OCR Text |
Show Retires from education llliliKiiv r, ' yjff , Illlltl 'C:. W liiiiii mm mrn . fllliiiiy wSsiKim: It was 35 years ago that Davis County's second high school officially offi-cially opened its doors. Bountiful High was now in session-and Dick Nielsen was there, greeting students stu-dents enrolled in auto mechanics. Later he would greet students in drafting... later he would be greeting greet-ing students interested in pursuing education in vocational trades. And later this month he will be retiring, leaving only principal Don Perkins as an original member of that first Bountiful staff. Many thousands of students have come under Dick Nielsen's wingbut they won't be honoring him at the traditional Open House. "I don't want no darned Open House," says Dick. "I didn't enter education for the glory and I don't need it now. And anyway, I'm not retiring from life-I'm merely retiring retir-ing from education. 1 don't need no frills." And he never taught them either. Dick viewed education as a means of earning a living and his teaching focused on world-of-work fundamentals, fun-damentals, this at a school which sends more students to a four-year university than almost any other school in Utah. And with his focus comes a very vocal philosophy. "Utah high schools are sending far too many students to college," he says. "The vast majority of these students can't handle it and eventually drop out, virtually unprepared un-prepared for an increasingly technical tech-nical work force. They don't drop out of college and then attend a technical school... They drop out and then mill around trying to figure fi-gure out what they should do with their lives. It's not a productive situation-and it's getting worse.". . As a vocational coordinator at BHS during the last 14 years, Dick has been the growth in vocational offerings. Students now gain practical prac-tical building experience in construction con-struction trade courses, enroll in printing-oriented graphic arts programs and even plan drafting careers through high-technology computer education. He has also seen the Utah State Board of Education Edu-cation mandate that all graduates have at least one successful credit in career-oriented vocational education. edu-cation. i But he says such strides are not enough. '" "Parents are still pushing their children into college enrollment, despite the fact that the majority of future careers are based around a DICK NIELSEN technical and vocational education. educa-tion. And then the Excellence in Education movement has built up academics at the expense of vocational voca-tional training. Let's face it, a university uni-versity education is not right for everyone--and yet the emphasis is misplaced." But Dick's talent wasn't misplaced. mis-placed. He grew up on an Idaho farm and was whisked into the Army during the height of World War II. Initially being trained as an engineer, he was shifted to the infantry in-fantry where, one afternoon in a wooded area of Italy, an enemy bomber nailed one of his knees with a hunk of shrapnel. He was no longer active on "active duty," and with the conclusion of the European Front, he came home to enroll at Utah State University in the auto technology department. Upon graduation he was offered a low-paying high school job in Grace, Idaho and a better-paying position in Akron, Ohio with the Goodyear Rubber Co. He didn't like Akron, so he opted for teaching-and he didn't like teacher driver's training either, so he left Grace after one year to help open up the new Bountiful High School. "He was an excellent teacher," remembers principal Perkins, "and he was always able to communicate com-municate well with students. They liked him and they respected him." They still do. But they won't be visiting him in his office anymore. "If they want to see me, they can reach me at the subdivision I'm developing de-veloping down in Centerville," he says. "There's still a lot of work left in me; I'm just transfering work stations. I'm not the kind of guy to start traveling or sit de r tnd write my memoirs-but I'm still a worker. work-er. It's been an interesting 35 years and I've met a lot of friends. But it's time to hang it up and do something some-thing different." His first salary contract earned him a miniscule $2,190 that year. But he wasn't motivated by money. "I felt I could contribute something to young people," he said. And he made those daily contributions contri-butions for 35 years in Davis County. |