Not Allowed When I Was A Kid

When I was in junior high, I saw all these kids coming out of shop class with projects they had made - I loved working with wood but when they worked with some sort of plastic I was surprised. I signed up. Expectantly waited for the next semester to take shop. The first day I walked in and was met by the teacher at the door who informed me GIRLS WERE NOT ALLOWED! My name was slightly unusual but it seems obviously for a girl but they didn't realize it in time I guess. It did not ever occur to me that I wouldn't be allowed to take the best class because of my sex! GRRRR!

Enough whining. Kettering University - I've been seeing this ad everywhere and have looked into it twice already - now it's MY turn to write about it. They offer studies in polymers and plastics engineering for one. Am I too old? I haven't yet dared to click on "continuing education"...

Something else I see is they do apprenticeships! That's so perfectly, exactly what I believe in! My boys have heard me suggest this for years; this would be the perfect learning style and type of school for my youngest. Their engineering co-op programs starts in their freshman year and has them rotate study for three months, then work for three months. Excellent! It's hands on right from the beginning!

US News and World Report has ranked Kettering University as "the #1 University in the nation for Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering" in its annual "America's Best Colleges Guide for 2008. I've shown my youngest a little about this school but right now he's just interested in avoiding schoolwork, I'll give him another couple of years to get serious. He's young. But since he spends all his time making science experiments and researching (just don't use that word!) this sort of thing, this is where he needs to go. Industrial engineering is a field he should look into.