In my state it varies from school district to school district and even from high school to high school within a district. My niece has to actually do that exact thing as part of her specialized education curriculum. It isn't a normal situation though, it's a simple way of getting the kids who need specialized help as part of their specialized education plan(her case- social issues) to find something they may be better in than the general education. It's two weeks at each of the vocational training courses, after each cycle they move on to the next field of study.

It really depends on how the schools are set up and how much they emphasize the core subjects(math, science, history, languages, literature/writing). Mine was heavy emphasis on them but the last two years were setup years where you could specialize in computers, finance, banking, or computer drafting and mapping. Home ec wasn't useful to student compared with computers, banking, and finance.

I think I'd better throw some cold water in here.

Auto Shop, much like 4H, are dying programs in most high schools/junior highs. The high school I went to, having been built in the late 30's in a rural area, had, even in the late 80's and early 90's, an ag program, wood shop (at the junior high), metal shop (at the high school), auto shop, and home ec. Home ec was both a high school AND a junior high program. They had different focuses. Most schools now don't have _any_ shops. Even ones that used to have them shut them down, with the attitude that "If they want to learn that, they'll go to a trade school."

Personally, I'd like to see a required course that combined basic home economics with what you could call 'home maintenance'. That is, a full two semester course that taught you how to hem your own pants, cook basic meals, balance a checkbook, understand withholding, mortgages, and insurance, and then went on to the second half. The second half would be how to do automobile maintenance, how to do basic plumbing, electrical, painting and woodwork. (find a stud to put a nail in to hold a picture firmly, etc). I think that most people under the age of 30, now, have no clue how to prime before painting (or paint at all), check their own automobile fluids, or unblock a sink. I've had to help a few people trying to figure out what to do to unclog a sink/bath at the big box home improvement stores. I mean, a snake is NOT a difficult instrument. Even changing a toilet (unless the moron original installer cemented it in place) should be a one hour job for anyone. (It took me a week, but I had to drill out rotten concrete, let it dry, pack chicken wire into the hole, fill with high pressure concrete, let it dry, drill new mounting holes for the closet ring extension because the original drain pipe was an inch below the floor level, mount the new closet ring with anchors, and then put the toilet in, level, then caulk)

Guess how many kids have a clue that you can replace the wire on a lamp? What the button on the outlet in the bathroom is for?

It's not rocket surgery - but our society seems to have lost the Renaissance Man mentality, where the average person could do almost everything around the home.