Thanks for the feedback, Jim.

It's up to the parents & students to voice their concerns about this sort of thing. They shut down metal shop, wood shop and even home economics in my hs 20 years ago. Seems parents and the school thought that everyone could be a doctor, lawyer or office worker. Not every kid wants to do that...and many of these office jobs have been farmed out overseas.

I've been all over the country and have visited both high schools and colleges that use a ShopBot in their curriculum. Some inherited the class against their will and don't put a lot of energy into it...BUT others run a first class shop and really leverage how a ShopBot can be used. In one school, they use the bot for cabinet/casework in their wood shop class - and they also use it to machine 3D relief mold masters for their metal shop class! They take the master pattern, sand cast it and pour molten aluminum into the mold to create metal parts! Pretty slick for a high school! Another uses a Bot in a mixed curriculum to create 3D models that go into a mini wind tunnel and then they analyze and tweak the model to get the desired coefficient of drag.

So there ARE some schools out there using this technology and really giving kids a practical education and foundation to build upon for the working world. Not all hope is lost...but it's up to the kids to speak up and let it be known that they don't want to be another cubicle rat. Unfortunately some of us have to 'try out the office thing' before realizing that it isn't what we were made to do. And that's where a lot of kids are - they don't know what they want to do and often pick whatever sounds good enough to get everyone off their back! ...and then they are 40, miserable and wonder how they got there. The world would be a better place if kids were told the whole story and we didn't adhere to the old stigmas attached to 'blue collar' jobs.

What is nice about running a CNC is that you get to use BOTH your brain and your hands - which for some of us, is as essential as breathing in order to feel satisfaction on a day to day basis.

-B