Regarding your post #452...I dont think discussing older folks going back to school, is too much off the subject....it always happens, on just about any thread on FR, side subjects of interest pop up and get discussed...
One of my cousins went to the University of Illinos, at Navy Pier(the old days), in Chicago...he used to tell me about this really old man, who must have been in his 80s, who was in his second year there as a student...he always dressed in a suit and tie, and always looked very proper...of course, most of the students there, when they first encountered him, thought he was a prof...but no, he was a student, just like them...he was considered by the profs to be an excellent student, and he actually was quite popular with the other students...unfortunately he died during his second year as a student...but he apparently died, happy, getting himself back to school...so he proves the points, that one is never too old to go back to college...
Neither my dad nor my mom ever went to college...mom was a housewife, dad a skilled Machinist(he worked for Sunbeam, at the Browne and Sharpe machine, which he called 'screw' machines to get make people give him a second glance)...but altho they never went to college, they absolutely adored reading, and passed that on to me...my fondest memories of my dad are when he was traipse around the house, wearing his pj bottoms only, with a T-shirt, and a hat on his head, and his pipe in his mouth, and a large stack of books under his arm...he would be headed up to his room in the attack, where he could retreat from the hustle and bustle of mom and me and my brother, and engage in his many hobbies, and read his beloved books...when he was done for that session, he would come down again, all his books under his arm, and join the family...that stack of books, went everywhere with him...he always carried a Bible, a book about Fishing(his favorite sport), one book or another about the Civil War(his favorite historical topic), another book about wood carving(his favorite hobby), and then another book or two on other various subjects..and oh yes, always a copy of MAD MAGAZINE, whether the magazine itself, or one of numerous pocket books of Mad...
Mom was more into mysteries, books about cooking, and sewing and such...
But my mom and dad, always encouraged me and my brother to read, as they felt reading books, on so many various subjects, was a fine education...
So, now I have really wandered off the point of this thread...but for some reason today, I was thinking a lot of my mom and dad(now gone, many years), and it feel quite good to share them with people here...
Hi andyandmikesmom,
I don't mind talking about personal details. I think it helps us connect as people and tends to personalize the discussion in a positive way. It makes us more than words on a screen. I swear some people treat these threads like a video game, with a eye towards scoring points.
My mom and pop came from different sides of the tracks. My dad's parents were educated, genteel people. My paternal grandmother had an education degree and was a schoolteacher, and my paternal grandfather was an electrical engineer. My mom's side of the family were blue collar, and a little more earthy, and they were proud of their high school diplomas. My maternal grandfather worked his way up from being oil field trash, to owning a machine shop, to owning a oilfield tools company and holding several patents -- all with little formal education.
My folks were always supportive of my decisions. They came to visit me when I graduated from boot camp. It's still one of the most memorable occasions of my life. I don't feel the same way about graduation from high school. I don't believe my high school education prepared me particularly well for life as an adult. It's ironic now I'm interested in electrical engineering. It was my grandpa's field, and I think he'd be pround. He left me a whole lot of books on the subject. It's kind of a hoot reading his old calculus books from the 30s and 40s, because with the exception of pretty graphics in my textbooks, the subject is the same.
It's hard to imagine for me, but I gather from them that in the 1930s when they grew up, having a high school diploma was an feather in your cap and having a university degree was a real accomplishment. It seems to me that having a university degree today is equivalent to having a high school diploma was for them. I can only imagine what the future will be like if we extrapolate into the future. At some point, having a university education will almost be a necessity for most technical jobs and professional positions. It's almost like that today.
Trying to relate this discussion to the topic at hand, this is why I tend to argue on the pro-science side in these debates. Technical and scientific training is only going to become more important for national compeditiveness of the U.S. in the future. I resist any trend to teach culturally-sensitive science. Physics or biology doesn't care if you're Republican or Democrat, Christian or Jew or atheist. In my opinion, teaching science with a mind towards cultural sensitivity is taking technical training in the wrong direction. It waters the subject down. Science class is one of the last bastions of critical thinking and problem solving in school. Science curriculum, therefore, must present the prevailing scientific viewpoint and do so in such a way to develop problem-solving skills.