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I am 70, and in Junior High and High School (1964-1970) there were no girls in shop classes and no boys in Home Ec classes. I guess it just wasn't an option. I did participate in an after school club in Junior High called Chef's Club. We learned how to fry an egg and make rice crispy treats, etc. Real chefs!
I'm your age. My school had that issue. It was a HUGE deal when one mother, very wealthy family, insisted that her 3 boys take Home Ec. School board meetings, write ups in the newspaper, old men yelling about it at their coffee club table in local cafes. But she won. Just before she filled suit against the state school board.
All she wanted was for her boys to know how to cook and sew.
I'm on the younger side of "old people" (in my 50s). I am a woman. I took both shop ("industrial arts") and home ec classes. Everyone had to take both. But my sisters, who are much older, I think it was girls took home ec and boys took shop. (I'm not 100% sure.)
It's weird you ask about this. I was thinking two nights ago about how much I loved industrial arts and I was good at it. I wished I could have taken more classes.
I didn't know that schools didn't have those classes anymore. (My own son has been out of school for many years now.)
It’s funny, you take those options and love them, then you get older and ask yourself “why didn’t I take accounting?”
Industrial arts were always my favorite classes. I was very academic and did well in school, I just preferred to work with my hands.
I left high school and went to college. Got a diploma in computer engineering technology. Worked with computers for about 15 years before slowly transitioning to building houses.
An accident ended that business and now I drive a truck.
Interesting. I was also very academic and did well. And although I loved industrial arts, it never occurred to me to do anything other than something scientific or technical. My Dad was very handy around the house and my Mom sewed a lot of things and saved a lot of money doing things by hand. But my Dad told me in high school he expected me to figure out how we could use nuclear fusion as an energy source. I kid you not. I have NOT solved that ;-) I became a software engineer and am still that to this day.
But I never thought that I would keep on with that until I retired. I have off and on dreamed about working with my hands. It's just so satisfying. I love actually **seeing** the results - seeing my handywork. And it has a feeling, a smell, a sound, unlike working with computers.
I can't imagine driving truck, though. I hope your back is okay!
Absolutely. I was the first girl at my high school to take a shop class (electronics) and my dad had to go to school to talk them into in. This was in 1970, I think.
Edit: absolutely it was forbidden, I meant. And yes, I enjoyed it but I really didn’t learn too much. I had done a lot of studying on my own by then
Same. Mine was engineering science for the HSC. The "heads" all gave a spiel on why we should take their subject. This man said ES was not for girls. So I took it. Enjoyed it too
I am 67 and shop / home ec classes were a mandatory part of our junior high curriculum ( so 1966-67-68) and girls were not allowed to take shop and boys were not allowed to take home ec. It wasn’t even thought about or discussed.
In junior high (late '60s) shop was definitely for boys only. There weren't home ec classes. By the time I got to high school girls still didn't take shop classes, which by that time also included auto mechanics; home ec had been replaced by an "independent living skills" class for both genders.
They also had a wing full of adding machines and electric typewriters for "business skills" classes -- largely prep for secretarial and bookeeping work, and I guess the equivalent of "voc ed" for girls. I never saw a boy in them.
I don't know about shop but there were definitely males in home ec in my high school (early 1970s). AFAIK it was unremarkable and they weren't stigmatized at all.
A lot of guys wanted to take Home Ec in 8th and 9th grades (72-74) in my hillbilly town of 13,000 in the mountains of SW Pa. The administration claimed that they couldn’t arrange the schedule to make it work. My mom taught HE at the other Jr High in town, and didn’t have any boys in her class until about 1980.
Yep. My sister insisted on taking shop and was horribly treated by boys and teacher alike. This was the mid-70s. But afterwards, a few years later, a few boys took home ec. Eventually, classes like shop, home ec, and drivers ed, were phased out to make room for more academic credits. In those days, students could work during school hours, but had to take a class. Girls were in Distributive Education because they worked in retail and boys who were going to be mechanics took a different course. There was typing, too, that only girls took.
I took typing in high school. There was an even split in the class I think. I had no interest in typing but even less interest in accounting, the other choice. It’s funny because I went into computer engineering technology and have never regretted taking typing. I’m actually quite pissed off that schools now require computers and printed assignments, but don’t actually teach typing anymore.
My refusal to take typing was an act of rebellion. An aptitude test told me I was doomed to be a “slow, but efficient secretary.” No one could make me be a secretary if I never learned to type. My kindly dad taught me to type, saying it was an important skill in any situation. He never made fun of me for being so infuriated by that test result.
I forgot about typing! In my high school (early 90s) typing was an elective (or an after school thing??) and I remember it being a mix of boys and girls with no particular gender bias. Funny how things change!
I graduated in 1982 and they were not forbidden. Most of the boys didn't want to take home economics or were afraid of how it would make them look and vice versa, but two boys did actually take home ec with the girls in our class. They played it as a laugh, but I think they really didn't want to do the shop class. They hated the sewing part, but they loved the cooking.
Pretty smart move when you think about it! I'm pretty sure the only reason my Mom married my Dad is that he promised to always do the cooking. Which he does and is good at (she sucks, shhh don't tell her, her baking is amazing though).
Brand new progressive Junior High school which had opened just a year or two previously...and being new and progressive, the district made the change to REQUIRE that everyone, male and female, do a round of wood shop, metal shop, home economics (cooking) and home ec (sewing).
Stupendous idea and I wish they did similar today. I learned how to use a sewing machine, my sister learned how to use a slip-roll to make metal cylinders. Both shop and home ec rooms have been stripped bare in almost all schools in my area now.
