z40\doc\web\2000\04\octsky.txt Arthur Hu April 10, 2000 October Sky Review This is a story about how 4 boys in a West Virgnia coal town use a amatuer rocket project to escape a declining industry and future by going to college. But this is really a cautionary tale about the philosiphy of school to work, and the purpose of education. There is a big conflict between the town, which is owned by the coal company in decline, and Homer's father, and the son who dreams of something bigger. The principal believes that except for a football scholarship or two, every boy is destined to work in the coal mines, and any emphasis of academis is a pure waste of time. The teacher on the other hand sees her job in life to educate the students to become something of themselves and break out of coal business. The father always makes it to the football games of the son who gets the football scholarship, but never, ever makes it to see the rocket launches, even when the entire town shows up. The boys get arrested when their rocket is suspected of starting a forest fire. Then when his father is injured, Homer gives up his dream, drops out of high school and dutifully works in the coal mine to pay the rent. But then Homer gets an idea, and on his lunch breaks calculates that the fire could not have been started by his rockets. He quits his job, which upsets his father who sees the rocket dreams getting in the way of Homer becoming a respected foreman like himself, and gets the support of the principal to send him to the science fair, he ends up winning the nationals and meeting his idol, Werner Von Braun. The philosiphy of school to work is that, like the coal town school, the main purpose of education is not academics for its own sake, but to produce workers for local industry. Too many kids are getting college educations when, like the Seattle Times editorial said, we need more construction workers. If we let the government control training according to the needs of local industry, then we will be training for the past, not the future. In 1976, I chose to specialize in computers when there was no software industry anywhere in the Pacific Northwest. What would have happened if Bill Gates had been trained to be an aerospace engineer to fit the needs of Boeing? Rent this movie, we are still fighting this battle today. To: , , , Date sent: Mon, 10 Apr 2000 12:32:46 -0700 From: "John Hall" Send reply to: wa-ed-deform@egroups.com Subject: RE: [wa-ed-deform] October Sky as real STW horror story [ Double-click this line for list subscription options ] October Sky is based on the book "Rocket Boys". The book is better, and if you are going to derive lessons from it you should be looking at the book not the movie. The movie is still good. > Then when his father is injured, Homer gives up his > dream, drops out of high school and dutifully works in the coal mine to > pay the rent. That didn't happen. Yes, his father got hurt but the company took quite good care of him (he was the manager). His father offered to pay for college if Homer wanted to become a mining engineer. Before the rocket project, Homer had apparently been an indifferent student. Mr. Tucker could probably argue that supports his school projects ideas. Note that his father was essentially a self-taught mining engineer and had done the design work on the mine ventilation systems. He didn't think he was a 'real' engineer because he had not been to college. It was his father that helped Homer learn Calculus on his own. Homer never did meet Werner Von Braun. He 'just missed him'. > The philosiphy of school to work is that, like the coal town school, the > main purpose of education is not academics for its own sake, but to > produce workers for local industry. Too many kids are getting college > educations when, like the Seattle Times editorial said, we need more > construction workers. If we let the government control training > according to the needs of local industry, then we will be training for > the past, not the future. In 1976, I chose to specialize in computers > when there was no software industry anywhere in the Pacific Northwest. > What would have happened if Bill Gates had been trained to be an > aerospace engineer to fit the needs of Boeing? The main purpose of education is to increase the student's long term earning potential (micro effects) and raise social wealth in the long run (macro effects). There really isn't any other explanation that comes close to justifying the cost of public education. Yes, we are sending far to many people to college. There are multiple reasons, including the fact that we over-subsidize college, we have devalued a high school diploma, and we are so rich we can indulge our children into young adulthood. Society winds up being poorer for it. That does NOT mean students should be FORCED to adopt skills necessary for the LOCAL industry. *I* don't know where the market is taking us, and niether does the goverment. It is particularly ludicrous to focus on the local industry. For an American, 'local' is anywhere in the US. Bus tickets are cheap. Date sent: Wed, 12 Apr 2000 12:54:34 -0400 From: "Richard G. Innes" <70224.434@compuserve.com> Subject: [education-consumers] October Sky as real STW horror story To: Arthur Hu I'll second Art Hu's recommendation of the movie "October Sky." Note in particular the scene where the high school principal actually appears to approve of one of the boy's dropping out of school to enter the mines. Deja vu, or future vue? Richard Innes