[bporter]

True - they shouldn''t completely neglect somthing like GPS. But navigation fundamentals are more important, GPS is just a tool. Should be addressed, but NOT at the expense of basic nav skills.

Frankly, I think Celestial is more important to teach in a classroom setting than soemthing like satelite nav, if you''re going to teach only one tool. Most GPS''s today are pretty foolproof - if you understand navigation then figuring out how to use the GPS takes 15 minutes with the instruction book. Older ones are a little trickier, but I can plot a course from my East Greenwich RI to Nantucket on my Garmin GPSMap 76 within in couple of minutes, AND without a chart if I am feeling pretty stupid.

Of course things like learning about the care & feeding of wooden boats doesn''t make sense at all. At least not as part of a USPS "core curriculum". Sure, there are plenty of people that love the smell of varnish more than life itself out there, but the vast majority of us have plastic...