Transition of platforms in british education 3202

Just asked a local (Amish) farmer about his milking operation. The cows are milked using a pneumatic system driven by an electrical air compressor. The bulk tank is refridgerated (also using electricity) and pickup occurs thrice weekly (MWF.) This milk is sold to a cheese factory and is not considered fit for sale as a beverage because of the sanitary condition of the milking parlor - he says he would need to tile his cement floor and walls, install a ceiling, "debug" the place, and sanitize the milking parlor twice daily in order to sell the milk as a beverage.

He says he has electricity in the barn but not the house. He also has a telephone in the barn (and adjacent store) for business purposes. Herd management is accomplished using a paper ledger book and ball-point pen. Computerization is limited to an electrical cash register in the store. His kids (including several foster children -- foster care is a growth industry in the local community) use the aforementioned computers at the library for email and schoolwork (he also hints that sometimes their research tends to be a bit naughty!)

I am cautioned that there are two-sects of Amish here that consider themselves "old order." We also have a collection of Mennonites that are downright progressive. My source tells me that his group is considered "too worldly" by the other -- mostly because they own pickup trucks, again for business only. Other motorized equipment at his farm includes a general purpose tractor and combine harvester. He uses electrically driven conveyors, augers, and loaders to put up grain, straw, and silage. His brother is a logger and uses a heavy truck, chainsaws, and a diesel powered sawmill. Logs are skidded to the road using old-fashion horse power instead of a log skidder. Lumber is dried using a wood-fired steam kiln.

Neither admits to owning a computer or to having used a computer for communication or recreation. Both own and use horse-drawn carriages for personal transportation. I'm told that the brother owns a plot of land that is leased to a cellular telephone carrier for a tower site, but neither uses a cellular telephone.

-- Micheal H. McCabe