A couple of years ago our local high school went through a major remodel. One of the things that the adminstration was going to do was to elimnate the shop. They ended up building one that was 1/4 the size of the one in the old building. We were able to get them to do that because it could be used to build sets for the theater.

I agree that more pratical classes would be good, things like how to unstuff plumbing, but the parents don't want anything but collage prep.

BTW there still is a range and shooting team in the school.