[Enigma's puzzle]

Shop Class is for machine operators, and CADing and sending it to a shop is for Engineers. I think they are actually learning more, including a more true version of the engineering process. No engineer is going to go into the workplace and tell a bunch of guys on the drill press how to make it, but instead the ThunderChickens are getting valuable hands on experience about designing, material strengths, tolerances, prototyping, etc. I can bet one of my students never learned a thing about tolerances by working our drill press.

And after they get their personally designed parts back, I'm sure they catch up pretty fast when making the slight modifications that most of our students make to make it better.