Good day,

I have been following the recent post and felt compelled to make a few statements.  First from a monetary standpoint it can only be beneficial for the NATA and all ATCs involved to have more members.  Those students that pay a lower fee would have been paying nothing if they were not involved.  $ 10.00 from a thousand people is more than $ 0.00 from 0 people.  The small decrease in student dues will be easily offset with the increase in student participation.  Of course the jury is still out on the latter.

Secondly a lot of the argument, bad chose of words lets say debate, is one that mimics society.  That being the disconnect of generations.  I cant tell you how many times that I have heard the phrase "young people today" followed by whatever scenario thats currently being expressed, phrases like unappreciative, disrespectful, so on and so forth.  Now that I have a wife and children (smiling as I type), I find myself thinking some of those same thoughts about the generation after myself; "they know the hard-work that went into them being able to enjoy that opportunity".  Where does the cycle stop, if I verbally state those things to a young person today I am essentially giving them permission to continue in the cycle!  It's called evolution, the College I attended has made great improvements since my graduation, I am sure some of my tuition dollars have helped with those improvements.  I am not upset at the fact that t! hey get to enjoy those improvements, I am rather proud that I went there and the possibility that maybe I had some small part in its growth.  I know that while I was growing up I missed a few shots at saying thank you to some of those that paved the way for me to achieve some of the things that I have achieved.  This is going to sound idealistic, but oh well, I would venture to say that those that I never thanked, were not doing what they did for verbal thanks anyway, but for me to do with it (opportunity) the best I could. 

I look foward to an increase in participation in the NATA with the hope that our dues will not inflate as most things do, and to see an end to someone advertising for a college trained, nationally certified, liscensed professional position with a starting salary of $ 25,000.00 if that be the case we will look back and say I am glad they got those young people involved!!!

Respectfully

Leon Jones MS, ATC, LAT