Chapter 5: EngineeringSchool

I blew the revile trumpet at 5:00 AM as planned. We all got up and I led out on our morning jog. We jogged down Santa Clara to First St., then south on First to San Carlos then east to the aquatics center. Our timing was perfect and we arrived at 5:50 AM. We had just enough time to shower and head for the pool. There were five people in the lap pool. We all had a great swim. We showered and headed for our first lab.

Dr. Johnson was our instructor. It was Chemistry 1A. The lab went fine until the end. Dr Johnson called us all over. He said he did not see how any one could challenge a core science class. He could not accept a lab from any student that challenged his lecture classes. He did not care how desperate UNASA was for pilots. The class must be taken properly. He and his fellow professors will not allow challenges to core science and engineering classes. We had better plan on being in San Jose for four years.

I thanked Dr Johnson. I told him I could see his point of view. After all he was basically certifying that his students had certain elements of knowledge. He just wanted to feel sure his students were prepared for the outside world. "How did you know your traditional students had those basic elements of knowledge?" I asked.

"They were graded on class participation, home work, quizzes, two mid term exams and the final exam." he said,

"Do you assign a percentage of the students' final grades on each class element?" I asked.

"Yes. Homework and quizzes were 10%, there were two midterm exams worth 20% each and the final exam was 50% of the final grade in the class."

I got a thoughtful look. "If a student attended all classes but said nothing, did the home work and took all the exams he could pass with an A. If the student also did not turn in any home work or take the quizzes he could pass with a B by getting 100% on the midterms and the final.

He said that was possible.

"Do you understand why UNASA had set up the fast track for astronaut training?" I asked.

"I can see no reason for eliminating useful class training. After all, it helps in interpersonal relationships and team training," He said.

I then had our team join and hook. I then invited Dr Johnson to join our team. "Dr Johnson, do you now see how we could not have a tighter team and better interpersonal relations than we have right now?"

I said, "UNASA needs 40 astronaut teams to set up an asteroid patrol force. The Earth could not afford to have another asteroid hit like the one a year ago. Dr Johnson, you and some of your colleagues are stuck in pre-WE educational theory. The WE can impart all of the head knowledge any student needs of academic classes. They can not provide the hands on training. So the WE came up with the UNASA fast track. The WE need those astronauts in space NOW!"

"Dr Johnson, you have a talent to teach. We need you to retrain your talent to teach the hands-on labs in your field. Right now I have the whole Library of Congress in my head and available to me. We are all prepared to demonstrate we have the head knowledge your class would give us. We do feel it is necessary to prove that knowledge. That is why we are challenging your class. We all agree we need the labs."