Originally Posted by bernomatic

I don't know how it goes in other school systems, but in sixth grade in Ohio were I lived circa 1974, we were taught all sorts of shop, sewing and cooking skills in sixth grade. Not all of them intensive (we learned the theories behind welding and were given the opportunity to run a bead), but enough to give you a taste of the practice. It was then that I was taught (hand) drafting skills which would become my life's pursuit. In addition, trying to remember all the "shop" skills, we were taught:
setting type for an offset printing press
plastics working
sand casting
drafting
woodworking
Electric Arc Welding

I was kinda shocked sometime in the early 2000's to visit my old middle school when my oldest daughter was there, to learn that all of the "shop" class rooms had been converted to regular class rooms and that they weren't teaching that stuff anymore.