Industrial Arts

There was something unique about the credits received for Industrial Arts, but it escapes me right now what it was. I think one year was worth either 1.5 or 2 credits because I think they it was half day of shop and a half day of class work.. I’ll have to look that up.

Anyway, it was a fun class partly because Mr. Caldwell always seemed to have some place else to go. I won’t say he was gone every day, but on a good many days there was something he needed to do in the main office or teacher’s lounge or some place like that, so we were frequently left on our own.

During one of his times away the guys got into a discussion about which shotgun shells were best. That ended up with them removing the shot from a couple of shells, clamping them into a vice and using and hammer and a screwdriver to set off the cap. The echoes were heard over half the school. The guys in Ag must have jumped out of their socks.

Another time a couple of the guys spent the time he was gone making different body parts out of wood, or the time someone removed several screws/nails from another student’s wood project so that when he began working on it, it fell apart.

There were few dull moments in Industrial Arts.