If you're old enough to have kids in school, you probably remember something from your own school days called "Shop Class."
That's where you went to build a birdhouse or do a little metalworking.
But these days shop class has gone high-tech.
State and federal programs are reshaping vocational education to try to give students the skills they need for the workplace.
NHPR's Trish Anderton reports.
hammer/saw AMB
It's a cold sunny day in Berlin,
The mercury is hovering in the single digits.
A nice warm classroom sounds pretty inviting.
But high on a windy hilltop, these Berlin High juniors are building a house, one with a breathtaking view of the mountains.
001 10 it's roughly 2400 sq feet, its got a daylight basement and the kids come on site form the time its ready to build
Matt lambert teaches this building trades class.
A Berlin High graduate himself, he?s worked in various aspects of the field for eighteen years before becoming a teacher.
He says working on an actual house is a great opportunity for students.
--some want to go into the trades and some are uncertain what they want to do but like to work with hands and it's a good pgm.
Despite the cold, student Forrest Goodrum says he's happy to be here.
GOODRUM: it's a good class, you learn a lot and you get to go out and do something instaed of being in calss all day. it's a lot better than sitting in school.
Goodrum wanted to take welding, but the class was full.
Now he's getting interested in homebuilding.
His classmate Jim Lavertue has always wanted to go into construction.
And Even though he wont' graduate for another year, Lavertue has some leads on paying jobs.
LAVERTUE: 003 124 I already talked to a couple of contractors around twon and stuff so, we'll see.
This emphasis on marketable skills is typical of the way shop classes are changing.
PINETTE: we haven't made birdhouses here in a long time. we've moved on from birdhouses to full houses.
Roland Pinette directs vocational programs at Berlin High.
Walking down the hall, he opens door after door on classrooms where students are doing real-life work.
welding AMB
Metal dividers slice the welding room into cubicles.
Here advanced students get to work on projects for local businesses.
They also learn how to use specialized equipment, like this highly accurate plasma cutter.
Welding teacher Mark Molier.
MOLIER: I don't think any other schools in new eng have one. it's a computerized plasma cam where you can download images by computer and it'll cut it out to within a thousandth of an inch with a robotic head.
Other vocational programs involve much more low-tech tools.
Here in the early childhood education classroom students don't use anything more complicated than crayons and finger paints.
But they get to run a real preschool program.
12 100 what color is that? bown. brown, awesome. you still making the
rainbow?
These classes are designed to give students specific skills they'll need once they graduate from high school.
They're part of a national school to work effort that began under the Clinton administration.
Ken Gray is a professor of workforce education at Penn State.
Gray says it's important for all students to begin thinking seriously about their job path in high school.
GRAY: the likelihood that a teenager will end up in a career they choose in 11th and 12th grade at best is probably 50-50 but the point is
this: if that's a decent decision, the next decision will be a more specific and better decision.
School to work programs help students choose classes and internships that will further their career goals.
They often provide on the job training or chances to earn credit for college or technical school.
Kim Runion runs a school to work program called Career Clusters at the state Department of Education.
17 130 last two years connects to first two years of college, so when they get there they hopefully don't have to repeat coursework nor remediate coursework by having to take something over bc they didn't grasp it well enough in school.
Schools across New Hampshire are in the process of adopting the career clusters model.
But skeptics worry kids are being pushed into career decisions.
Phyllis Schlafly is the founder of the Eagle Forum, a self-described conservative, pro-family group.
She says some states are now using aptitude tests and other methods to advise students on which career path is best for them.
SCHLAFLY:
29 104 I look on this as a type of economic planning that isn't compatible with a free society. the business and govt in consultation control which people are trained for which job.
Others worry that the loss of traditional shop classes will result in a less rich and varied education.
Jo-Anna Moore chairs the Art and Art Education Department at Temple University in Philadelphia.
She says all students should learn to work with their hands, just as they learn to work with their brains.
MOORE: we want people who have a keen sense of their mind who certainly know how to read and calculate, but I think we need to have people who are at home in the world, who know how to use tools and have some capacities that are in fact practical.
But in the high-tech age, when jobs require more skills, it's harder for schools to make the argument for a broad-based education.
As school-to-work programs grow in New Hampshire, more students will face the opportunity, and the challenge, of making their first career moves before they graduate.
for NHPR news I'm trish anderton
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