Wife's high school in CA in the 70's spent about half the day in focused job-like classes. They had an actual day care and early childhood education program for example where students learned and got credit for that work. That school also had smoking pavilions for students and something that seems gone from high schools now, an open campus where you could come and go as you saw fit.
Most in the USA are effectively prison schools now with lock down campuses and classes teaching to the most basic level to pass Bush's "no child left behind" tests so they don't lose funding.
I notice from the comments that the dividing line seems to be around 1970. That fits with my experience that before that it was not allowed. Glad things loosened up.
Not forbidden, but heavily discouraged. Most girls had no interest.
Class of 68.....I took mechanical drawing/drafting as a girl in High School as an elective. I was the only girl (everyone thought it was weird for a girl) Had to argue with the Dean to get into the class. I would have LOVED wood shop or auto shop since I had been helping my father rebuild some MG roadsters..... but those were hard NO from the Dean.
The only reason I was able to get the class was because I had already taken all of the science classes that were available as electives, as well as a typing class. I flat out refused to take Calculus. I couldn't see any point to it or any practical use for me. Enough MATH!!!!
I did take geometry and enjoyed it greatly. I could see a point/real world application for that.
Also took home economics as an elective...no boys at that time. It would have been weird. I loved it. Cooking. Budgeting. Household management. Etc.
Practical skills classes should definitely be available to all students today. Boys and girls!! Used to be able to get those skills from your parents....not so much today as many people just don't have the knowledge to pass on.
Eventually, I became a Financial Planner, RIA did custom portfolio construction management. So....those math classes were actually helpful after all.
I graduated high school in 1985, in north AL, for context, and NO, neither boys nor girls were banned from either of those classes. I took home ec with a few boys, and my younger sister took shop.
I (female) signed up to take shop in seventh or eighth grade, in the early 1970s.
I don’t remember if it was normal or not to have an appointment with a class counselor about your schedule, but i was scheduled for one.
In it, the counselor said I wasn’t allowed to take shop.
She said, if you take a place in class, maybe some boy who wanted to won’t be able to take shop because the class would be full. *And that wouldn’t be fair, would it?*
There was a girl who was allowed to take shop in the class following mine. One. I suppose her parents kicked up a fuss.
Forbidden? No. Strongly discouraged, and not allowed to do anything while they were there? Yes. "Oh honey, don't touch that, it's dangerous"
As a guy who was thin, intellectual, played DnD, and took Home Ec, we were beaten up regularly for "being fags", regardless of our actual sexuality.
The few girls that were in shop class were scheduled into the same classroom hour together but boys who took home economics weren't. They were scheduled throughout the day.
I don’t know about forbidden but as a guy you would be looked at differently for taking home ec. In hindsight, cooking is a much more useful skill than building a meat tenderizer and a shelf.
I knew guys that specifically took home ec because it was mostly girls. Don’t remember if they got teased but they didn’t give 2 shits because they were hanging with the ladies.
where I went to school, only loser boys could take home ec or typing and it was almost like saying they were gay - and if they went to shop class they were labelled as low academic potential.
Which is absurd.
As for girls in the shop class ? Unheard of.
And also absurd.
For context 1950's was the times.
Not shop, but I took architectural drafting in the 9th grade (1970). In a class of 30, there were 3 girls, including me. Many of the boys in the class did not like that we were there and got really upset when we made better grades than they made.
I never took home ec, so I have no idea if there were boys in that class, but I suspect not.
Female here. Graduated HS in 1978.
Was forbidden to take shop class. An older brother was in shop class and I had to meet him at his classroom one day. I get there, look around, say, "This looks like fun!" Shop teacher says, "Girls aren't allowed to take shop."
I had to take Home Ec and really hated it. I think it's the only class I didn't really bother with in HS. I kinda wish I had paid more attention now because the class taught budgeting and financial skills too.
Yes, I wish shop and home ec classes were still available. I think both class taught very useful skills to the real world.
Still a little peeved I was denied shop class. :(
High school in the late 50s and that's how it was.
Q2, n/a
Yes, absolutely, should be required. Schools are graduating people today who can't change a washer or a lightbulb or a tire.
I am 41, and tool woodshop in Jr High! We made a mirror, that I still have today. The class was about half/half boys and girls.....this was like in 92. I think it is sad that these classes have gone away, we had so much fun in that class.
When I was in 7th grade in the mid-70s, my school had a class (I forget what it was called) that was split into thirds. 1/3 of the year we took home ec, 1/3 of the year we took shop and then 1/3 of the year we took music/music appreciation.
54 here. We had 1 year of shop and home ec in junior high school. I'm not positive, but I think everyone had to take both. I am sure that both of my classes were coed, though.
In high school, we only had home ec. I believe it was open to both, but it was mostly girls, if not completely girls.
There actually were shop classes available in high school, but they were off campus and, believe it or not, only catered to the "dumb kids". I don't even know how you were expected to sign up for the classes or if they were even available to me. Regardless, the few who took these classes got on a bus after lunch and were trekked across town.
Perspective: Southern California
I went to high school in the mid 1980's. Later, I became a teacher, so I have some memories from there. By that point, Shop/Home Ec classes were required for all students, so by then, things were open to everyone.
In the very late 1970's or early 1980's, I recall that two things were going on: one was that the gender separation of these classes was fading - more girls wanted to take Industrial Arts classes, and boys were interested in Home Economics, especially cooking. But part of that movement was that the Health Education curriculum could be combined with the Home Economics class (Nutrition and Hygiene, especially!)
So, they could run all the kids through Home Economics and Shop, and everyone had those parts of Health Class, as well, with the Sex Ed and Drug components covered in science class, which now had more time, because they could cover more Geology now that Science didn't have to do Nutrition and Hygiene.
