High School Technology education throughout the years

[HankDorsett]

TL;DR

High School Technology education throughout the years

I'm curious how technology education in high school has progressed throughout the years.

I graduated HS in '89. While there I had three semesters of programming. Basic on an Apple 2E and RPG 2 and COBOL on an IBM systems 3 mid-range. Punch cards for the win.

Please share your experiences.

 

[Mark44]

I graduated HS in '62. There were no technology classes unless you count auto shop and metal shop (I think we had metal shop, but I didn't take it). About all I retain from my single semester of auto shops was how to set the points on a car engine, and how to time the ignition. I've used these skills a lot over the years, but these days cars don't have ignition points any more, and don't even have distributors.

However, two of my older motorcycles use points ignitions, so the skills I learned long ago aren't completely obsolete.

 

[anorlunda]

I graduated HS in '62.

I graduated the same year. But I made a better choice; although I didn't know that at the time. Instead of shop, I signed up for typing. I was the only guy in the class. I never regretted it.

I also took courses in mechanical drawing. That is another skill not needed much in today's world because of CAD.

So yes, things have changed over the decades. I read in the news that in some places they even teach cybersecurity so that students can protect themselves from online theft of money or privacy.

You can see evidence of that from the computer basics courses offered at the public library near me. They focus on really basic stuff like how to find the power switch. Young people don't need that, but seniors do. Times change.

 

[gleem]

Instead of shop, I signed up for typing.

Same here. But one question with the introduction of these tech classes what is being sacrificed, i.e, what courses are being replaced? Is that ultimately the best for the student?

 

[Mark44]

But I made a better choice; although I didn't know that at the time. Instead of shop, I signed up for typing. I was the only guy in the class. I never regretted it.

Yeah, I had a typing class, too. This served me very well during my stint in the Army, as well as in working as a technical writer.

I also took courses in mechanical drawing.

Same here, both in high school and in one of the colleges I attended. I never got to the stage of making drawings in ink...

 

[HankDorsett]

I jumped on my school's website to see where they're going and I'm actually impressed. They are doing a great job to help those students that are not continuing on to college. Not only do they have a large variety of vocational training options, some of these are so in depth you can get certified.

A+, CNA, welding, ASE and a few others.

 

[Torbert]

Pretty much ditto from the 1962 descriptions until my high school graduation in 1970.
Personal or Business typing were separate electives. Choice of electric or manual typewriters in the classroom due to 50/50 split in equipment.
AP math was newly available locally. Electricity Lab did not include work with transistors.

 

[Dr Transport]

I graduated in '83. I took basic electricity, simple circuits etc. The best part of it was that we learned how to do electrical wiring for homes and garages. I also took a semester of gas engine repair, I still could kick myself for not taking drafting.

 

[Bystander]

I still could kick myself for not taking drafting.

There were very few competent drafting teachers/instructors around when I graduated in '65---come to think of it, my instructor taught my dad. India ink, vellum, the whole nine yards.

 

[JBA]

I also took courses in mechanical drawing. That is another skill not needed much in today's world because of CAD.

Actually your high school drafting course is still relevant for CAD because it taught you the basics of view projections and dimensioning. Even with today's solid modeling, the ability to visualize the location of a feature from multiple projections is valuable. A short company sponsored Autodesk CAD solid modeling introductory course I attended in 1996 used the very same bellcrank I had drawn with its sections and projects in my high school machine drafting class some 39 years prior.

 

[Dr.D]

I graduated HS in 1958. I had taken Mechanical Drawing, Geometry, and an intro to calculus in HS, all of which served me very well in later years.

After many years of teaching in several engineering colleges, I've come to the conclusion that the single most valuable course in high school is a rigorous course in Geometry. When I have had college level mechanics students ask me what they are likely to make in my theory of machines class (kinematics & dynamics of machines), I always first ask, "what did you make in high school geometry?" They will usually get the same grade again.

 

[rcgldr]

I graduated in 1970. My high school was grouped with 6 others, with each focusing on specific areas, allowing more of a budget for each high school's specialties. In 1967, we had a Monrobot mini-computer, that used drum memory, and paper tape. In 1968, that computer went to another high school in another city, and we got an IBM 1130 (punched card reader, puncher, two 5 MB hard disk platters, selectric console, 40/80 lpm line printer, and toggle switch + light front panel), used for Fortran IV, assembly, and some APL. On Saturdays, the students could go to an IBM data center, where we used Fortran IV on a low end IBM 360/25 or 360/30. I was most impressed with the high speed (1100 lpm) line printers.

The high school also had some legacy electro - mechanical calculators. I don't know where they found them:

 

[256bits]

Slide rule and shorthand class most likely are gone.
I wonder if they teach Home Ec any more, you know, how to bake cookies and cakes.

 

[Torbert]

My mother graduated University of Alaska in 1952 with a Home Economics degree.
This was the card that got her a position as an elementary school cook. That and home meals planned weeks in advance were the major results of the degree. Practical in its way.
Personally, I can use a log log slide rule, or could, have not seen one for a score of years.

 

[Dr.D]

Personally, I can use a log log slide rule, or could, have not seen one for a score of years.

I have five or six loglog sliderules and still get one out from time to time. The cases are decaying, but the rules themselves are all fine. They were great computing aids, and an essential part of an engineering education when I was in college.

 

[anorlunda]

I wonder if they teach Home Ec any more, you know, how to bake cookies and cakes.

The modern version of that would teach instead how to order takeout food and get it delivered by Uber.

A forward looking Home Ec grad would be expert at home-based-cybersecurity.

 

[hmmm27]

I grad'd in the mid-late 70's. At the time there was a typing room, and a course for one of the lower grades. Myself, I took drafting instead. Mildly humorous that the only guys who thought typing was a "girl's" course were the ones who took it and went through great pains to defend their choice, despite lack of expected ridicule.

I believe the last year I attended, they allowed them newfangled electronic calculators for exams.

 

[HankDorsett]

I just learned yesterday that my high school is offering pilot training for small aircraft. With all they have to offer now I would probably enjoy going back to high school even though I disliked it quite a bit at the time.