We don't value experience anymore...
My dad having worked in horticulture for well over 45 years retired this year. When discussing what he could do in his old age, I suggested he contact the local college and offer his services (for free) to see if he could help teach the youngsters something.

After speaking to someone he knew at the college (who sympathised with him) he found that he'd need to do shed loads of training and get a whole raft of certificates before they'd let him near a student. To add insult to injury his expertise in his subject would have to be assessed by someone who was barely old enough to vote.

No wonder we're slowly getting more crap at everything, when people with a wealth of knowledge aren't allowed to go anywhere to pass that on....

It's not funny and slighty OT, I'm not sorry.
(repooc, Thu 15 Mar 2012, 20:01, 7 replies)

to be fair
you do have to be able to read and write to teach
(elixir of truth, Thu 15 Mar 2012, 20:15, closed)

To be fair
You don't have to be able to necessarily do either to pass on a craft, which is part of the whole problem really.

Also good job on undermining your own point there :-)
(repooc, Thu 15 Mar 2012, 20:28, closed)

since when
has doing a bit of weeding been a craft?
(elixir of truth, Thu 15 Mar 2012, 21:35, closed)

You're trolling, I get it....
Either that or you're ignorant, probably both.
(repooc, Thu 15 Mar 2012, 22:50, closed)

Perhaps that bloke who advised your dad was getting tutor/trainer muddled up with Guest Speaker
He would have been fine appearing as a one off guest speaker but yes if you actually want to teach a syllabus effectively you have to be a qualified lecturer, so will need a PGCE or similar teaching qualification. It's not that they don't value his skills, it's just that you have to be able to demonstrate the ability to teach those skills properly.

Couldn't your dad volunteer to work at a nursing home or something where they'll have grounds that need maintaining?
( h3donist tryin' to play me out as if my name is Sega.., Fri 16 Mar 2012, 9:23, closed)

I hear you....but....
Ignoring the muppets comments above, he has skills in regards to cultivation and such that are dying out and should be preserved, IMHO anyway.

I'll ask him if he asked about being a guest speaker, but I expect people want to be paid for that usually do they?.....which is maybe why the guy he spoke to never mentioned it.

He's not short of things to do, he has his own garden and it's not work he's looking for it's just a forum to pass on what he knows. There are other ways to do this I know......
(repooc, Fri 16 Mar 2012, 10:28, closed)

My grandad
Had exactly the same issue when he retired. He was a groundsman and has forgotten more gardenning know how than most people i know. He offered to take an apprentice before he retired but the people he worked for said they had someone just out of college lined up for the job.
He still gets called now by people asking him for advise 20 years after he retired
(andythepieman Is surfing the waves of indifference on, Fri 16 Mar 2012, 10:43, closed)