Will Sampson talks about a potential turnaround in woodworking education that is starting to happen. His guests are Ethan Roe, Director of Sales, and Dylan Schudie, Business Rep, from Grizzly Industrial in this podcast recorded live at the Wood Pro Expo in Schaumburg, Illinois. They are talking about support for the #YoungWoodPro program and new efforts from Grizzly directed at schools and professional shops.
This episode of the Woodworking Network podcast was sponsored by FDMC magazine. FDMC magazine is your vital source of information to improve your woodworking business. Whether it is keeping you apprised of the latest advances in manufacturing, helping you solve your wood technology problems with Gene Wengert, or inspiring you with case histories about successful businesses and best practices, FDMC magazine is there to be the sharpest business tool in your shop. Learn more and subscribe for free at woodworkingnetwork.com/fdmc.
Woodworking Network is a home for professional woodworkers, presenting technology, supplies, education, inspiration, and community, from small business entrepreneurs to corporate managers at large automated plants.
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Intro music courtesy of Anthony Monson.
Intro:
Welcome to this episode of the Woodworking Network Podcast. Join us as we explore the business of woodworking big and small and what it takes to succeed. I’m Will Sampson.
Today’s episode is sponsored by FDMC magazine. My guests are Ethan Roe, Director of Sales, and Dylan Schudie, Business Rep, from Grizzly Industrial, talking about new efforts to support education and small business development in the woodworking industry. But first I want to talk about:
Is woodworking education coming back?
Over the past 20 years or so, it seems public education has been in a war against woodshops. I can’t count how many tales I’ve heard or reported on involving the demise of high school and middle school shop programs. But there might be glimmers of hope that the trend is coming to an end.
The classic story has been that school officials in their mad dash to get all students to go to four-year colleges lost sight of the value of technical education in general and woodworking in particular. As far as they were concerned, the U.S. doesn’t manufacture anything anymore. That’s all done in China. We’re in a service economy now. We don’t need to prepare students for careers in manufacturing. Besides, manufacturing is dirty, dangerous, and doesn’t pay.
Boy, how wrong can they be?! But thanks to industry efforts and people like the Dirty Jobs star Mike Rowe who have brought attention to this challenge, some educators are actually learning a thing or two about the real world and deciding that there is room in public schools for tech ed and woodshops.
That’s great news because some of the stories of the past 20 years are really sad. One of the worst I remember was a North Carolina school district that had a vibrant woodworking program with some 80 students, mostly from underprivileged backgrounds. Those kids were looking for good family wage jobs once they left high school with no debt from a four-year college to slow them down. The woodshop program even had strong local support from a woodworking business that was sharing materials and modern CNC technology with the program. That business was even working to help get the school its own CNC.
But the school officials decided it was a better idea to drop the whole wood program and replace it with a trendy “culinary education” program. In other words, they were going to train kids for minimum-wage jobs in the restaurant industry instead of careers in manufacturing.
I even had my own Quixotic battle to save what was left of a woodworking program in a school in Connecticut in the town that was ironically home to Fine Woodworking magazine. The district had already done away with its high school woodworking program, and they were about to kill the middle school shop because the teacher had retired. When they hired a new “technology” teacher, he was afraid to have stationary machines like table saws, planers, and jointers in the shop. A scroll saw cutting popsicle sticks was about as much woodworking as he wanted.
But apparently some educators are finally learning something. I’m hearing stories of schools reactivating woodshop programs. That’s great news, but they will need lots of help from industry. Machinery is not cheap. Some of the new instructors need advice and support. Are you in touch with your local school woodworking program (if it still exists!)? Have you taken any steps to suggest to local school officials and school board members to revisit support of woodworking? Don’t give up! Woodworking will rise again!
Before we get to our interview with the gentlemen from Grizzly, let’s pause for a word from our sponsor.
FDMC magazine is your vital source of information to improve your woodworking business. Whether it is keeping you apprised of the latest advances in manufacturing, helping you solve your wood technology problems with Gene Wengert, or inspiring you with case histories about successful businesses and best practices, FDMC magazine is there to be the sharpest business tool in your shop. Learn more and subscribe for free at woodworkingnetwork.com/fdmc.
Now, let’s talk about education and support for young woodworking professionals with Ethan Roe and Dylan Schudie.