"Dee D. Flint" wrote in message
...

"Bill Sohl" wrote in message
ink.net...

"Dee D. Flint" wrote in message
...

"Mike Coslo" wrote in message
...

Indeed, if we support the lowered power limits, and all, is there a
good argument for simply letting Novices on the air with no
requirements? Learn as they go?

- Mike KB3EIA -

If the new "Novice" or "Communicator" proposals get instituted, I will
tell
any beginning class that I teach that we are going to go all the way
to
General. It won't be worth my time to teach otherwise.

Do you really believe that bringing in a new ham at the
proposed novice level isn't worth it?

My goal or objective would be to encourage
as many new people, especially kids, to get a novice license
and just see how it goes from there.

Cheers,
Bill K2UNK

It is worthwhile to encourage them to become a ham yes and I will do so.
But from the discussion of what is proposed to be on the "new novice" or
communicator tests, a one evening two hour session will do to cover the
material in more depth than they will need. I'm not going to set up a
single session one hour class.

That's certainly your call...but I think it is shortsighted.

It's too much hassle to get a room, books,
etc for that. I would willingly tutor individuals at my home for that
license for a few hours but will not run a class for it.

Personally I'd be happy to teach a one evening class. I'd
even prefer that they get the Novice and get on the air for
a period of time before continuing on for the General... especially
if they are really newcomers to radio in general.

I'd set up the
class so the first week, we discuss that study guide which they will have
been asked to read in advance. We will discuss any questions that they
may
have on it. The remaining class weeks would cover the material to go on
to
General.

Again, that's clearly your option to do as you want.

I want to bring new hams into the hobby but I'm simply not going to spend
my
time teaching material that simple.

Simple for you perhaps. When I was 13 I had literally NO knowledge
before becoming a Novice. Luckily my dad had a technical
background and had been a ham himself in the 1940s. There are,
I'm sure, many possible newcomers to ham radio whowould have
literally ZERO radio knowledge as a starting point. Frankly,
that can be a great advantage...no preconceived notion that
the individual aready knows it all.

Nothing against the people or even
really against the material. I simply expect a better return on my
investment of time. I will not get that teaching material aimed at the
elementary school level when I am teaching adults.

Why do you limit your teaching to adults...or only adults with
a pre-requisite knowledge of some radio basics?

To me the satisfaction comes in seeing their faces
light up when we've conquered a difficult chapter.

Why wouldn't you get the same enjoyment if the first chapter
was very basic radio concepts? For most people today, they don't
have any working knowledge of radio basics at all...especially
if they never took a high school or college physics course.

Cheers,
Bill K2UNK