[GreenKeys] younger generation greenkeyers ?

[Keelan Lightfoot]

> Going back on topic, any one else have ideas of how to intrigue kids
> and teenagers into getting involved with older technology?


These days, I think it would be prudent to try and get teenagers to focus on anything besides their cell phones. I'm always dodging the little buggers in the grocery store. Texting and driving is dangerous, but so is texting and walking! Removing things like shop class and electronics class from high schools is probably not helping things either.

I wouldn't worry about there being a shortage of weird kids that grow up to be interested in obsolete technology. Not every kid born is going to be interested in oily old typing machines, just like every kid born isn't going to be interested in designing clothing, painting portraits or playing hockey. But every now and then, a mother and father look into their child's room, and to their surprise they see something that their genetics or childbearing efforts couldn't have predicted. They see their appliances in pieces on the floor, screws and screwdrivers littered about them, a desk covered with bits of wire and blobs of cold solder, books laying about with schematic symbols on the covers, and the scent of burnt rosin hanging in the air.

There's a sucker born every minute. There's a 'weird' kid with a urge to know how the world works born probably every 10 minutes.

My wife is a teacher, and from what I've experienced through her, I can say that a lot of that curiosity comes through upbringing. Kids need to be taught to question everything, and wonder how everything works. I remember asking my dad how a lock worked. He told me he had the same question when he was younger, and used a hack saw to find out the answer. He wouldn't tell me the answer, but he did tell me where to find the hack saw. Give kids an environment that encourages questions, that encourages discovery and problem solving. Give them a smart phone loaded with mind numbing tripe, and you've got a sure fire plan to produce a child with only a vestigial curiosity centre in their brain, crushed by the unchecked growth of centre that nourishes itself on mindless entertainment.

- Keelan

VE7NCR