Why Teach Woodworking?

[WilliamHodge]

So, I ask, why teach woodworking.........from all the experience on this forum, what will a student gain from developing skills in woodworking and what careers are possible from learning woodworking?

Talk to local wood product manufactures. Depending on location, the markets vary. There should be placements for people you train, and a place to do internships.

In any location, building and selling custom furniture requires marketing skills similar to selling artwork. The building trades are an easier way to sell stuff, and make money. People get loans to build buildings, and building projects can be required to maintain or increase the value of a property.

The best classes I took to become a professional woodworker were Mechanical Drawing, in 8th grade in 1973; and college level economics. I learned that wealth is created by adding value to a raw material. I chose wood. I buy it for about $5.00 a board foot, and sell it for $250. a board foot, after I cut it up and put it back together again. If that value added part is missing from your curriculum, don't bother.

The skills a student can gain can be artistic ability, like at North Bennet Street School, or they can learn a trade to make a living.

[Handplanesandmore]

I learned that wealth is created by adding value to a raw material. I chose wood. I buy it for about $5.00 a board foot, and sell it for $250. a board foot, after I cut it up and put it back together again.

With that kind of return, you know you are one of the exceptions that another poster pointed out above?

I know quite a few aspiring as well as skilled woodworkers who have a full time job or a side job (or a high income earning spouse or other family member) to support their woodworking career. One tried making a living with his one man shop full time but in less two years, his full time shop became a part time shop after he has taken a full time job to make real money.

I am not trying to pour cold water on anyone who is thinking of furniture and cabinet making as a career. There exist many successful woodworkers who making a living based on commission, but they are the tiny tiny minority. If one wants to take up woodworking to do carpentry, job site work, renovation, home building, etc., that is a decent career path. My old neighbor raised his whole family by installing and replacing windows and his son makes a lot more money than many desk-bound workers after he finished high school and works for his dad.

If someone is being romantic with woodworking as their true love or getting pumped up by those videos produced the  Festool ambassador woodworkers, they need to do their homework before making any jump. Tage Frid as well as Christian Becksvoort, both successful woodworkers, offered the best advice to any woodworker thinking of starting their own shop business from their hard-earned experience in their Fine Woodworking articles: Don't quit your day time job.

Many Fine Woodworking authors supplement their jobs with writing and teaching, which in turn do help their businesses.

My local woodworking club has about half a dozen full time furniture makers doing mainly commissioned work, usually a few thousand dollars a piece and up. But they are living proofs that life as a woodworker and businessman is tough. If you have good woodworking skills that are not matched by good business/sales skills, you are doomed to fail -- at least financially. Teaching good woodworking skills is (less than) half the story.

Simon

[BrokenOlMarine]

Like any other elective... art, music.. etc... 
You could explain that woodworking teaches hand eye coordination, linear thinking, (planning and following the plan to the outcome.) It encourages the ability to modify you plan to accommodate flaws in the original designs or materials.  Basics woodworking skills carry on thru a lifetime and their uses never cease to amaze.

[packerguy®]

Hi Everyone, quick backstory, I have been a woodworking and engineering teacher for the last 11 years and loved it.  This year, I changed jobs to a different school and left behind a great shop and teaching schedule.  We made the move to be closer to family.  I now teach mostly engineering and manufacturing (welding, machine shop, sheet metal).  It is not the same as woods.  Recently, an opportunity came to teach at a career center in an engineering program.  Problem is, it would only be half day.  However, I started thinking that this career center and the students in the area would benefit greatly from a full scale woodworking (furniture and cabinetry) program.  Allowing me to teach engineering half the day and woods the other half.  I started drafting a proposal for the principal of the center on the benefits of a solid woodworking program.  However, most career centers thrive on the ability to say students are ready for work in such and such a field.  I do not know the need for students in wood manufacturing and which careers truly exist for students with these skill sets.  So, I ask, why teach woodworking.........from all the experience on this forum, what will a student gain from developing skills in woodworking and what careers are possible from learning woodworking?

Also, I would plan on teaching CNC, which no matter the material has practical applications in many areas of industry.  I also hold many personal beliefs about the impact woodworking has had on me personally, and knowing that I only wish I was introduced to it earlier in life.  Please share and I thank you for your comments.

In looking at what classes my Middle School kids (and next years HS offerings) more than half of their school time doesnt give them skills for a job. Why teach pottery? How about choir? I think woodworking at a young age (6th-8th grade) can build skills of using basic tools, like a drill, screwdriver and hammer which almost all homeowners will need to use at one time or another. Its no different than Home Ec and learning how to sew and make biscuits.

I agree that it probably makes sense to have more real world applications like a CNC router and learning CAD/CAM software vs taking a raw board and pulling out a #4 plane like we did in the 90's.  If nothing else it will keep kids engaged because a computer is involved and it seems cool. 

