[Ansteorra] The real problem . . . Population-S

[DonnelShaw at aol.com]

In a message dated 4/28/2006 2:53:00 P.M. Central Standard Time,  
ldeerslayer at yahoo.com writes:

What many groups have found is that doing demos for schools does  not gain 
them members. Sometimes it does gain them one or two teachers.  

Even if the kids are incredibly enthused their parents are the  ones who have 
to bring them. They seldom get involved.

Also, most  of our members have day jobs and very few of them can take off 
enough to  do the demos. What you often end up with is a few very knowledgeable  
people and a lot of very helpful people who either aren't very  knowledgeable 
or don't understand how to present the SCA to the  public.

It does earn us Karma Points...but doesn't give us "bang  for the buck"...

It often is not a wise use of our  resources...

What we need is maximum exposure to the most Adults  who would be interested 
(history geeks, gamers, etc) with the amount of  resources we can muster.

LDeerslayer



I have been sitting on the side lines and knew this would come up  sooner 
than later. While all are valid points. 
 
We must remember a few things. First we once were children and  someone 
planted the seed of interest in the middle ages for us. Personally  it was all the 
technicolor movies.(Robin Hood, Black  Rose,..............) I loved them then 
and I still love them. It was  hearing Shakespeare read in class then seeing 
the summer plays. My  parents taking me to see exhibits at museums.  
 
When a school demo is done yes there will not be an immediate return.  But it 
is a long term investment. You are there to plant that interest to  spark 
their imagination. To give them the idea that  there  higher standards and they 
to can see others have them.  That weaving and illumination is really neat and 
interesting. Those  children will grow. And in ten to fifteen years down the 
road they my run  across another SCA demo and because that prior knowledge as 
been planted  and allowed to grow you will get better results then. 
 
Even if they never join the SCA you will have had an impact on that  child's 
life. 
 
So to go and do a School Demo in my opinion is a very noble activity.  And 
just as important an activity as other types of demos and should not  be put by 
the wayside in favor of other types of demos. We are an  educational 
organization. 
 
 
Remember the children are our future weather they are in the SCA or  not. 
 
Lady Maili Donnel MacGregor