Most of the subjects taught in high school now have remained essentially unchanged over the thirty-plus years since I was there . Computer technology was just getting started then, but otherwise it’s still Social Studies and Civics, Geometry and Algebra, Chemistry and Composition. Sure, these kids are learning things as “history” that I lived through, but that’s the nature of the subject, and it’s always interesting to see their reactions when you put something they consider to be “ancient history” into the context of your own life, standing there in front of them and obviously not so ancient as their conception of the events and people they’re reading about.
Some of the classes, however, have changed their names in ways that make me chuckle as I walk down the halls. In the Vocational Education” “Life Skills” department, there’s the “Clothing Lab” and the “Food Lab”, otherwise known as “Sewing” and “Cooking”, the two branches that made up “Home Ec.” Looking in through the doors, I see the same familiar equipment, cutting tables and sewing machines in one room, stoves and sinks and mixers in the other. And yesterday I subbed for the teacher in the “Industrial Skills Lab”.
When I took it, it was called “Shop”. There’s still only one girl in class, though.