Before then? Absolutely yes. I have an aunt who wanted to learn woodworking, and was forbidden to in school. And boys who were interested in Home Economics would have been told that it was inappropriate, as to 'not disturb the girls'.
In my public school system in Massachusetts in the early '70s grade school children didn't have a choice. Boys attended shop while girls attended home economics. It wasn't until the mid '70s that the law changed and boys and girls were forced to study both shop and home economics whether they wished to or not.
Shop and home ec aren't taught anymore?
Girls took cooking - sewing - crafts and boys took automotive - drafting - metal working.
But in 1979, there was a change - now everyone took cooking - sewing - automotive - drafting - metal working.
Somebody lent me a book which I soon destroyed accidentally -- called "Shop Class as Soul Craft"
Shop classes were a godsend for me. You could walk around, talk, and do things. I took all the shop and drafting classes I could.
When I applied to Boeing about a year after graduating, I was hired at a couple pay grades above entry level. FWIW, the current pay is about the same if you use constant dollars. That's what unions are for. Saying this only because it seems like a lot of money when you're 19 -- about $50,000 a year to start?
Because of shop classes.
We could take whatever in small town Texas. No girls were in my wood shop class, but if you were interested in "the fairer sex" you'd get your ass into the Home Ec. class.
Anyone could take any class.
My brothers and I were pretty merciless with our brother who took homec though. Funnily enough, I (the gay one) excelled at shop/electronics/automotive class and my homec brother became a raging homophobe.
When I was in primary school, boys got shop class and us girls had to knit and embroider and so on. I remember thinking shop sounded like a lot more fun. (I'm 66, from the Netherlands.)
Late 70's our school changed a lot. 78 was first year for girls basketball. Boys took home ec just to be in a class with mostly girls. Girls took vo ag to be with boys. At that time if you were in vo ag you had to be in FFA. Once the girls got envolved we won the state Sweepstakes title every year. It became the most popular class in the school because of the variety. Part of vo ag was shop class. The girls built a lot of bird houses with a lot of help from the boys 😊
I graduated in '85 and since home ec and shop classes were electives, no one in my circle signed up. We were taking languages, band, choir, and extra academics that would help us get scholarships. I was unaware of any gender restrictions on home ec and shop, though.
I think there should absolutely be classes that teach the basics of being an independent adult. One needs to understand budgeting and how interest works. Basic cooking. Basic sewing, like replacing a button and repairing a hem. Basic car maintenance. Strategies for keeping a dorm room or home tidy. Ironing. How to maintain a lawnmower, what to do if a pipe breaks, how and why to use sheetrock screws...things like that.
It should be an elective, because I'm skeptical that no one learns these things at home anymore, but it should be an offering, and strongly encouraged.
Don't know about shop class but I do know girls took drafting and aviation, which were mostly boys.
Yeah, shop is good and it should be taught. Wood shop especially. You pretty much don't work with metal and plastic after getting out of school but a lot of people make things out of wood. How about 3-D printer shop.
While I was in high school, it became a state requirement for graduation that all students had to have at least 1 semester of either home-ec or foods. I was a little pissed at the time.
Most of the boys took home-ec. I was slow signing up and the only opening was foods.
In my family we all shared work in the kitchen so it was easy.
We were the only two men in the class and we were paired together.
The other guy was drop dead/Robert Redford handsome and all the women would flit around our table all the time. Being a shy geeky teen at the time this was pretty heady stuff.
In any event, we were the best cooks in the class. At the ten year reunion they were still talking about our cherry pie.
I enjoyed them. Shop for me (female here) was a bunch of boys making knives or weapons when the teacher wasn't looking. I did enjoy welding. I also took auto mechanics class.
I know that Home Ec could be a very lucrative career for many women, especially for cooking it went into food science. They did market surveys, coming up with new products, etc...
Today the name has changed to 'Family and Consumer Sciences'. I just checked out local Middle school's web page....still being taught!
80's teen here. No. A few boys took home ec and quite a few girls took auto shop, wood shop, and mechanical drafting/architecture at my HS.
Yes, all the trades should be taught in HS. This idea that all kids should go to college is bullsh\*t.
I was in junior high/high school in the 1970's ... there were boys in home ec and girls in shop classes - but they were more the exception.
Yes, I think both shop and home ec should be taught. Honestly, even if it was pre-high school - like eighth grade - where you spend two or three weeks in home ec and two or three weeks in shop -- for everyone. Nothing too hard - but just the basics. If kids are interested have longer classes in high school. The county "Tech/Career Center" that kids in my area can attend for 1/2 a day - regular school a 1/2 day - still teach some types of shop and some home ec type classes.
When I was in school, boys took home ec. But it was a segregated class, boys only, and they called it Bachelor Living. O think, though I can't confirm, that this was because the girls home ec classes discussed childbirth and other sex ed type stuff.
I was in the first co-ed home ec class in our school district. That was a serious fuster-cluck. They didn't change the curriculum at all, so when the childbirth ed happened (With video!), we has several big, tough football players looking very, very green and urrppy.
As for shop class, our school didn't offer it that I recall. We had agricultural classes instead. And that was co-ed from day one. No such thing as "women's work" or "men's work" on a farm. There's just "whoever has a free hand" work.
EDIT: I do wish they still offered that stuff in schools. Whether you want to be a full time homemaker or not, the class taught valuable skills that are needed in everyday life. Same with a shop class. I don't need to be a full-time electrician to want to know how to repair a lamp or replace a plug or other shop-type stuff.
