The pastor in his funeral eulogy for Dad spoke of him as being a self-taught man. Dad attended school through just the eighth grade, then had to quit to work on the family farm, a story repeated over and over by people born in that generation. And many are the stories of people, who even though enrolled in school, were kept at home to help at times throughout the school year, therefore missing large blocks of instructional time. In order to cope and function independently as they grew to maturity they had to learn information and skills on their own.
When the astronauts were chosen, the first requirement was a college education. This eliminated the man who made space flight possible, Chuck Yeager. His formal education was limited to high school. From that time on, society no longer recognized self-educated people. It takes a college education, don’t-cha-know. From the two college degrees I received I’ve often said that the biggest reward was the piece of paper handed me certifying that I had completed a required course of study, a result of which I was able to work in certain settings. The reality is that I have learned much more through my independent studies.
This country reveres self-taught men such as Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, the Wright Brothers, Henry Ford, et al. None of them traveled very far in formal education but somehow possessed the aptitude that let them excel in their interests. Intellectual curiosity drove them to find answers prompting their self-study by reading, experimenting, and searching.
Both Dad and my father-in-law could estimate the tons of hay in a stack, the bushels of grain in a bin, the weight of a steer, acres in a field, study the sky and predict weather, plus a myriad of other useful facts which let them hang on to their farms in good times and in bad. Dad knew of worldly things even though he did not travel much. He read, then read some more. His knowledge base in history was probably larger than my own, even with my college minor in history. I read once of a man who earned a doctoral degree in some insignificant field of study but then could not find professional work. In order to support himself he found work as a common laborer with a landscape company where the manager only shook his head in disbelief at his ineptitude and helplessness. I think he survived with that company but had to go through a period of training on the job.
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The hundred year old archived newspaper, The Sheldon Progress, made no mention of Veterans’ Day in their November 11, 1910 issue. Of course, WWI had not yet been fought. That issue reported on one interesting news item:
An escaped prisoner created a good deal of excitement at the depot Monday evening and it was only by the most heroic efforts of bystanders that he was finally run down and captured. The prisoner broke loose from his bonds in some way and jumped from the train just as it was pulling out from the depot. He sprang right into the arms of John Mougey who was standing in front of the door, but John failed to get a stranglehold on him and he escaped. The prisoner headed due west, followed by an excited mob, and although he made heroic efforts to escape, it was soon evident that he could not elude his pursuers. They sprang up on every side and soon had their victim surrounded. The poor fellow, seeing his escape cut off from all directions, finally gave up the attempt and was captured by Mike Flatt, who is now a candidate for a Carnegie medal. He was a fine specimen of a Leghorn rooster and at the present price of chickens is worth his weight in gold.
