Times, they are a changin'

R

Rob_F

Active member
I don't post much of what I "hobby" from a craftsman perspective. Only one "What's on your workbench" post in my history as it's mostly Herter 72 redux with burlap and rattle cans and some formulation I invented to replace Rustle Coat that only works right if you get thick enough you can't really quite blend it and it leaves blemishes like a 14 year old boy managing acne AND trying to shave (but when that formulation is on, man o man is it good!)....

Then theres the canoe conversion to layout which I refuse to post until complete to save 2 year update absences and the comments about "If God wanted canoes to be layouts he would've made them layouts!" Or Sportboats, whatever.

Somehow, I got that project stored in my basement and my wife hasn't complained since duck season ended (approx T-giving here), so I must be doing something right, even if not "post" worthy.

But this one, for me, fits the bill of the original incarnation of duckboats.net.... The Build.

I have a 12 year old daughter. Which in 2000-whatever is a teenager since they no longer have "Junior High" but now have "Middle School", which seems to disperse hormones at a rate equivalent to neutrinos... density doesn't matter and at near the speed of light.... well, dad's have no chance.

Anyway, a brief conversation:

Dad: "Home Ec. What do they call it now?"
Daughter: "Life Skills"

Dad: "Life Skills? So, you balance a checkbook, learn to cook, learn to sew?"
Daughter: "No. More around nutrition labels, chemicals in the house, how to recycle. Things that save the planet, you know?'

Dad: "Huh. Shop class? You have any routers, planers, drill presses?"
Daughter: "What?"

Dad: "I know it was 'forever ago', but we had really big shop areas where we built things, like clocks. You don't build clocks?"
Daughter: "You built clocks? Like, why didn't you have one on your phone?"

Dad: "Yah, ya ya. And we had to get up to change the channel. We also built gun racks. But I'm guessing you can't do that anymore, would be promoting "gun violence"."
Daughter: "You built gun racks? Really? What is that?"

Dad: "You took some 1 x 6 lumber, cut holes and curves, added a shell box on the bottom, stained it, and gave it to your dad. Wouldn't it be nice if you did something like that for YOUR dad?"
Daughter: "Well, I COULD print you a 3D prototype!"

..... not certain if I'm happy or sad my poor DIY ways won't be passed on...

...but, she has a brother..... (in odd Obi Wan Kenobi voice).
 
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Good morning, Rob~

I'm sitting here with a big grin on my face....and it wasn't just the Dylan reference. Great little piece of writing! It follows a fine phone conversation I had last night with an older friend. His shop class forged their own screwdrivers back in the day.....

All the best,

SJS
 
i enjoyed that thoroughly.

i was the last year of home ec and shop. Nikki was not as lucky. one of my favorite things from middle school was i skipped lunch and learned how to develop photos in a dark room.
 
Rob,
LMAO, (laughed my ass off---text speak) over that father-daughter
exchange. So spot on it hurts. I remember over 50 years ago in 7th grade wood shop class building a simple desktop bookcase that you designed on paper and built out of pine. ..Books? Now my books are on Kindle...And I do remember those 3 slot gun racks with the sliding drawer...that was the popular project in the next year's class. Wow, this may be the winter for me to reminisce.
Thanks for sharing.
Louie
 
Rob

Great post. Funny and sad all at once. Thankfully we still have shop at our local "Junior High", and my teenage daughter enjoys it, built a outdoor, lounge chair last year and a small table this year. Not trying to brag of make you feel bad, but trying to point out that there still a glimmer of hope for the future...it may be small and fleeting, but there is still hope...

Then theres the canoe conversion to layout which I refuse to post until complete to save 2 year update absences and the comments about "If God wanted canoes to be layouts he would've made them layouts!" Or Sportboats, whatever.
Click to expand...

This caught my attention, do you mean a marsh boat like layout? I have a fiberdome marsh boat, but it's only 13' long. Since I got it I had a dream about getting a big old 17-18' aluninum canoe, cutting it off about 4" above the waterline and welding on a diamond plate deck. Curious what you got going.

Best
Chuck
 
Well, I went to "middle school" in 1991 when we moved to Utah so it's not exactly a new thing. Around here it was middle school-6&7th grade, Jr. High-8th and 9th, and High School is 10-12th. We had both wood and metal shop in Jr. High, we actually were allowed to build crossbows in wood shop-it was a whole kit you could get that had a steel bow and wooden stock, you would shape the stock and fit all the parts and in the end have a fully functional crossbow-that wasn't really all that long ago and it's unimaginable today! We also forged screwdrivers and made our own C-clamp in metal shop, it was a lot of fun. I learned to weld in 8th grade in metal shop, a skill which still serves me today!

