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Remember when shop classes were required in junior high or high school? Well, those days are long gone, said John Killin, executive director of the Independent Electrical Contractors of Oregon.

Public schools stopped providing shop classes in the early 1990s, before even the music, arts and physical education cutbacks hit, he said.

Shop used to provide basic hands-on skill – and fun projects – that drew many kids to the construction trades. But that’s been lost, and that has made it hard to encourage young people to consider construction as a career, said Bart Eberwein, a spokesman for Hoffman Construction.

It’s also pretty rare for school counselors to even suggest construction trades to students as viable career options, he added.

“Even though students can do it right out of high school, with apprenticeship and on-the-job training, they don’t talk about construction as an option,” Eberwein said. “Why not? Not every kid is a book learner or wants to go to college and end up working inside.”

And work in Oregon’s industry can be very broad and interesting, he added.

Jobs include building complex labs for Oregon Health and Sciences University, green buildings, microchip fabrication facilities for Intel Corp. and a host of other things.

“These are really complicated, really challenging projects,” Eberwein said.

ACE Academy has found its own way to bring shop classes into the modern era – but it continues to face challenges with funding and finding ways to draw new students, director Mike Taylor said.

The school’s approach is not the same as the one for old shop classes in public schools, which took on some negative connotations in the minds of parents and students, he added.

“But there were some problems with shop classes,” Taylor said. “They were seen as a dumping ground for kids who weren’t going to college, and many of the classes were outdated and didn’t keep up with the skills needed in the trades today.”

ACE teaches students a multidisciplinary approach to the design-build industry and lets them get some hands-on experience with math and engineering skills, Taylor said.

“Collaborative building is on the rise, and we’re introducing that,” he said. “Our students – they can appreciate what those in other areas are doing. We can teach them teamwork, processing and educate them in a real world setting. That’s a vast change over what shop classes once were.”