[tkgally]

I entered junior-high school (as it was then called) in Pasadena, California, in 1969. In seventh grade, all of the boys took four 10-week modules: electricity (make an electric motor), print shop (typesetting by hand and printing with a platen press), wood shop, and drafting (pencils and straightedges). The girls took a year of home economics; my two older sisters learned how to sew in those classes, and one made most of her own clothes when she was in high school.

The next year, the classes were made co-educational, with students choosing which stream to take, but at least in that first year the gender divide remained sharp. I chose to take drafting for all of eighth grade; there was only one girl in the class.

I can’t say that what I learned in those classes paid off for me directly, but I did pick up knowledge and skills that I applied indirectly in my later careers: from printshop for writing and editing work, and from drafting for learning how to use drawing and graphics software.

It would been nice if I had learned how to sew and cook then, too.

[SoftTalker]

In middle school we could take Industrial Arts, Home Economics, and Art. Seventh graders took all three, so they were each 2/3 of a semester, with one of them broken across the semester break.

In eighth grade we got to select two of the three, and they were each one semester. I took Industrial Arts and Home Economics because the Art teacher was a complete wacko who in the seventh grade class destroyed any interest I had in the subject.

I am pretty sure seventh grade Industrial Arts was co-ed and everyone took it. But maybe girls had another option, I don't quite remember. In eighth grade since it was an elective, it self-selected to almost entirely boys.

[kstrauser]

I had to take either home ec or shop in high school. I’d already done all the shop stuff I’d wanted to while growing up helping my dad make things, so I took home ec instead. I was one of two boys in the class. It was awesome. We baked. We sewed. We hung out with a roomful of girls. It was one of my better high school decisions.

[rvense]

A basic education should include a lot of stuff you never use. If you're not exposed to things that don't interest you, how are you going to find the ones that do?

[WalterBright]

My shop classes paid off handsomely for me. I recommend taking them.