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Curtis Hinsley, on: Powell's Father is Science
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Q: Back to this Father in Science again, what was he?
CH: Powell found in George Crookham, I think, a man who was there, who was in
his neighborhood, who served as his teacher, as his advisor, as a man who
introduced him to the world, to the natural world around him. These men tended
to be regionally located, they would take boys out on hikes -- sort of like a
boy scout leader almost -- would take local boys from the school out to
investigate their back yard, the regional back yards, the resources that were
there, the natural history of the area, and would show them the world, in a way
that frequently their own fathers did not do, either because their fathers were
more concerned that their sons take care of the farm or because their fathers
were away doing something else, or because in many cases, they had no fathers.
Powell was fortunate that he had a father but his father wasn't there very
much. So these figures, these sort of alternate fathers or surrogate fathers
for young men who were interested in natural history issues, became the ones
who really raised them, intellectually, as young men, at a time prior to
rigorous or wide spread training in colleges and consistent training in high
schools. Education is very questionable, unsure thing. And so, to work with
an individual, a single educated man in the community, was probably a better
bet, actually for most of these young men. And they, I mean, if the other man
lived, if the Father in Science lived, these were very strong and very long
lasting relationships, between these these generations. It really was a way of
passing on knowledge of the region, from one generation of males to the next
generation of males and encouraging them to understand their world.
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