[ETSList] school

[Drew Moore]

  Adopting a School

Well here we are in a new electronic revolution, computers, I-Pods, and 
video games. How can amateur radio compete? How can Amateur radio 
survive? Kids have no interest in learning about ham radio. Ham radio is 
for grandpa or grandma- not for the kids. Kids have cell phones, I-Pods, 
computers, and little time for sitting around tuning a rig to a station 
half way around the world. For that matter, why learn that dit-dah 
dit-dah thing that’s old hat? Nobody uses that any more.

Well like in nature when you lose one creature, you usually lose 5 more 
that depended on the fellow to keep those species alive. And technology 
is not any different.

The last ham fest I attended was a sea of gray and very few young folks 
were there. The ham club I am secretary of is also a sea of gray with 
the average age between 50 and 90. Our youngest and only young member is 
30 years old. So what are we doing wrong as a community of communication?

Maybe we need to get out there and go to grade schools, middle schools 
and high schools and offer our expertise and promote our hobby to the 
young children and teach them about amateur radio and where the 
technology came from for that cell phone or computer.

The ARRL has grants for schools to teach and set up ham radio stations 
right in the classrooms at no expense to the school or teachers. So why 
are we not out there promoting ham radio before it dies completely? 
Every club in America should adopt a school and donate a few hours of 
time giving these kids a chance to maybe talk to the astronauts, or a 
country that they may have never heard of.

There is only a hand full of schools across this great land that 
currently use Amateur radio as a teaching aid in the classrooms.

The importance of amateur radio has been proven over and over in our 
communities across the country every year that has past since ham radio 
came into assistance. Hurricane Katrina was a good example of why we 
cannot let amateur radio pass away. So lets consider adopting a school 
as a club project.

Thank you

KD5IBY

The Old Captain 73