It's a shame trade schools are no longer in vogue. In my high school the engine lathes and millers and shapers and welding facilities and foundary have all been removed. And scrapped. No more courses in drafting, pattern making, blueprint reading and how to read a vernier. The courses no longer exist. Replaced by computer labs. The teachers have retired for a changing of the guard. They represent a new breed of "intellectuals" who believe there is a stigma to working with the hands, and high school should concern itself with Global warming and social justice propaganda. At 3 p.m. when school closed the machine shop teachers would kindly let us come back to use the equipment to work on person projects if we brought in the stock. Blackpowder pistols and very simple one-cylinder miniature steam engines were popular. Every kid wanted his own small lathe for xmas. I wonder if under modern "protective" law kids would even be allowed to work with the machines.
