[fn-mote]

> it’s not like shop/industrial arts stopped being a thing 40 years ago.

Unfortunately, I live near two school districts - one in a major metropolitan area in the US - which have closed down shop classes in the name of preparing students for college instead of work in the trades. It is hard to undo those decisions.

Fortunately some local “industrial arts” departments continue to thrive.

[HeyLaughingBoy]

Yep. I remember going to one of my kids' concerts about 12 years ago and the guest musician mentioning how happy he was to be there because so many schools were closing their Music programs. Same thing is happening to shop class. At least here in a rural district, there's more pressure to keep it going since a lot of what the students learn has immediate use (or they already learned it at home).