Hot Rods in School

My son drove his '54 Chevy sedan through high school, one day I asked if anyone says anything about his car? He said the only thing they say is "isnt that kinda old".

We have alot of work to do!

 

Yesterday my students were griping that their day's work had no real-world value. I showed them what I did over the weekend.

 

I grew up in a magical time, the mid 50's. I started high school '55 at Benson Tech
in Portland Ore. During our freshman year we were able to sample a few different
trades. There was the Carpenters shop, the Aviation shop , the Electrical shop, the
Machine shop ,the Automotive shop and the Sheet Metal shop.
I found in later years ,the experience gained during that first year of H.S., served
me well time after time, through out my adult life. All of the tech programs were on
top of the usual High school classes like ,Math ,History, English ,social studies, ect, ect.
I think the schools in America need to return to this model , not every student is destine to go to collage. Every student should be prepared to have a back up plan or
enough skills to earn a living and be self sufficient .

..................Jack

 

I've only been out of high school for 2 years but when I was there one kid drove a 69 Camaro occasionally. Aside from that there wasn't anything cool in the parking lot. At the time I had interest in old cars but was more into the lifted trucks so that's what I had. I've since changed and wish I would have had an old hot rod to drive to school. I had one teacher that was a big car guy but aside from that my school didn't have much to offer when it came to hot rods. I only had 1 other friend in school that shared the same interest.

 

Put myself and 3 classmates through 2 years of community college with scholarships I won welding. Still use my welding skills as a side biz when I can, and more than once fell back on it when my desk job wasnt cutting the bills. Its really a shame to think in 30 years we will have a society that has no clue how to maintain anything

 

Nice to see I have some fellow teachers on the H.A.M.B. Owning a hot rod tends to make me one of the more "interesting" teachers in the building.

 

Not a car shop guy but I graduated from carpentry shop in 53, got a job with the carpenters union, retired in 62. Somebody got to build roads for those big wheels to drive their fancy cars from their fancy homes to their fancy jobs. Basic trades are need in todays life. Bring back shop classes to schools.

 

I forgot to say I am a hot rodder from the early 50s, built my first one in 52, a chopped and channeled A with an Olds engine.