Maybe I am at the minority, but HS isnt a training ground for the workforce anymore like it might have been 50 years ago. Its one of the main reasons why our kids will transition to online school when they hit 9th grade, or show the interest in 8th. HS is such a waste of time, and teaches little you need to be successful in the real world anymore. I mean what job, other than a HS teacher, do you follow a bell, walk from place to place, have someone spoon feed your work to you, and have to make hardly any choices all day? Its becoming to be more inefficient and we wonder why we are middle of the pack worldwide.

[Kansas City Fireslayer]

Teach woodworking for fun. Teach woodworking so you don’t have to hire basic repairs as a working adult. Unless a high end production kitchen cabinet maker, many have said making a living in woodworking is extremely difficult.

[handi]

I consult to the wood industry around the US and beyond.

EVERY client I have ever worked with in the last 10 years has been very focused on finding employees. 
They have long since given up on finding trained employees, now they would be happy to hire for attitude and train for skills.

A program that even just introduced students the the possibility of a career in woodworking is of value.

I have been in the trade since about 1981. I have never been unemployed except when I chose to and now consult to the industry, write for hobby and trade magazines, present seminars at trade shows and host my own woodworking show on Amazon Prime. Not a bad career path for a guy with just a HS diploma.

[Admiral]

I consult to the wood industry around the US and beyond.

EVERY client I have ever worked with in the last 10 years has been very focused on finding employees. 
They have long since given up on finding trained employees, now they would be happy to hire for attitude and train for skills.

A program that even just introduced students the the possibility of a career in woodworking is of value.

I have been in the trade since about 1981. I have never been unemployed except when I chose to and now consult to the industry, write for hobby and trade magazines, present seminars at trade shows and host my own woodworking show on Amazon Prime. Not a bad career path for a guy with just a HS diploma.

What Ralph says, and Hodge above, make a lot of sense to me.  I work with a lot of Europeans, mostly German, in technology, and then generally software engineers, and some of them pine away rethinking their career choice, and more than one had commented they would have preferred to have chosen the vocational track in the German school system, where there is a big cooperative effort on an industry level and with individual employers to prepare students for apprenticeships and real job positions using a combination school-work program, where there is classroom work half the day, and the other day they are on site with employers.  I don't know much more than that, other than the obvious win-win where the student gets educated and prepared for a real job, and the employer has a pipeline of potential employees.

I read something a while back that this is a concept that is being trialed here in the US; my gut tells me that it could gain traction, as the higher skill level required for modern manufacturing techniques will require some sort of education and training, and better paying jobs are going to be in those areas; and some of those jobs go begging due to a lack of qualified people.  Now, for woodworking, you would have to be in a geographic location where there is an active woodworking industry to get real traction with companies interested in a collaborative effort.

[sawdust703]

woodworkers, carpenters, trained wood working folks, admit it, we are a dyin' breed. Anything that can be taught & honestly learned by those bein' taught is an accomplishment!
Teachin' to read plans is a good start. Readin' a tape measure & usin' it correctly are a dream most have. They don't even teach that in school anymore!

Teaching not only the basics of wood class is one thing, but teachin' wood is another. The student should understand different breeds of lumber, it's looks & uses, how much can be really be done with lumber besides CNC, or computerized work.

Highly agreeing with several others, teachin' power tool handling & safety, hand & eye coordination, project planning, understandin' how their project comes together piece by piece, all this is just as important as teachin' how to figure bd ft pricing, roof pitch, square footage, etc. It sounds like a lot to swallow, but if you're lookin' at the teachin' end of it, give them tools they will be able to use in every project, not just a focus on certain subjects.

[Papa Jim]

If however, you are using the vehicle of woodworking to teach young people how to solve problems, how to gain self confidence,  

I have never made my living by woodworking. It is my hobby, but every major build I have made involved solving problems. Which is the best joint to use? What is the safest way to make a difficult cut? How to account for wood movment? The list goes on and on. A successful vocation is also going to require similar critical thinking and problem solving problem skills. On the issue of self confidence I remember my first major build, an entertainment center. About one third of the way into the project I began to have doubts about my ability to finish it. I finally resolved that I had at least enough knowledge to make the next cut--and the one after that--and so on. By the time I finished it I no longer had any doubts about my abilities.  Self confidence in one area can carry over into other areas.

[AgGEM]

In looking at what classes my Middle School kids (and next years HS offerings) more than half of their school time doesnt give them skills for a job. Why teach pottery? How about choir? I think woodworking at a young age (6th-8th grade) can build skills of using basic tools, like a drill, screwdriver and hammer which almost all homeowners will need to use at one time or another. Its no different than Home Ec and learning how to sew and make biscuits.

Not disagreeing with you.
But I can tell you that choir builds teamwork skills and friendships that last beyond childhood. And the desire to strive for excellence, which carries on too.
I think at least one semester of home economics should be a requirement for graduation. Everyone needs to know how to get by..

Ag