Youth Collectors. Reality Sets In

More truth to this. No longer taught in grade schools simple letter address protocol. How do we as collectors pass along our treasures to the next generation or light an interest in these small keepsakes??

Hi,
I've 4 kids in their late '40s, and several grandchildren, so I speak with experience.........
For the most part, the basic skills have diminished significantly in each generation. By basic skills I mean writing, math, grammar, and the like. I was shocked to learn that "cursive" (we called it writing)is no longer taught in some schools.

To me, the scary part is that history is put on a back burner. The events of the 20th century are slowly fading away in importance, when in fact a million life lessons could be learned from it.

Sadly, my too favorite life time interests - stamp collecting and model railroading - garner little interest from the youth of today. Ha, I can add mechanics and wood working and gardening to that list as well.

I confess there are times when I'm very glad I'm 69.

I have 2 younger Children ages 9 and 7. My 9 year old Son has embraced Stamps and is still active after being introduced to it 2 years ago.
We really need to face the facts that times have changed and we are living in a digital world. I agree with no cursive writing being taught in the Schools as it is a thing of the past.

Pens will become obsolete and so will textbooks. My Children's School has distributed Ipads to the students and the textbooks have been distributed digitally which save millions of dollars in printing and shipping. Now schools simply pay a fee and can download any textbook from a publisher.

The skills however have not diminished one bit and in fact the the skill sets are further along today than at any point in History because of Technology.

Our schools need to teach what our children will need in the world of today and tomorow. If they don't our kids will be left behind and never catch up. I-Pads, lap-tops, computer games, all teach skills that are and will be needed in the future. When was the last time you sent a written letter? More than likely, it was an e-mail, message.

Art

Hi again,
Didn't mean to come across so negative. I know full well that its a different world out there and the kids need to be prepared for what lies ahead for them. I certainly support that to the fullest extent.

I just find it sad that the things that brought joy to me for the last umpteen years are no longer "popular" with so many young people.

Oh, one point.......... the last letter I wrote on paper (ok I used MS Word) was just recently - to my 96 year old Aunt.

mobilman44, Greetings:

I also lament the passing of critical skills, such as filing distributor points, re-filling a fountain pen, multiplication & division on a slide rule (green! no batteries!), splicing & threading magnetic tape, hinging a stamp, making quill pens from feathers and arrowheads from stone, developing photographic film ...

Here's a Rorschach-inspired test: Does the magnificent penmanship on old covers & cards leave you flush with admiration, or betrayal, or?

I've been finding the time to substitute postcards & letters for things that I otherwise would have put in an eMail or website contact form.

You heard it here first: Tangible is the new black.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

I see little use for a big focus on cursive, though understanding how it is done should still be a basic for reading OLD stuff and for signing a name.

All that other old stuff - history, grammar, math - I believe is still being taught, but at a faster pace, so many nuances and details are left behind.

As for stamp collecting. It seems to be slowing and drying up in the Western world (of all the friends, relatives and acquaintances I have, know of but one collector), but is supposedly on the rise in China, India and other developing nations.

But I don't think it's hit rock bottom yet. I was at an auction this past weekend with hundreds of lost, and just one dealer there spent $10,000 in about half an hour. I don't think he would have done that if he didn't have steady customers.

I have 2 children that I introduced to stamp collecting at a young age. Now as teenagers, my daughter has stayed with the hobby while my son lost interest. I started them with Disney and animal topical stamps, but now as my daughter has gotten older, she is also interested in the history and geography that someone starts to learn as the collection expands.

I think if we can all help get the word out to the younger generation, there will be a new generation that can inherit the collections we have spent years developing.

I teach high school in China and I showed one of my students a girls' dairy from 1945. She was fascinated by it but could not read it at all, not surprising given that it was written in cursive and student's in China know nothing about it. She asked a fellow teacher who is extremely good at calligraphy to teach her how to read cursive so she could read the diary. Kids will do these things but you have to give them a reason.

Since both of my children are in college there are times I send them something in the mail. And conversely they then send me something back. I taught them both how to address a letter so it finds it way home to me. And they seemed to have had fun learning that from me since like others have said that it is no longer taught in school. I also tell them to save the covers and bring them home to me.

I'm doing my part with some measure of success. Not only the 4th Graders but a stamp class this fall at the library.
Tom

I for one believe we do not give kids these days credit. I have a daughter in college, and two son's in high school. I have an interest in history fueled in part by my life-long love of stamps. I was in honors in high school and completed college, but I can tell you that, at least in my son's history classes, what they are required to know AND understand is far greater than what was ever expected of me. And history and civics were my best subjects.

My wife is a fourth grade teacher and she recently forwarded this to me (we were discussing the new Common Core standards, and how much more challenging they are. This was from an email from one of her student's parents. The student is 10:

"I am working with Ellie in math and want to make sure I am telling her right. Here is the math problem. Please tell me the answer.

A-Plus Auto Body is painting flames on a customer's car. They need 2 1/2 pints of red, 3 pints of orange, 3/4 pint of yellow, and 7 pints of blue paint. They use 3/4 of the blue paint to make the flames. They need 7 3/4 pints to paint the next car blue. How much more blue paint will they need to buy?

I am taking 3/4 of 7 pints to equal 5 1/4 that they used leaving 1 3/4 pints of blue. Then I am subtracting the 1 3/4 from 7 3/4 that they need to get 6 pints.

Is this correct?"

My wife said this is one of the easier questions.

That looks correct to me, Southpaw. The orange, red and yellow are irrelevant.

Well, there are SOME young collectors out there, no doubt. I am one of them, and I know a few more locally. Being in university, I find that stamp collecting is a good way to give time back to yourself and not just study, study, study. It also is a stress reliever. I have no plans to stop collecting because the younger generation isn't as interested. It's adds a different aspect to my life instead of partying with friends every weekend, why not attend an auction and make new friends, regardless if they are triple my age.

-Matt

I tip my cap to you Matt and hope you find it as satisfying as most of us here do. Stamps offer a very unique view into the past that gives one a piece of information and lets the collector do the research to learn the rest of the history.

Hi again,
A big reason for my love of the Hobby is the history - be it USA or worldwide. And in my opinion, the study/knowledge of history is extremely important. Our lives, and the world around us, are the way they are because of that history.