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Post by daylilydude on Jan 29, 2019 5:06:12 GMT -5
Do you think children should be taught how to grow their own food as part of their schooling?
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Post by brownrexx on Jan 29, 2019 8:26:59 GMT -5
It's a nice idea but I can't see it happening. They don't even have what we used to call Home Ec in school anymore. Kids used to learn some home skills there like cooking and some sewing.
Maybe a class on nutrition would be a good idea. Many kids don't even eat vegetables, let alone grow them.
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Post by carolyn on Jan 29, 2019 8:29:59 GMT -5
there seems to be an dirth of knowledge on food production. since there is no other place for them to learn I think it is a great place to fill the gap... Prisons are doing a great job of teaching some of these skills that should be known already such as basic gardening/farming/animal husbandry. maybe if children had more practical and rounded skills when graduating high school prisons might not be so full.
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Post by paulf on Jan 29, 2019 10:53:44 GMT -5
As the husband of a dedicated teacher who taught for thirty some years before retirement, it was amazing how much besides teaching kids to read, write and do math and science was piled on. If you add in all the paperwork the government required, there weren't enough hours in the day. As part of science she did have the kids grow out some seeds in paper cups, but not much else. It was amazing how many kids needed to be taught basic rules of life and how to get along with others before the real learning could begin. A lot of what needed to be taught at home became the responsibility of school and teachers.
While the idea of growing food and where it comes from is a good one, state boards of education are more concerned with reading, math and science and school safety than non-testable ideas.
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Post by ladymarmalade on Jan 29, 2019 11:20:13 GMT -5
I sure like the idea, but like paulf said, I'm not sure it's practical or easy to implement. One of the issues with practicality is that gardens don't grow the most when school is in session. I always wonder about those schoolyard gardens. Most schools still have a traditional school year with summers off. How does that work? Then you have to offer summer school or set up a volunteer calendar for tending and hope everyone fulfills their days. It's one thing to grow a few beans in a cup or a window herb garden, but actually working in the garden is manual labor. Grow a garden instead of PE? I would have been all over that in my school days!
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Post by mgulfcoastguy on Jan 29, 2019 11:41:39 GMT -5
There are limits to what should be the responsibilities of schools and not those of the child's guardians. 4 H, Boy's and Girl's Clubs, Scouts, and church organizations could have a role in this though with less chance of legal action.
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Post by spike on Jan 29, 2019 11:52:20 GMT -5
OH EM GEE!!! yes Yes YES! But sadly it isn't practical. Especially if you live in a northern climate as children are out of school during the growing season. I also think we need Home Ec, Shop class, music and the arts back in school. Things have gotten way to complicated for teachers.
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Post by octave1 on Jan 29, 2019 12:57:01 GMT -5
For years I have been a volunteer parent, a substitute teacher and a cafeteria worker. I have observed many aspects of the educational experience. The conclusion I drew is that the whole K-12 curriculum could be successfully condensed, and taught, in 8 years instead of 13. I am not going into details because it would require a lengthy explanation, but on the matter of gardening I am going to say that it could be implemented as an afterschool activity carried on by volunteer parents and not by teachers, because teachers have their hands full already.
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Post by meandtk on Jan 29, 2019 13:48:54 GMT -5
I think it would be great if schools had some sort of teaching in this respect. On the other hand, parents are much more responsible than the government in many of these things.
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reubent
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Posts: 389
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Post by reubent on Jan 29, 2019 15:28:11 GMT -5
Absolutely. It would solve a lot of problems with the educational system if gardening were a significant part of the system. Attention deficit disorders would nearly vanish. Do it in greenhouses all winter in the colder climates, with children eating the product for their lunches. It would spark an interest in a lot more children and we'd have a lot more agriculture ventures starting up when they get a few years older. And carbon sequestration should be made part of it. All organic residue from yards and wood cleanup should made into biochar and go into it. Trouble is; Those in positions of management who could do it, do not have the vision themselves.
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Post by octave1 on Jan 29, 2019 18:56:45 GMT -5
reubent, if you knew how much precious educational time is wasted in schools, time that could better used to introduce the kids to gardening and other rewarding manual activities... but no...
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Post by september on Jan 29, 2019 19:32:00 GMT -5
I have the greatest respect for teachers, who are often maligned and underpaid for what should be one of the most important jobs in this nation. It's all well and good to provide curriculums to follow, but the reality of keeping order, attention and disciple in a classroom so that learning of any kind can actually occur is an art that few can do well. Crowd 35 or more kids in a room, even well behaved kids will at times let loose, let alone those who don't want to be there to start with. It takes a special dedicated person to want to keep teaching under trying conditions. I know I couldn't do it!
I think short sessions on growing plants/food could easily be tucked into science or social studies sections, you just need to show them the possibilities, like the beans in a cup, corn sprouts on a window sill. Even if they don't get any harvest, it's just the idea that food will eventually come and anyone can plant a seed.
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Post by mgulfcoastguy on Jan 29, 2019 19:34:15 GMT -5
I think a lot of the ADHD would go away if they would reintroduce recess.