The shop buildings were on the far side of the campus away from the main school building, if you were going to fight another kid that's where you would do it as the shop teachers would usually let it go until one kid was clearly losing or it attracted the attention of teachers in the main building-another thing that would be unthinkable today.

A group of us got ahold of a couple pairs of boxing gloves and we would have regular boxing matches before school-being a big group of 12-14 year old boys things often got out of hand and we would show up to our first class with bloody noses, etc. That actually got shut down eventually, not because it was too violent but because it was leading to too many real fights. Once we got old enough to drive, probably 75% of the trucks in the school parking lot had a rifle or shotgun in the gun rack-totally unthinkable today, you would have a whole campus closed and SWAT teams called from miles around. Rural Utah in the early 90's wasn't very much different to rural Utah in the 1950's!

My wife is a teacher, one positive benefit of the increase in "safety" for kids and the changes in the school system is that there is a real underground current of parents who want their kids to learn more hands-on, practical stuff in school. My wife founded and runs a nature preschool that is 100% focused on having kids spend as much time as possible outdoors having hands-on interactions with nature. My daughters, who will be in 5th and 1st grade next year, both go to a charter school that is focused on teaching real life skills-they do hands-on cooking, basic carpentry and mechanical stuff, music and P.E., and they also spend as much time outside as possible. They still have to adhere to the state's educational standards so they learn the full curriculum too. Hopefully this is an idea that will keep spreading around the country!
 
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Interesting on the PE class: waiting for my son:s basketball practice to end I read the Dept of Education "5 Goals" for PE.

Interestingly, none of the goals involved having fun.
 
I enjoyed that very much, especially the shop class story.


My fellow JH students and I learned a lot in wood shop, when a student cut two of this fingers off on that table saw... Looked like a scene out of a horror movie when he began waving his hand and screaming.

One shop teacher tried to calm the lad, apply pressure and bandages. The other shop teacher picked up the fingers and put them in his hanky. They picked the boy up and off to the ER and surgery.

That was in 1963,and that was my first REAL lesson about machinery & safety.

Yup "Times, they are a changin'"
 
Cody,

While I am little bit older, graduated from HS in 1989, Iowa was much the same as your experience. Most vehicles had shotguns in them. We had archery in PE. We also had Home Ec and Shop. Thanks to shop class and my shop teacher, I was tapped by the local cabinet shop for employment. I worked there for 2 years in HS and summers and breaks for 2 years in college. In 1987, I was making what is todays minimum wage. Pretty nice money for a HS kid. I learned many life skills, and I can never adequately repay those people. My only regret is that I didn't take metals class.
 
1986 for me, everyone took a year of shop classes (auto, metal, wood, home ec, cooking and/or agriculture) in 9th grade.
I also had drafting in 10th, and we used real drafting boards, mechanical pencils and T-squares!
 
Jeeze you guys are old. Lol hahaha

I finished 8th grade in 2004, HS in 2008.

I learned more from friends parents, family and Nikki's dad for the important stuff, than school. From my view point school is worthless and If I have kids they will be homeschooled. There are some awesome programs for home schooled kids here. Lots of shop stuff such as welding, carpentry,etc. the sound school is cool for biology and commercial fishing too. Way better than the crap that is taught in school.
 
I was in Drafting class when JFK was shot. Does that date me a bit. I kept my gun rack but the spring tooth digger that I modified to hydraulic lift in Farm Shop class was used for many years after I left the farm.
 
Chris - If yer really lucky & blessed, you'll make it to our Geezer age. As you may find out, it tain't easy. Enjoy yourself while ya can. We learned many life skills in school back in the day that severed us well though out our lives.

I recall all JH students being sent home the day JFK was shot. No one said a word upon leaving, or riding the bus home.
 
Rob, that was a masterpiece. Well done, sir. Amazing how good the coffee tastes, also. Heck, I even thought about Mr. Fowler, who was my shop teacher back in 1957.
Al
 
Oh yes, Bert Fowler- It was his drafting class that I was in when JFK was shot & my girlfriend (wife now) was across the hall in his wifes' class at the same time.
Phil, I took archery as one of my PEd credits at the U of Minn. When I showed up with my hunting bow the instructor told me to go to the end lane, not shoot anyone and have fun!! Times are indeed changing.
 
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