Earlier we were having a discussion on education, particularly history and the education we received at DHS. There is an organization some may have heard of called the “Intercollegiate Studies Institute” whose work is to try and raise the educational levels and standards in the U.S – to stop this “dumbing down of America” problem as Dick Johnson stated.
There is an interesting 36 question quiz on this site and a high number of Americans are unable to get above 50% on it. What is more alarming is that our elected representatives do not score any higher. This is not a left, right political thing (wow, we get enough of that with the slanted news). If one looks at the questions or even take the quiz, they will see it is not that difficult. I mean multiple choice questions about the 3 branches of government, who the commander-in-chief is, what countries were friends or enemies in World War II. It is interesting.
http://www.isi.org/quiz.aspx?q=FE5C3B47-9675-41E0-9CF3-072BB31E2692Aime=
I was thinking about the Grimme clan and remembered this little
episode! Bill Grimme was over at Boguslawski’s one evening
visiting with Alan. I was there hanging out with John. We were
about 13 or so and were really interested in cars and engines,
etc. Bill was driving his dad’s 53 Plymouth car. It was a light
green two door with a small 6 cylinder engine and a straight
stick transmission. I made some comment about hearing my
Grandpa Hans Johnson say how those engines were really short on
power. To this comment, John agreed that he too had heard of
the lack of power . Being that this was the general belief
around the guys in the know, John and I just HAD to find out
how weak they were. Bill was in the house with Alan and the car
was outside with us so——lets see! We carried blocks of wood
from the woodpile by the alley and carefully placed them under
the tires in such a fashion that Bill should’t see them when he
got in the car. We blocked most of the tires on both sides so
either direction he tried to go, he couldn’t unless the car
could climb over the blocks. To us this was a genius plan for
testing the true power of this engine!! Can it climb the
blocks? Well with everything in place, we just sat back against
the wall of their garage and waited for Bill to come out. It
wasn’t to long before Bill came out and got into the car and
fired her up!! He put it in reverse and let out the clutch and
she let out a grunt and died. He fired up again and the same
thing. On his third try he really revved it up and when he
dumped the clutch wood blocks were flying everywhere and the
poor old Plymouth was bouncing over blocks and roaring and
throwing dirt all over!! By this time John and I were laughing
hysterically and didn’t notice that Bill was out of the car and
headed our direction with this look on his face similar to a
lion about to take it’s prey!! We both got a cuff “up side the
head” and I don’t really remember if we decided our experiment
was a success or a failure!!
Dick
That’s great to learn that you have applied to DoDDS. Let me know who you
are communicating with. I know many of the people in personnel and, if I
can, I’d like to put in a good word for you. Be willing to go anywhere and
take any assignment even though it may not be the most desirable one. Get
your foot in the door and go from there. No matter where you go it will be
an adventure. Don’t be shy about “tooting your own horn” What ever you can
do or have done, let them know.
As you may know I have retired and I must confess that I am having a more
difficult time than I imagined making the adjustment to living back in the
United States. Even though one of my studies has been the effect on people
living overseas and I had anticipated the problems in making the adjustment,
still I find that I am often times confused by the myriad of options
available for TV, Internet, telephone, and just the plan hard core
commercialism that now exists in our society. I am beginning to resent the
hard sell for extra insurance on everything I buy.
My shipment from Germany arrived today and I am up to my eyeballs in boxes.
I’m doing substitute teaching and I have been hired by Peterson Educational
Inc. to do testing for 11 weeks. So, I am busy and I don’t have any time to
travel around as I had hoped to do. Guess I will have to say “no” to some
things.
I can now be reached at
bbplykins@aol.com as I have everything up andrunning.
Take care and good luck, Phyllis. Keep me posted.
Bob Lykins
From reading Vance’s letter, I wish I would have known him. He talked about the kinds of things I like to talk about the kind of things that were happening in those days. Will write more and try to give you a picture of the way Dunseith was in the forties, it was wild, more fun per square inch than any place around! Gary Metcalfe
Jeff Soland is married to Luann Knox, Guy’s daughter, and asked
how they could get on the list. His email address is:
she would take copies to Raphael and Janice, about Elvena and
condolences,etc. Thanks.
Dick
