object oriented programming with modern COBOL?

When I applied for my first job as a programmer the interviewer asked me what I knew. I told him COBOL. He told me that in three weeks he could teach a monkey COBOL and wondered what else I could do. I think that simplicity is one of the great strengths of the language and should not be lost in the transition to modern COBOL.  Moving to modern COBOL doesn't have to change the majority of what you are doing! It simply gives you a new way to do the things that were difficult or impossible in traditional COBOL. To become as expert in object oriented COBOL as you are in traditional COBOL will take  significant time but literally in minutes you can begin using and benefiting from object oriented capabilities.