Re: Old School
By: Dux to All on Thu Jan 02 2025 11:42 pm
Du> I was thinking about how lucky I was -- without realizing it at the time of
Du> course -- to go to a public school that offered so many classes that
Du> weren't focused on academics.
It was nice, I had the same experience. We called them 'vocational' classes, and
my main choice was auto body repair (because I liked cars). I spend three
periods per day in that class banging out dents, sanding, painting, etc. It was
fun. Never got into that industry but at least I learned things.
Du> We had worthwhile home-ec (where you actually learned by doing for cooking,
Du> food safety, balancing a budget, cleaning)... all manner of shop classes --
Du> I took auto, metal and wood shop classes -- we had typing and programming
Du> classes too, and teachers who'd stay after school for hours encouraging and
Du> helping you.
Same. except I never took home-ec. Metal shop, wood shop, electronics, drafting,
all just typical 'elective' classes.
Du> In high school I spent hours after school working in the Mac lab which was
Du> filled with Centris 610's -- we were learning on Think Pascal and would
Du> travel around to different HS programming competitions (most of the time it
Du> was a team of 4 selected and we'd pile into the teacher's LeSabre on a
Du> weekend and he'd drive us an hour to a nearby college hosting the event).
Du> We'd also have what seemed like epic Bolo matches with a dozen or so people
Du> playing.
We had a photography club (a science teacher, about 5 kids and a darkroom) and
it was great. Learned how to develop film, etc. I finished high school in 1982,
so not much for computers for me. Apple computers were just coming into the
school as I was leaving, but my father was an engineer and got me into a weekly
thing for teens at Honeywell messing with Multics and CP-5. That was my real
first experience in computers. Fun!
Du> I wonder what killed shop class? Focusing on ranking / test scores?
I really don't know, but my daugher went to the same schools that I did, so I
got to visit there in the 2000s. All the vocational facilities were just empty,
or offices or something. Not much offerred. I wish she could have experienced
what I did in school.
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