@skadi @matrix my middle school had "health, cooking, and sewing" for half of each school year and then "carpentry, drafting, and modeling" for the other half of the school year. basically everyone learned how to use a band saw and a modern sewing machine. the high school had something similar but I can't remember the details too well. but it was in a wealthy town. these classes were compulsory, not elective. there was a building next to the school where you learned animal husbandry but it was mostly an after school club. the high school health class had a segment of the curriculum where you were supposed to pretend you knocked up some teenage chick out of wedlock and you had to make a budget. it was intended to illustrate how terrible that would be. they told us a million times how bad it is to have a baby out of wedlock or to have any sex at all outside of a monogamous relationship. we had to learn about AIDS almost as much as we learned about the holocaust. I knew every possible fact about contraceptive methods and it tipped off all the girls that I was sexually experienced. they used to say "goatmeal bags." first aid and CPR were also compulsory.