Our schools dropped all classes in those areas and put something called HESH in their place. This is a course for 7th grades. They get 9 weeks of shop, they use the saw to cut out a large key shape and then attach cup hooks to use a key holder. They learn to work with acrylic to make a back scratcher. The third poject is a wooden plaque with name and house number on it. The other 9 weeks they use 3 weeks to make a zippered pillow case and to learn to "cook". My children were very disappointed because the cooking involved making cinnamon toast and making mini-pizza on flattened biscuit dough. The school is now considering dropping this due to liability insurance costs.