> I too attended wood & drafting shops in 7th grade, wood shop only in 8th
> grade (all kinds of other shops such as metal, etc. offered in 8th).  Unlike
> Bad Andy, we had access to all the shop tools, plus a wide variety of woods

I guess I was lucky, as I lived my youth at a time before the human 
race believed that knowing how to work with one's hands was 
unimportant.  My high school required all of us to take "shop" every 
year.

First year was drafting.  Second and third were "woodworking" and 
"other" (not exactly sure what they called that) and the fourth year 
you could choose which one you wanted to take as an 'advanced' class.

I was horrible at woodworking.  I made a miserable looking bowl on a 
lathe and I vaguely remember some sort of box affair.  It was mostly 
power tool-oriented or at least that's what I remember of it and I 
was afraid of the jointer.   That memory is vivid.  In the 'other 
class' all I remember was working with plastics to make salt and 
pepper shakers and bending sheetmetal into god knows what.

My 'advanced' year was drafting and I had a knack for it.  I 
actually worked as a draftsman for a while a bit later in life. 
Mostly, those classes taught me that there was gratification in 
making things and that, just maybe, I could do it.  That certainly 
wasn't the least important lesson I learned in high school.

-- 
Cheers --- Larry Marshall
Quebec City, Quebec
http://www.woodnbits.com
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