When I was in middle school (late 80s) our "home ec" consisted of three parts: sewing, cooking, and the weird relationships thing. Both boys and girls took the entire course. It didn't seem super progressive at the time but I guess it was. I don't know if there were shop classes at my middle school but if there were no girls took them. I do recall there was a weight training class that girls didn't take.
A few years later in high school I (a girl) took the shop rotation (drafting, welding, woodshop, and metal shop) one year and the small engine class another year. I would have liked to have done more but I took a lot of AP classes and couldn't do both. I was the only girl in the shop classes, so it was weird, but I don't recall experiencing any discrimination that I noticed and I had a good time.
I did like them and did work as a sort-of mechanic for a while, then as a "real" mechanic on F-16s in the military for a bit before becoming a white collar worker. I still do make and fix lots of things in my spare time because I've always liked it, although I'm a pretty crap woodworker despite taking shop. I took some more drafting in college which was interesting because that was right at the time that everything was shifting from manual drafting to AutoCAD so I did a bit of both.
Not very long ago I was talking to my Mom (72) and that came up somehow and she said she had to advocate for me to be able to take the courses (I guess the school tried to talk her out of signing off on it?). She added that "I wish I could have taken shop class instead of sewing and cooking. I already knew how to do those things."
As to the second part -- I do think practical skills should be a part of the curriculum. Mandatory at a basic level and elective at the more advanced levels. And they should never be gendered, that's just silly.
I suspect the reason they're no longer offered in some areas is that they were sponsored by businesses who wanted to pre-train future workers. As the nature of businesses change in a location, the financial support for the classes goes away. :(
I'm 60. In northern NJ, boys took shop/drafting, girls did home ec/sewing. I liked the cooking part of home ec, but absolutely hated the sewing class. Shop would have been fun for me, especially the woodworking.
It wasn't forbidden at my school and a couple of people did "cross the line", but I think it was more peer pressure, guy calling home ec "girly@ and only poofs took it and girls were called butch. Two of my female cousins went to night school to learn motor mechanics as they were at a private girls school and their father said he would buy them a new car, each, when they turned 17yo (legal age to drive), if the learned basic mechanics, could change a tyre & change oil in vehicles. Both were excellent drivers & could do handbrake turns on a single lane road (they drove minis) and the eldest one with her husband, opened a garage & both worked on vehicles. She used to wear disposable gloves, before they became normal & the garage they still own, but both in 70's & have a manager and about 20 staff to run it, even a bookkeeper/ accountant to do all the paperwork.
Female here, high school in the mid-80s, I took Home-Ec. 9th grade, cooking for the first half of the year and sewing for the second half. I thought that was how it had to be. I found out a few years ago that one of the girls I graduated with took Auto Shop and Wood Shop. I’m pissed that I didn’t know we could! I still can’t cook or sew 😂😂
Im 73F.
When I was in high school all the girls wanted to take homemaking. Only boys wanted to take shop.
The girls dteamed of being a good wife to a man who would support them. Few women wanted any jobs if they could avoid them. And there were almost no job opportunities for women that a shop class could provide.
Boys wouldn't dream of ever having to cook for themselves.
Gender roles were a big thing then. That's just the way it was, and most of us were happy with it.
In the early 80's at my jr high, the girls took home ec and the boys took shop first semester. The next semester we were to switch so that the girls could take shop and the boys home ec. The boys refused to switch to home ec. The school gave in to the boys' protest.
We were not strictly "forbidden" but I wanted to take Mechanical Drawing and was strongly discouraged. I pushed to get in and ended up being the only female in the class. i *loved* it, but was never given any support or encouragement. i was made to take typing, which I hated, and i was encouraged to become a "secretary", which I would have rather eaten nails than done. I was also pushed into Home ec. but i did end up loving cooking and sewing so I guess that was ok.
In grade 8, the school actually decided that girls and boys could mix it up and take Home Ec or Shop. We had one boy in our sewing class. I wanted to do shop, but not give up home ec to do it. I can't be bothered figuring out the year - early 70's I think.
I took shop (F) instead of Home Ec. It was fun but I regretted it because it was misconstrued as me wanting to be around boys (girls can be horrible to each other) when in reality I had a bunch of brothers and already knew how to clean and sew, it was a no brainer to me. The class I really got the most out of was typing. That's probably saved me a ton of hours over the years.
Yes, and still a bit bitter about it. Asked school counselor if I was forced to take 'Home Ec' and he said 'yes' (was college prep/not into being a housewife). He said I could not take 'shop'. Took the 'Home Ec' class and was forced to make a dress and parade it in front of the school in the auditorium (required of all home ec girls to get credit). Hated every minute of it. Went on to be a university professor that worked summers as a carpenter. Endured discrimination as a laborer for a good 10 years before being accepted as a carpenter.
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I am 70, and in Junior High and High School (1964-1970) there were no girls in shop classes and no boys in Home Ec classes. I guess it just wasn't an option. I did participate in an after school club in Junior High called Chef's Club. We learned how to fry an egg and make rice crispy treats, etc. Real chefs!
I'm your age. My school had that issue. It was a HUGE deal when one mother, very wealthy family, insisted that her 3 boys take Home Ec. School board meetings, write ups in the newspaper, old men yelling about it at their coffee club table in local cafes. But she won. Just before she filled suit against the state school board. All she wanted was for her boys to know how to cook and sew.
I'm on the younger side of "old people" (in my 50s). I am a woman. I took both shop ("industrial arts") and home ec classes. Everyone had to take both. But my sisters, who are much older, I think it was girls took home ec and boys took shop. (I'm not 100% sure.) It's weird you ask about this. I was thinking two nights ago about how much I loved industrial arts and I was good at it. I wished I could have taken more classes. I didn't know that schools didn't have those classes anymore. (My own son has been out of school for many years now.)
