"William Wixon" wrote in message
...

"Ed Huntress" wrote in message
...

-snip-

When I was in school, these were every boy's favorite, and almost the
only useful education we got.

I would say litigation.

-snip-

Something to be aware of in this subject is what happened to industrial
arts teaching as far back as the late 1800s. The initial push for shop
classes was NOT to teach kids the skills they'd need for jobs in
industry. It was to "build an appreciation" for "industriousness," and to
provide "cultural industrial education" as part of a broad curriculum. In
other words, it
-snip-

There is little support in most communities to fund industrial arts
education, except in the vo-tech specialty schools. There is *tremendous*
pressure for kids to score higher on national math and English tests. And
that's why we're where we are today.

--
Ed Huntress


likewise, they could also be exposing kids, boys in particular, to fine
arts (painting, sculpture, music, etc.). i'd imagine that also used to be
part of a classical education. now there's too much pressure to *not*
teach kids about the arts. i think that's a damn shame.

I agree.

oh, and i took all the shop classes (except printing) and won the
"industrial arts award" when i graduated high school.

b.w.