Jackson High School teacher Don Grossheider is from the old school, where industrial technology classes were better known as shop and students took pride in the lamps and other projects they conceived, designed and built with their own hands and tools.

Today, Grossheider said less emphasis is placed on shop standards like woodworking and metalworking. Instead, those skills are emphasized by "dinosaurs" from the old school while newer teachers focus on computer skills and design.

"Some schools are buying into what they think is higher technology and have basically not abandoned but let their traditional programs wane," he said. "Most people think everything's computers nowadays, but it's not. There are schools that are really striving for excellence and having kids strive to produce some really phenomenal things."

Grossheider said he doesn't put much stock in being able to build something if the student can't explain its dimensions or how he derived the design.

"It's a sad commentary that a lot of people had a poor industrial technology experience," he said. "There's so much emphasis on what's considered higher technology that we forget the basics.

"We get a big kick out of watching kids build space stations out of toilet-paper tubes, yet the students can't read a ruler," he said.

Grossheider hopes a two-day Southeast Missouri Industrial Technology Awards program continuing at West Park Mall today will showcase students who are learning traditional as well as modern industrial arts skills. The event is hosted by Jackson School District.

Twelve schools in the region registered students for the event, which is in its 66th year. Entries included various levels of woodworking, metalworking, leather craft and drafting.

Some entries were traditional student works like lamps, pet cages and mailboxes. Others were more elaborate, including several ornate curio cabinets, an iron-and-glass coffee table that featured a horseshoe motif, and a computer workstation with a dropped monitor shelf.

Photography and computer-aided design projects were also featured.

"A lot of students nowadays really need something they're going to be held entirely accountable for," said Grossheider. "It says quite a bit about a student if they're that good of a student to finish a project like this."

Student projects were judged Wednesday and will be on display through this evening. Winners in the two-day, district-level competition will advance to state competition in Jefferson City in two weeks.