Upset
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My Daughters quest for learning shot down

I'm not one to vent online, I don't really see the point most of the time. But I just found out something that really sent me off the deep end. My oldest daughter is 16 and a junior in high school. She had signed up for auto shop this year, not because she wanted to follow me into the car business but because she wanted to be able to wrench on her own vehicle. It was her idea, not mine and I'm incredibly proud of her for thinking ahead. It was something that we had talked about last summer and as far as I knew everything was hunky dory. I stress self-reliance to my kids and expect them to learn how to deal with problems on their own. Now to put all this in perspective it's important to know that my daughter is very quiet and shy, but very independent and doesn't mind getting her hands dirty. But that being said, if something in her life goes sideways it's usually quite a while before she bothers to tell anyone.
So, with that said I just found out a few days ago that the school wouldn't allow her to take auto shop because "it's not for girls". Instead, they pushed her into a childcare class vocational class that she hates. It would have been great if she had said something sooner! So, we complained to the school enough that they "might be able to fit her in next year". In the meantime, I reminded her that we own a fully equipped shop and she's welcome in there any time she wants.

Has anyone else been through this kind of thing?
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Yes. I wasn’t allowed to take woodshop classes, even though my father had taught me how to put together cabinets and it was something I enjoyed doing. They told me ”it was a class for boys” and "not something” I ”needed to learn".

The difference, however was that this was in 1973, over 50 years ago ! It was sexism then, and it’s still sexism, which is amazing. Like your daughter, I was lucky enough to have a father who was encouraging and had the items needed at home.
Sidewinder · 36-40, M
@bijouxbroussard Hard to believe there was that kind of double-standard, even though women used to do factory work in places that normally would be occupied by men during the Second World War.