements. ‘The intent of the ‘a-g’ subject requirements is to ensure that students can participate fully in the first-year program at the University in a wide variety of fields of study.’ (a) History/Social Science (b) English (c) Mathematics (d) Laboratory Science (e) Language other than English (f) Visual and Performing Arts (g) College Preparatory Elective Courses. High school administrators are graded on their effectiveness to administer those classes through the Western Association of Schools and Colleges accreditation. Shop class is not included in the requirements, thereby not valued and schools consider the class a burden to support. Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) with 660,000 students in K-12 has already eliminated 90% of shop classes and it looks like the rest will be gone by the end of the 2013.

I suspect that the real burden is one of liability, or so I have been told by a couple of shop and ex shop teachers that I have met. Kids playing with sharp, piercing, crunching and otherwise dangerous tools carries a significant cost to a school district.

I believe this is a tremendous mistake. Children need to be exposed to the process of making things. To learn how to make or repair something, even if they never do it again in their live, though that is unlikely if they know how to do it.

My son-in-law, an AUSA, can't fix a thing. With their combined income he doesn't have to be able to fix anything, but he has repeatedly stated he wished that he could. He becomes very defensive about this inability. I would be happy to teach him, though they live too far away. I look forward to summer vacations with my grandson and granddaughter, who should both learn which end of a screwdriver fits the screw.