From: Ronn!Blankenship <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: The War on Schools Date: Sun, 09 Mar 2003 16:10:37 -0600
<snip>
I recall getting a few strange looks from visitors who saw the tech sergeant who was the head of the drafting department sitting at the front desk while behind him, slaving over a drawing table, was someone wearing lieutenant's bars . . . ;-)
*grin*
Well, the engineering section was already way top-heavy for a military organization. I think the only enlisted people in the whole building were the 3 or 4 people in the drafting section and the unit's senior master sergeant, with rank stripes from shoulder to elbow and service marks from elbow to wrist. Everyone else was somewhere between 2Lt. and Lt. Col. (with a few GS-14 or -15s thrown in), most of them with advanced degrees in science or engineering. So in practice there was probably a lot less rank-consciousness among the inhabitants of that building any time than would be normal . . . OTOH, that was a pretty blatant example, especially when the sergeant was sitting at his desk reading a magazine looking like a boss while a commissioned officer was acting like his employee. ;-)
<snip>
I suspect that in many places that would not work due to requirements that the designers of public buildings are required to be licensed professional architects (or whatever the proper designation is). Did they perhaps get around any such requirements because the teachers had the proper qualifications, so for "official" purposes theirs were the only names on the blueprints?
I don't know the answer to this, but from what I understand, the teachers used the student designs as a foundation or starting point (pardon the pun) for the final product. (Students wouldn't be experts at wiring and plumbing, after all.) Most likely theirs were the only names on the final blueprints. When I took drafting, both of my teachers were full-fledged architects.
I don't know what professional qualifications if any the teacher I had in high school had. From his age, he might well have been a retired professional doing this as a part-time job to supplement his retirement.
-- Ronn! :)
Almighty Ruler of the all, Whose Power extends to great and small, Who guides the stars with steadfast law, Whose least creation fills with awe, O grant thy mercy and thy grace, To those who venture into space.
(Robert A. Heinlein's added verse to the Navy Hymn)
_______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
