[AT] Old trains/now NC State foolishness

[Al Jones]

I felt pretty fortunate to take most of my classes in the College of Ag.
and Life Sciences.  Most of those professors were leaders in their
respective fields, but at the same time were pragmatic enough to realize
that they had a responsibility to their students as well as their research.
And I hit it at a good time--a lot of the "greats" retired not long after I
graduated in '97:  Dr. Carm Parkhurst in Poultry Science, Drs. Al Rakes and
Ray Harvey in Animal Science, Dr. Roy Larsen in Horticulture (the only one
of the bunch that didn't seem to do that much teaching--just talked for an
hour than gave you a hard-a$$ exam on stuff he'd never mentioned in class)
and Dr. J.C. Raulston in Horticulture---he got killed in a car accident
right near the end of the following fall semester after I had him the
previous fall.

Dr. Carm Parkhurst was probably the best teacher I have ever had, anywhere.
He could lecture to a group of 40-50 students and make you think he was
talking directly to you and no one else. At first I thought it was just me
until some of us were talking before class one day and realized that we ALL
felt that way.

The only classes I came close to struggling in were the other classes
outside of Ag. Education or CALS.  Modern American History was tough.  I
had a professor for 20th Century American Lit. (or something like that)
that literally couldn't see my papers unless I printed it about 16 font in
boldface.  Anything I wrote was never right.  I already mentioned
botany--that was a farce.  The maths I took were ok but it was amusing to
watch people try to get help from the TA from China that spoke maybe 25-30
words of English.

Al


> [Original Message]
> From: David Bruce <davidbruce at yadtel.net>
> To: Antique tractor email discussion group <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
> Date: 12/10/2009 9:01:48 AM
> Subject: Re: [AT] Old trains/now NC State foolishness
>
> I was reasonably qualified but also being from a smaller school I didn't 
> have the advantages of many advanced classes or the best of teachers in 
> all subjects - especially in science and math.  Some how I scored well 
> on the PSAT (no doubt I had a great day) and as a result received a 4 
> year scholarship from Western Electric (AT&T) because my dad worked 
> there along with the score on the test.  That scholarship made it 
> possible for me to get a 4 year degree and was a a major event in my life.
> So that required some study to overcome.  I did have an advantage by 
> living in Metcalf dorm - part of some special program that provided some 
> preference in class sections and some help sessions specifically for 
> Metcalf residents. 
> I did learn very quickly that it was up to me to sink or swim.  A few 
> professors actually tried to teach - most viewed teaching as a necessary 
> evil to accomplish before heading to the lab. 
> A few years later I was part of a team that hired some of the Textile 
> faculty for consulting work - quite a difference when you hold the purse 
> strings <g>.
>
> I'll have to say after working in industry for many years I learned a 
> lot of what I know from the people I worked with.  The academic 
> foundation provided the framework to understand what I was later taught 
> but in no way did that 4 year degree make me qualified to do anything by 
> itself.  Beyond all that the smartest man I ever knew was my grandpa - 
> 2nd grade education and all.  Don't get me wrong education is a 
> wonderful thing BUT one can have all the "book learnin" in the world but 
> without that practical experience it is wasted.
>
> David
> NW NC
>
> charliehill wrote:
> > David,  that Chem 101 class had more people than in my high school 
> > graduating class by a factor of about 4 or maybe 5.  I knew right off I
was 
> > in trouble so I went to one of the "help sessions" the grad students
held. 
> > I never got to talk to anyone.  There was a line and at the head of the
line 
> > were some "smart" kids that were having a nerd session with the grad 
> > students about the extra credit problems at the end of the problem
book. 
> > The day my mom took me up to State talk to the admissions folks, the
guy 
> > looked at my high school records and told me he was going "do me a
favor" 
> > and go ahead and enroll me in the school of engineering as a freshman. 
It 
> > took me several years to figure it out but now there is no doubt in my
mind 
> > that he was a bald face liar and he knew full well he was sending me to 
> > certain failure.
> >
> > Charlie
> >   
> >
> _______________________________________________
> AT mailing list
> http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at