I'm a current student in the Durango 9R school system and would like to share some personal insight on this topic myself.
I can't say any of the Durango Elementary schools I attended offered a ride on the D&S. Still, I remember the idea was at least entertained when I was in 4th grade at Sunnyside Elementary, south of Durango a bit. I had been doing volunteer work for the D&S Polar Express events back then for a few years and got to ride it plenty of times using the vouchers they offered.
Anyway, 3rd grade is the first time I ever recall learning about real transportation history, although it was limited only to the state of Colorado. I don't remember much from that class except for the mention of General Palmer at one point. After then I had learned what I could about the Transcontinental Railroad on my own time thanks to the interest in trains I've had as long as I can remember, and it was never really brought up in elementary school again.
I then went to Mountain Middle School, and I am currently attending Animas High School. As far as I'm aware, it is the public opinion that Animas High and Mountain Middle are arguably the best Middle and High schools in the Durango area (Just to give you guys an idea of how highly regarded these are).
At MMS in 7th grade humanities, they taught us a little bit about the Silk Road and European trading routes, and in 8th-grade humanities we gave presentations and made short little documentaries on US westward expansion. I shared some knowledge on the Transcontinental railroad and how the D&RG helped develop rural areas in Colorado, such as the town of Durango. This was an open-ended assignment as most were at MMS, where we were taught using what's known as "Project-Based Learning". So if you were assigned to do a project about wagon trains, barbed wire, or the Louisiana purchase, you would research those topics for your final product, which would be a short documentary as stated above that used those resources you found, instead of the typical school assignment of reading out of textbooks and writing essays. If I wasn't there, I don't think any mention of a railroad would have been brought up at all.
So far in High School, we haven't really touched on transportation history at all yet. It sounded like I could have done some more stuff about Durango History in my previous grade last year, but COVID-19 stopped that from happening and it hasn't allowed us to continue the previous "Project-Based Learning" style of teaching that both MMS and AHS did in the past.
Some of the most valued skills I possess today with technology and programs such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and Premiere came from Mountain Middle School. I am genuinely grateful that they offered those classes to me, and that is what I gained the most from MMS. AHS has also done similar courses that have helped improve and add to these skills as well.
But from my perspective, a lot of what we are taught is geared way more toward the future and with more revolutionary teaching practices, not necessarily historical subjects. I'm willing to say that almost all of my classmates could care less about how the US highway system was developed or how the town of Durango was established primarily by the D&RG to help service and benefit the mining industry and community in Silverton. It's the sad but true disadvantage of how we are taught things these days from what I can tell (not just limited to what we're taught in school IMO).
Hell, many of them have never been to Silverton or even know that the "Choo Choo Train" goes to Silverton in the first place, and I highly doubt they ever will find out for themselves. Unless they manage to fulfill the surprisingly popular opinion of moving to LA when they're older, there is no doubt in my eyes that they will heavily contribute to the anti-train mob growing here in Durango. They have little to no context of Durango's History, the D&S' history, or the railroad's impact on the town today or in the past, and in their eyes, there is no real reason to possess said context.
Joe Weigman
from the D&RG City Mine spur
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/17/2020 06:50PM by Joe Weigman.