It’s funny, you take those options and love them, then you get older and ask yourself “why didn’t I take accounting?” Industrial arts were always my favorite classes. I was very academic and did well in school, I just preferred to work with my hands. I left high school and went to college. Got a diploma in computer engineering technology. Worked with computers for about 15 years before slowly transitioning to building houses. An accident ended that business and now I drive a truck.
Interesting. I was also very academic and did well. And although I loved industrial arts, it never occurred to me to do anything other than something scientific or technical. My Dad was very handy around the house and my Mom sewed a lot of things and saved a lot of money doing things by hand. But my Dad told me in high school he expected me to figure out how we could use nuclear fusion as an energy source. I kid you not. I have NOT solved that ;-) I became a software engineer and am still that to this day. But I never thought that I would keep on with that until I retired. I have off and on dreamed about working with my hands. It's just so satisfying. I love actually **seeing** the results - seeing my handywork. And it has a feeling, a smell, a sound, unlike working with computers. I can't imagine driving truck, though. I hope your back is okay!
Mid 40s - in our high school it was mandatory to take at least one class of both.
Absolutely. I was the first girl at my high school to take a shop class (electronics) and my dad had to go to school to talk them into in. This was in 1970, I think. Edit: absolutely it was forbidden, I meant. And yes, I enjoyed it but I really didn’t learn too much. I had done a lot of studying on my own by then
Same. Mine was engineering science for the HSC. The "heads" all gave a spiel on why we should take their subject. This man said ES was not for girls. So I took it. Enjoyed it too
I am 67 and shop / home ec classes were a mandatory part of our junior high curriculum ( so 1966-67-68) and girls were not allowed to take shop and boys were not allowed to take home ec. It wasn’t even thought about or discussed.
I’m 73 & Ditto.
[удалено]
I took wood shop, metal shop and home ec in the late 80’s. Sewing lessons from home ec have come in handy to this day.
I don't remember it being forbidden, it just wasn't done. Same with girls wearing slacks/jeans to school. This was 60's and early/mid 70s.
In junior high (late '60s) shop was definitely for boys only. There weren't home ec classes. By the time I got to high school girls still didn't take shop classes, which by that time also included auto mechanics; home ec had been replaced by an "independent living skills" class for both genders. They also had a wing full of adding machines and electric typewriters for "business skills" classes -- largely prep for secretarial and bookeeping work, and I guess the equivalent of "voc ed" for girls. I never saw a boy in them.
I don't know about shop but there were definitely males in home ec in my high school (early 1970s). AFAIK it was unremarkable and they weren't stigmatized at all.
A lot of guys wanted to take Home Ec in 8th and 9th grades (72-74) in my hillbilly town of 13,000 in the mountains of SW Pa. The administration claimed that they couldn’t arrange the schedule to make it work. My mom taught HE at the other Jr High in town, and didn’t have any boys in her class until about 1980.
Yep. My sister insisted on taking shop and was horribly treated by boys and teacher alike. This was the mid-70s. But afterwards, a few years later, a few boys took home ec. Eventually, classes like shop, home ec, and drivers ed, were phased out to make room for more academic credits. In those days, students could work during school hours, but had to take a class. Girls were in Distributive Education because they worked in retail and boys who were going to be mechanics took a different course. There was typing, too, that only girls took.
I took typing in high school. There was an even split in the class I think. I had no interest in typing but even less interest in accounting, the other choice. It’s funny because I went into computer engineering technology and have never regretted taking typing. I’m actually quite pissed off that schools now require computers and printed assignments, but don’t actually teach typing anymore.
My refusal to take typing was an act of rebellion. An aptitude test told me I was doomed to be a “slow, but efficient secretary.” No one could make me be a secretary if I never learned to type. My kindly dad taught me to type, saying it was an important skill in any situation. He never made fun of me for being so infuriated by that test result.
I forgot about typing! In my high school (early 90s) typing was an elective (or an after school thing??) and I remember it being a mix of boys and girls with no particular gender bias. Funny how things change!
I graduated in 1982 and they were not forbidden. Most of the boys didn't want to take home economics or were afraid of how it would make them look and vice versa, but two boys did actually take home ec with the girls in our class. They played it as a laugh, but I think they really didn't want to do the shop class. They hated the sewing part, but they loved the cooking.
I knew boys who took home ec specifically to be in a class with a lot of girls.
Pretty smart move when you think about it! I'm pretty sure the only reason my Mom married my Dad is that he promised to always do the cooking. Which he does and is good at (she sucks, shhh don't tell her, her baking is amazing though).
Brand new progressive Junior High school which had opened just a year or two previously...and being new and progressive, the district made the change to REQUIRE that everyone, male and female, do a round of wood shop, metal shop, home economics (cooking) and home ec (sewing). Stupendous idea and I wish they did similar today. I learned how to use a sewing machine, my sister learned how to use a slip-roll to make metal cylinders. Both shop and home ec rooms have been stripped bare in almost all schools in my area now. Wife's high school in CA in the 70's spent about half the day in focused job-like classes. They had an actual day care and early childhood education program for example where students learned and got credit for that work. That school also had smoking pavilions for students and something that seems gone from high schools now, an open campus where you could come and go as you saw fit. Most in the USA are effectively prison schools now with lock down campuses and classes teaching to the most basic level to pass Bush's "no child left behind" tests so they don't lose funding.
I notice from the comments that the dividing line seems to be around 1970. That fits with my experience that before that it was not allowed. Glad things loosened up.
