"Why isn't it OK to take honors classes and take a wood shop class?" asks Mark Leeper, MA ’88, who has worked for decades to bridge that gap in perceptions.
Many students at Menlo-Atherton High School are going on to college after they graduate. Assuming they have had the full use of their hands while at M-A, how many will have graduated without having gotten them dirty as a part of their coursework?
It's an old dividing line, jobs in the trades that require hand skills with a variety of tools versus jobs that rely mainly on thinking. Hands-on versus intellectual. Are both important?
It is, of course, valuable as an adult to be working in the knowledge economy and have the wherewithal to buy, say, a purportedly well made collection of dining room furniture, but is it also important to understand the joinery used to assemble the table and chairs? Does it matter that a plumber or a carpenter in the same showroom turns and walks away, knowing poor workmanship when they see it?
It matters to Mark Leeper, who teaches woodworking, drafting and engineering technology at M-A. His woodworking students regularly turn out objects made of wood, starting with small boxes, cutting boards and counter-top bookcases.
With more than 180 hours of class time, the students move on to bigger things, but all of it involves hours of focused work that tests hand-eye coordination, thinking before acting, and learning the safe and effective use of tools.
Read the entire story at the Menlo Almanac website: http://www.almanacnews.com/morguepdf/2015/2015_03_25.alm.section2.pdf
