Originally Posted by
nlerner
All I remember from 8th-grade shop class in my public junior high in suburban New Jersey is that one could make a ring by starting with a large nut and using a grinding wheel and that power saws could take off a finger or two if you’re not careful.
As far as the nostalgia for old times, I guess you didn’t hear about the “maker space” movement of the last 10 years. I count five such facilities within 5 miles of my house, all with a much lower barrier to entry than my 8th-grade shop class.
Yes, the maker movement is kind of a replacement for industrial education, but it's offered in only a few schools, and I'm guessing it's usually an elective, not a required course. I taught a course in bike repair in a kids' summer program in 2010 and 2011. At the time I was living in suburban New Jersey. The middle schools had just removed all shop classes from their curricula. As I taught the kids, I realized that no one had ever taught them how to do anything with their hands. No woodworking, ceramics, cooking, or sewing.
I'm glad for the maker spaces. Five within five miles of you? I wish I knew of one I could use. A few years ago, I looked up my neighborhood in Manhattan, and membership was quite expensive, something like $100/month. Of course, NYC is an unusual place with rents much higher than everywhere else. The bike coop in Brooklyn where I volunteer is in a church business and operates for only three hours a week. It's crammed into a closet and taken out into the community room for that short period. Space is really hard to come by.