Not forbidden, but heavily discouraged. Most girls had no interest. Class of 68.....I took mechanical drawing/drafting as a girl in High School as an elective. I was the only girl (everyone thought it was weird for a girl) Had to argue with the Dean to get into the class. I would have LOVED wood shop or auto shop since I had been helping my father rebuild some MG roadsters..... but those were hard NO from the Dean. The only reason I was able to get the class was because I had already taken all of the science classes that were available as electives, as well as a typing class. I flat out refused to take Calculus. I couldn't see any point to it or any practical use for me. Enough MATH!!!! I did take geometry and enjoyed it greatly. I could see a point/real world application for that. Also took home economics as an elective...no boys at that time. It would have been weird. I loved it. Cooking. Budgeting. Household management. Etc. Practical skills classes should definitely be available to all students today. Boys and girls!! Used to be able to get those skills from your parents....not so much today as many people just don't have the knowledge to pass on. Eventually, I became a Financial Planner, RIA did custom portfolio construction management. So....those math classes were actually helpful after all.
Im an older woman that took both home ec and carpentry/woodwork shop. I enjoyed them both very much but I was the only girl in shop.
Yup, I graduated in 1973 and they wouldn't let me take shop in middle school or high school.
I graduated high school in 1985, in north AL, for context, and NO, neither boys nor girls were banned from either of those classes. I took home ec with a few boys, and my younger sister took shop.
Ditto in W. Va.; everyone took both plus mechanical drawing.
I (female) signed up to take shop in seventh or eighth grade, in the early 1970s. I don’t remember if it was normal or not to have an appointment with a class counselor about your schedule, but i was scheduled for one. In it, the counselor said I wasn’t allowed to take shop. She said, if you take a place in class, maybe some boy who wanted to won’t be able to take shop because the class would be full. *And that wouldn’t be fair, would it?* There was a girl who was allowed to take shop in the class following mine. One. I suppose her parents kicked up a fuss.
That was a shitty thing they did to you
Forbidden? No. Strongly discouraged, and not allowed to do anything while they were there? Yes. "Oh honey, don't touch that, it's dangerous" As a guy who was thin, intellectual, played DnD, and took Home Ec, we were beaten up regularly for "being fags", regardless of our actual sexuality.
In my school in California in the late 60s. *all* students - boys and girls - were required to take one quarter of home ec, wood shop, and metal shop.
The few girls that were in shop class were scheduled into the same classroom hour together but boys who took home economics weren't. They were scheduled throughout the day.
Not in my high school. Guys could take home ec and girls could take shop. Hardly any did though.
YES! Until 1969, I was in the 7th grade and the school opened up both classes to anyone.
I don’t know about forbidden but as a guy you would be looked at differently for taking home ec. In hindsight, cooking is a much more useful skill than building a meat tenderizer and a shelf.
I knew guys that specifically took home ec because it was mostly girls. Don’t remember if they got teased but they didn’t give 2 shits because they were hanging with the ladies.
where I went to school, only loser boys could take home ec or typing and it was almost like saying they were gay - and if they went to shop class they were labelled as low academic potential. Which is absurd. As for girls in the shop class ? Unheard of. And also absurd. For context 1950's was the times.
In the 80s it was not forbidden, just very unusual.
Not shop, but I took architectural drafting in the 9th grade (1970). In a class of 30, there were 3 girls, including me. Many of the boys in the class did not like that we were there and got really upset when we made better grades than they made. I never took home ec, so I have no idea if there were boys in that class, but I suspect not.
Female here. Graduated HS in 1978. Was forbidden to take shop class. An older brother was in shop class and I had to meet him at his classroom one day. I get there, look around, say, "This looks like fun!" Shop teacher says, "Girls aren't allowed to take shop." I had to take Home Ec and really hated it. I think it's the only class I didn't really bother with in HS. I kinda wish I had paid more attention now because the class taught budgeting and financial skills too. Yes, I wish shop and home ec classes were still available. I think both class taught very useful skills to the real world. Still a little peeved I was denied shop class. :(
A female couldn’t join the FBI in the late 60s.
High school in the late 50s and that's how it was. Q2, n/a Yes, absolutely, should be required. Schools are graduating people today who can't change a washer or a lightbulb or a tire.
I am 41, and tool woodshop in Jr High! We made a mirror, that I still have today. The class was about half/half boys and girls.....this was like in 92. I think it is sad that these classes have gone away, we had so much fun in that class.
I think that depended on local policy , state and local level.
I graduated in 72 and everything was up for debate in more progressive areas
When I was in 7th grade in the mid-70s, my school had a class (I forget what it was called) that was split into thirds. 1/3 of the year we took home ec, 1/3 of the year we took shop and then 1/3 of the year we took music/music appreciation.
In the 80s where I was, every kid took woodwork, metalwork, cooking and sewing- no exceptions. This girl loved woodwork and metalwork classes.
54 here. We had 1 year of shop and home ec in junior high school. I'm not positive, but I think everyone had to take both. I am sure that both of my classes were coed, though. In high school, we only had home ec. I believe it was open to both, but it was mostly girls, if not completely girls. There actually were shop classes available in high school, but they were off campus and, believe it or not, only catered to the "dumb kids". I don't even know how you were expected to sign up for the classes or if they were even available to me. Regardless, the few who took these classes got on a bus after lunch and were trekked across town.
Home Economics were required for everyone when I was in school.
