I was wondering about the future for Preservation. I know that shop class in schools are disappearing around the country so why don't preservation groups partner with surrounding school districts to teach students about welding, grinding, electrical, and so on. Teenagers and young adults can learn hands on teaching and they can become future members and or future industrialist that can possibly bring manufacturing jobs back to the states and industrial minds back to Americans. The groups could offer summertime courses or year round. Facebook, Twitter, and youtube.com are great and all but it comes down to the schools. preservation societies all over need to adapt to survive and this could be a step forward. Insurance cost and safety can be a concern but you need to have the place open for potently future members to join. No risk no reward both the schools and pres. societies can benefit this. Your thoughts on this

Don't overlook the Maker movement.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maker_culture

I remember 40 years ago doing much the same things, but times have changed. The idea of teaming up with educational programs is still done a bit, but does run into some major hurdles. A few of these for public schools (K-12) include:

[1] Many schools and states require all educators to carry a state teacher's license.
[2] Many schools and states require complete background checks of all workers, including volunteers.
[3] Many schools and states require full insurance coverage for any activities off the school property.
[4] Some schools and states require school-provided transportation to and from any such events.

Interestingly enough, community colleges are generally easier to work with since the students are more likely to be considered as adults. They are also more likely to have shop-type craft training as a part of their curriculum. There are several schools with historic preservation programs working with museums related to railroading.

The idea of summer of weekend programs have also been done, generally as a summer day-camp program. NRHS has their Railcamp as do several major tourist railroads. These, however, again require proper planning, leadership, and insurance. Many states have clear regulations for these types of activities, so there is a legal hurdle that might have to be taken care of.

I would recommend checking with your local school to see what their interest is and what the requirements are. It would be great to see a number of success stories, but be prepared for a number of legal issues. However, where schools have such programs in place, they are probably looking for projects that would include rail preservation.

This topic hits close to home for me. I have been a teacher for the last 15 years. The first 13 as a career area teacher in one of the only high-school level power plant technology programs around. Two years ago my school district closed my program and I am now teaching special education.

One of the biggest problems facing traditional vocational education and traditional blue collar skilled trades is that young people are simply not interested in that sort of work. Especially at 14 and 15 years old when we used to hook them in the trade schools.

I have graduated many young people over the years who are now working in the industry making the sort of salary that allows someone to live out the American dream. The jobs are out there and employers struggle to find the right people. Also, people tend to not have one career anymore. A generation or two ago someone who started out in the trades often stayed in the trades and moved up within.

There are plenty of young people who are interested in trains, history, and preservation. The trick is bringing them on board and cultivating them. When done so properly your local museum or historic railroad will gain a lifetime member and volunteer. The future has always been with the young people and how to reach and connect with them has changed.

Next, you can weave enough education into everything done at your local museum, train club, or tourist railroad. If you're not doing this you are missing the train. Literally.

Its not just a talent issue with the next generation. They can learn, and want to learn. I have seen it first hand. Key is to listen to these younger members. Too often, the folks who have been running a museum for many years don’t want to accept that things can be done differently, perhaps shutting out the ideas of the next generation. This is not a new issue, its been going on for as long as there have been volunteer groups. The feeling by some old timers that its “their museum” is a huge turn off to the younger generation as is infighting between members of the older generation.

I could write volumes on this subject, and perhaps will at some point, but I will hold off for the moment as I sense more background will become available shortly for me to fill a few more chapters.

J.R. May
One of those young guys in 1972, ended up being Chairman in 2000, then swearing I’d never volunteer again in 2004.

Here's a research project that would give you a *rough* indication of where it's going.

Option A:
Plot how many steam locomotives are in active service for every decade from 1965 through 2015. I suspect the trend won't be nearly as bad as you'd think.

Option B:
Plot total number of listings in the "Steam Passenger Service Directory" over the same period. This will be somewhat imprecise, as there were less when they charged for listings, but it would show trends.

Yes, I know, there's far more to preservation than that, but these stats would be fairly easy to acquire.

I think the issue is more than RR preservation; it's all preservation and the ability of people in this country being able to create mechanical things. REAL things, not "virtual reality" things. I hold the very LAST Industrial Arts degree conferred by California State University, Chico--and I received my diploma in 1990--at that time it was already out of the University catalog, but they have to honor the listings that were active when you entered the University. Chico began as a Teacher's School, and still to this day follows that tradition. If no one is being trained to teach the Industrial Arts, where does that leave the future?

In a pretty bad state. I suppose that in the not too distant future, we'll be hiring Europeans and Asians to do the mechanical work that we lost the knowledge of. Here in Tucson, Arizona we have pushed mechanical instruction hard with our Joint Technical Education Division program that the Tucson Unified School District and other local school districts participate in. Our newly elected governor is pushing reductions in state expenditures to balance the budget and education has taken a major hit. The three state universities have seen a reduction of over $100 million in their budgets and the state is passing additional costs on to the counties. There is real concern here that the JTED program will be substantially cut or possibly eliminated.

The idea that technical skills are post high school, university taught subjects is in itself a major part of the problem. There's no reason not to include a technical skills track for high school students that prepares them to go into apprenticeship programs with industries upon graduation - the German schools start to specialize at about 12 years old if I recall correctly, based on aptitude tests and students interests. Perhaps the problem is we don't have as much industry here to offer apprenticeships, and we create very complicated digital ways to do work rather than encourage craftsmanship in the remaining career paths we do have.

dave

I'm not sure that Empire State Ry. Museum ever actually charged for listings--ads, yes, but not listings. I don't know for sure whether the current version, under Kalmbach Publishing, does, but as a writer of several of the entries, if there's any "payola" involved today I don't know a darned thing about it, and I actually suggested and wrote up at least one place that was utterly unaware that they were being listed.......

Dave,
The Industrial Arts degrees formerly granted by CSU, Chico were not to make technical instruction a College-level training, but to provide teachers to give that instruction in the High School and Lower Grades too. Used to be that every middle and High school had at least a wood shop, and larger ones had metal shop and auto shop. Nowadays few have any. "Too Dangerous" "Doesn't fit in the new training system" etc. etc.