Butch,

Our school in Nebraska did just the opposite for us.  Man, we eventually got
an TH37 and HQ180X receiver and had 80 and 40 dipoles on the roof of the
school.  We never had what you called a formal class or formal club and we
never got a club call, although we talked about it all the time, but we sure
had fun on the air every night after school and every night after supper on
the novice bands and then later when we got our generals.  Besides, see here
now.  You never missed a thing relating to CW now that it is no longer
required.  I was a novice for six months before I got my general and had a
blast on the 80 and 40 meter novice bands with them old rocks plugged into
the crystal socket one at a time on my DX20 rig.

Phil.
K0NX