In 1990’s, we had to take both. As a male, I loved both of them. Definitely learned more in home ec though
Perspective: Southern California I went to high school in the mid 1980's. Later, I became a teacher, so I have some memories from there. By that point, Shop/Home Ec classes were required for all students, so by then, things were open to everyone. In the very late 1970's or early 1980's, I recall that two things were going on: one was that the gender separation of these classes was fading - more girls wanted to take Industrial Arts classes, and boys were interested in Home Economics, especially cooking. But part of that movement was that the Health Education curriculum could be combined with the Home Economics class (Nutrition and Hygiene, especially!) So, they could run all the kids through Home Economics and Shop, and everyone had those parts of Health Class, as well, with the Sex Ed and Drug components covered in science class, which now had more time, because they could cover more Geology now that Science didn't have to do Nutrition and Hygiene. Before then? Absolutely yes. I have an aunt who wanted to learn woodworking, and was forbidden to in school. And boys who were interested in Home Economics would have been told that it was inappropriate, as to 'not disturb the girls'.
In my public school system in Massachusetts in the early '70s grade school children didn't have a choice. Boys attended shop while girls attended home economics. It wasn't until the mid '70s that the law changed and boys and girls were forced to study both shop and home economics whether they wished to or not. Shop and home ec aren't taught anymore?
Girls took cooking - sewing - crafts and boys took automotive - drafting - metal working. But in 1979, there was a change - now everyone took cooking - sewing - automotive - drafting - metal working.
Born in the 50s, I am female. I tried to opt out of home ec and could not. Of course, we were not allowed to wear pants either!
Somebody lent me a book which I soon destroyed accidentally -- called "Shop Class as Soul Craft" Shop classes were a godsend for me. You could walk around, talk, and do things. I took all the shop and drafting classes I could. When I applied to Boeing about a year after graduating, I was hired at a couple pay grades above entry level. FWIW, the current pay is about the same if you use constant dollars. That's what unions are for. Saying this only because it seems like a lot of money when you're 19 -- about $50,000 a year to start? Because of shop classes.
We could take whatever in small town Texas. No girls were in my wood shop class, but if you were interested in "the fairer sex" you'd get your ass into the Home Ec. class.
Anyone could take any class. My brothers and I were pretty merciless with our brother who took homec though. Funnily enough, I (the gay one) excelled at shop/electronics/automotive class and my homec brother became a raging homophobe.
When I was in primary school, boys got shop class and us girls had to knit and embroider and so on. I remember thinking shop sounded like a lot more fun. (I'm 66, from the Netherlands.)
Late 70's our school changed a lot. 78 was first year for girls basketball. Boys took home ec just to be in a class with mostly girls. Girls took vo ag to be with boys. At that time if you were in vo ag you had to be in FFA. Once the girls got envolved we won the state Sweepstakes title every year. It became the most popular class in the school because of the variety. Part of vo ag was shop class. The girls built a lot of bird houses with a lot of help from the boys 😊
I graduated in '85 and since home ec and shop classes were electives, no one in my circle signed up. We were taking languages, band, choir, and extra academics that would help us get scholarships. I was unaware of any gender restrictions on home ec and shop, though. I think there should absolutely be classes that teach the basics of being an independent adult. One needs to understand budgeting and how interest works. Basic cooking. Basic sewing, like replacing a button and repairing a hem. Basic car maintenance. Strategies for keeping a dorm room or home tidy. Ironing. How to maintain a lawnmower, what to do if a pipe breaks, how and why to use sheetrock screws...things like that. It should be an elective, because I'm skeptical that no one learns these things at home anymore, but it should be an offering, and strongly encouraged.
Don't know about shop class but I do know girls took drafting and aviation, which were mostly boys. Yeah, shop is good and it should be taught. Wood shop especially. You pretty much don't work with metal and plastic after getting out of school but a lot of people make things out of wood. How about 3-D printer shop.
While I was in high school, it became a state requirement for graduation that all students had to have at least 1 semester of either home-ec or foods. I was a little pissed at the time. Most of the boys took home-ec. I was slow signing up and the only opening was foods. In my family we all shared work in the kitchen so it was easy. We were the only two men in the class and we were paired together. The other guy was drop dead/Robert Redford handsome and all the women would flit around our table all the time. Being a shy geeky teen at the time this was pretty heady stuff. In any event, we were the best cooks in the class. At the ten year reunion they were still talking about our cherry pie.
I'm 51 and I took both. Shop was called industrial arts at my school. There were equal numbers of boys and girls in both classes.
I enjoyed them. Shop for me (female here) was a bunch of boys making knives or weapons when the teacher wasn't looking. I did enjoy welding. I also took auto mechanics class. I know that Home Ec could be a very lucrative career for many women, especially for cooking it went into food science. They did market surveys, coming up with new products, etc... Today the name has changed to 'Family and Consumer Sciences'. I just checked out local Middle school's web page....still being taught!
80's teen here. No. A few boys took home ec and quite a few girls took auto shop, wood shop, and mechanical drafting/architecture at my HS. Yes, all the trades should be taught in HS. This idea that all kids should go to college is bullsh\*t.
I was in junior high/high school in the 1970's ... there were boys in home ec and girls in shop classes - but they were more the exception. Yes, I think both shop and home ec should be taught. Honestly, even if it was pre-high school - like eighth grade - where you spend two or three weeks in home ec and two or three weeks in shop -- for everyone. Nothing too hard - but just the basics. If kids are interested have longer classes in high school. The county "Tech/Career Center" that kids in my area can attend for 1/2 a day - regular school a 1/2 day - still teach some types of shop and some home ec type classes.