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Jan 30, 2019 12:13:34 GMT -5
I agree with reubent and mgulfcoastguy that a lot of what is called ADHD* is just normal active childhood energy. It's unreasonable to expect kids, especially boys, to sit still and quiet all day. I think that many kids' behavior would improve if the kids got a good amount of active, outside time every day. Whether the outside activity is gardening, recess, or a really active P.E. class that has every kid getting lots of running and other high intensity exercise. Ideally the kids would have a morning active time and an afternoon active time, especially in the younger grades. The activity might help with childhood obesity, too. Obviously, I love gardening. I also think it can be used to teach a lot of lessons about science, math, and even social studies. Also character education - lessons about the importance of planning, responsibility, and delayed gratification are really needed today. So I support teachers who choose to use it as part of their curriculum. But gardening is not practical in all schools for reasons others have already mentioned. So I wouldn't support making it mandatory. *ADHD is real. Some kids have genuine issues. However, in my opinion it's also greatly over-diagnosed. And treating ADHD with mind-altering drugs should be a last resort rather than a first-line treatment.
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Post by Hensaplenty on Jan 30, 2019 16:27:11 GMT -5
Home Economics is still taught and offered in high schools in NC and SC. It just goes by a different name. My brother teaches "Family and Consumer Sciences" at a high school in NC, and he teaches cooking, baking, budgeting, interior design, etc to students who sign up for it. We also still have FFA chapters/clubs in local high schools and some high schools have a agriculture class where they do grow flowers and vegetable starts to sell in the spring to the public. One of the high schools near where I lived even had live chickens that they taught the students how to care for/raise, etc. This was in a suburb just outside a major city, too. Not a little country school. Pretty cool! I'm a teacher and confirm that teaching is much more difficult than it was 25 years ago. Don't get me started.....
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Post by pepperhead212 on Jan 30, 2019 19:20:20 GMT -5
Like most are saying, I think that it would be great, but is not really practical. It's good to know that many places are still teaching "home economics", as it has gotten even harder than ever to deal with high prices of everything out there.
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Post by spacecase0 on Jan 30, 2019 20:33:39 GMT -5
in russia children learn how the entire food supply works. not sure if they are taught gardening, but the ones I met know how it is done, and seem to have learned it in school. they are also all taught how to shoot a gun even though they are not allowed to own one.
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reubent
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Posts: 389
Joined: May 2011
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Post by reubent on Jan 31, 2019 0:03:33 GMT -5
I know how much time is wasted in schools. I was home schooled and spent very little time actually in the official school books, more time reading library books on technology. Sort of finished 9th grade and yet a couple years later took the GED out of the blue and passed with very high grade on it. Now I may have had decent IQ, but not super high. I did have very early introduction to gardening and spent more time with it than anything else. My mother was a reading instructor and was wise on it, she recognized I was late maturing mentally on reading and waited till I was 11 to really get going on it, but by 13 I bought and read an old technical college textbook on steam technology. Got into all kinds of things in the public library. Ended up gong crazy on radio technology for awhile, and have researched alternative energy technology and inventions ever since. I could list off some things that have been invented that would be unbelievable to most, and yet it's real and has been done. I could have had high paying jobs in industry if I'd gone that route, but I prefer gardening as a peaceful health promoting occupation. Perhaps I can incorporate a little of my technology development into growing good food, it's only of any real value if applied to necessary life support systems.
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Post by brownrexx on Jan 31, 2019 7:57:42 GMT -5
reubent story illustrates what I have always said and that is that involved parents make better students. My parents were very supporting and encouraged me to read and do many other things. Dad built me my own chemistry lab in the basement when I was very young and I always helped him with the garden too. Mom taught me to sew and signed me up for the Book of the Month club and then we always talked about the books that I was reading. I taught Biology for a few years but I think that parental involvement makes a HUGE difference in a child's attitude and abilities in school. Some parents expect the school to teach their children everything including how to behave.
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Jan 31, 2019 10:35:42 GMT -5
^ This is dead on.
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Post by hairymooseknuckles on Jan 31, 2019 10:46:36 GMT -5
My third grade teacher was wonderful. I didn't realize it at the time, but I'm sure all her "projects" came out of her own pocket and what's more, I'm sure her payscale sucked back then.
We started seeds and watched for them to sprout.
She mixed plaster of paris and poured them into small oval shapes for us to paint.
She taught us to square dance the Virginia Reel.
She taught us to water color.
She bought us a set of turtles and taught us to care for them.
She helped all make puppets and we put on a puppet show.
I can't say enough about her. She lived two houses down from me and I'm sure I worried her to death because I was at her house as much as I was at school. She was a young, single woman. I'm sure she had better things to do, but every time I knocked on her door, she greeted me with enthusiasm. My Mom would sometimes come over and bring me home. I do remember her favorite past time was flying model air planes. Back in those days they were attached to wires for flying in circles. I sat on the hillside many a day watching her.
All teachers could have learned from her. She was something!
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