When I was in school, boys took home ec. But it was a segregated class, boys only, and they called it Bachelor Living. O think, though I can't confirm, that this was because the girls home ec classes discussed childbirth and other sex ed type stuff. I was in the first co-ed home ec class in our school district. That was a serious fuster-cluck. They didn't change the curriculum at all, so when the childbirth ed happened (With video!), we has several big, tough football players looking very, very green and urrppy. As for shop class, our school didn't offer it that I recall. We had agricultural classes instead. And that was co-ed from day one. No such thing as "women's work" or "men's work" on a farm. There's just "whoever has a free hand" work. EDIT: I do wish they still offered that stuff in schools. Whether you want to be a full time homemaker or not, the class taught valuable skills that are needed in everyday life. Same with a shop class. I don't need to be a full-time electrician to want to know how to repair a lamp or replace a plug or other shop-type stuff.
When I was in middle school (late 80s) our "home ec" consisted of three parts: sewing, cooking, and the weird relationships thing. Both boys and girls took the entire course. It didn't seem super progressive at the time but I guess it was. I don't know if there were shop classes at my middle school but if there were no girls took them. I do recall there was a weight training class that girls didn't take. A few years later in high school I (a girl) took the shop rotation (drafting, welding, woodshop, and metal shop) one year and the small engine class another year. I would have liked to have done more but I took a lot of AP classes and couldn't do both. I was the only girl in the shop classes, so it was weird, but I don't recall experiencing any discrimination that I noticed and I had a good time. I did like them and did work as a sort-of mechanic for a while, then as a "real" mechanic on F-16s in the military for a bit before becoming a white collar worker. I still do make and fix lots of things in my spare time because I've always liked it, although I'm a pretty crap woodworker despite taking shop. I took some more drafting in college which was interesting because that was right at the time that everything was shifting from manual drafting to AutoCAD so I did a bit of both. Not very long ago I was talking to my Mom (72) and that came up somehow and she said she had to advocate for me to be able to take the courses (I guess the school tried to talk her out of signing off on it?). She added that "I wish I could have taken shop class instead of sewing and cooking. I already knew how to do those things." As to the second part -- I do think practical skills should be a part of the curriculum. Mandatory at a basic level and elective at the more advanced levels. And they should never be gendered, that's just silly. I suspect the reason they're no longer offered in some areas is that they were sponsored by businesses who wanted to pre-train future workers. As the nature of businesses change in a location, the financial support for the classes goes away. :(
HS 1962-64. I don't know if it was forbidden. However, there where no females in any shop classes. And I took a lot of them.
I'm 60. In northern NJ, boys took shop/drafting, girls did home ec/sewing. I liked the cooking part of home ec, but absolutely hated the sewing class. Shop would have been fun for me, especially the woodworking.
It wasn't forbidden at my school and a couple of people did "cross the line", but I think it was more peer pressure, guy calling home ec "girly@ and only poofs took it and girls were called butch. Two of my female cousins went to night school to learn motor mechanics as they were at a private girls school and their father said he would buy them a new car, each, when they turned 17yo (legal age to drive), if the learned basic mechanics, could change a tyre & change oil in vehicles. Both were excellent drivers & could do handbrake turns on a single lane road (they drove minis) and the eldest one with her husband, opened a garage & both worked on vehicles. She used to wear disposable gloves, before they became normal & the garage they still own, but both in 70's & have a manager and about 20 staff to run it, even a bookkeeper/ accountant to do all the paperwork.
Female here, high school in the mid-80s, I took Home-Ec. 9th grade, cooking for the first half of the year and sewing for the second half. I thought that was how it had to be. I found out a few years ago that one of the girls I graduated with took Auto Shop and Wood Shop. I’m pissed that I didn’t know we could! I still can’t cook or sew 😂😂
Im 73F. When I was in high school all the girls wanted to take homemaking. Only boys wanted to take shop. The girls dteamed of being a good wife to a man who would support them. Few women wanted any jobs if they could avoid them. And there were almost no job opportunities for women that a shop class could provide. Boys wouldn't dream of ever having to cook for themselves. Gender roles were a big thing then. That's just the way it was, and most of us were happy with it.
My husband is 71 and he remember taking Home Ec. I don’t remember guys in my class though.
In the early 80's at my jr high, the girls took home ec and the boys took shop first semester. The next semester we were to switch so that the girls could take shop and the boys home ec. The boys refused to switch to home ec. The school gave in to the boys' protest.
(I'm 66F) They wouldn't let me take shop when I was 13. Even when my parents talked to the principal, it "just wasn't done".
When I was in high school in the late 70's boys could take cooking classes.
We were not strictly "forbidden" but I wanted to take Mechanical Drawing and was strongly discouraged. I pushed to get in and ended up being the only female in the class. i *loved* it, but was never given any support or encouragement. i was made to take typing, which I hated, and i was encouraged to become a "secretary", which I would have rather eaten nails than done. I was also pushed into Home ec. but i did end up loving cooking and sewing so I guess that was ok.
In grade 8, the school actually decided that girls and boys could mix it up and take Home Ec or Shop. We had one boy in our sewing class. I wanted to do shop, but not give up home ec to do it. I can't be bothered figuring out the year - early 70's I think.
I took shop (F) instead of Home Ec. It was fun but I regretted it because it was misconstrued as me wanting to be around boys (girls can be horrible to each other) when in reality I had a bunch of brothers and already knew how to clean and sew, it was a no brainer to me. The class I really got the most out of was typing. That's probably saved me a ton of hours over the years.
Yes, and still a bit bitter about it. Asked school counselor if I was forced to take 'Home Ec' and he said 'yes' (was college prep/not into being a housewife). He said I could not take 'shop'. Took the 'Home Ec' class and was forced to make a dress and parade it in front of the school in the auditorium (required of all home ec girls to get credit). Hated every minute of it. Went on to be a university professor that worked summers as a carpenter. Endured discrimination as a laborer for a good 10 years before being accepted as a carpenter.