Let’s teach agriculture to teens in public school

[9-10ths_Penguin]

(Inspired by this thread and a thought I had in it)

Not any particular crop or method, but simply agriculture in general. Should room be made in the public high school curriculum for a class on agriculture, focusing on either the different types of agriculture around the world and/or the nature of agriculture itself?

Why or why not?

Bonus question: if you think that students would be better served by using this time to teach them about religion: why?

 

[BSM1]

(Inspired by this thread and a thought I had in it)

Not any particular crop or method, but simply agriculture in general. Should room be made in the public high school curriculum for a class on agriculture, focusing on either the different types of agriculture around the world and/or the nature of agriculture itself?

Why or why not?

Bonus question: if you think that students would be better served by using this time to teach them about religion: why?

We already have these courses in our schools. Many schools in our area have greenhouses where students are able to grow plants and vegetables. Plus we have the 4H club which has been around forever.

 

[Enoch07]

(Inspired by this thread and a thought I had in it)

Not any particular crop or method, but simply agriculture in general. Should room be made in the public high school curriculum for a class on agriculture, focusing on either the different types of agriculture around the world and/or the nature of agriculture itself?

Why or why not?

Bonus question: if you think that students would be better served by using this time to teach them about religion: why?

They do already. 4-H - Wikipedia

Maybe not in all schools. But it is a widely recognized program.

Edit: BSM1 beat me by a couple of mins dagnabbit!

 

[Jesster]

Yeah, the 4-H club was a thing where I went to school too. I wouldn't have a problem with it being more integrated with the school systems.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

They do already. 4-H - Wikipedia

Maybe not in all schools. But it is a widely recognized program.

Edit: BSM1 beat me by a couple of mins dagnabbit!

At a pretty low proportion of schools, I’d bet. Would you support getting agriculture classes into more schools if they had to cut, say, the religion elective? A school has only so much class space and only so much room in the schedule.

But I wasn’t talking about actually doing agriculture; I was talking about learning about it: the history of agriculture, how agriculture is practiced around the world, etc. Would you support a class like that? History & geography through the lens of agriculture, maybe a unit on the influence of agriculture on literature?

 

[Enoch07]

At a pretty low proportion of schools, I’d bet. Would you support getting agriculture classes into more schools if they had to cut, say, the religion elective? A school has only so much class space and only so much room in the schedule.

But I wasn’t talking about actually doing agriculture; I was talking about learning about it: the history of agriculture, how agriculture is practiced around the world, etc. Would you support a class like that? History & geography through the lens of agriculture, maybe a unit on the influence of agriculture on literature?

I've never been, or heard of, a public school that does teach religion.

4-H does both, they teach the history and the pragmatic skills, though they do focus more on the pragmatic skills. Which I fully support. Knowing what year a farming technique was developed is less valuable then that farming technique being learned/applied.

What would be more useful than learning about the history of agriculture is an economics class. Farmers are notorious for living in huge amounts of debt. Next Group That May Be Slammed by Debt: Farmers. Its time to be more pragmatic.

 

[Flame]

Doesn't FFA already teach this? or is it not as widespread through schools?

National FFA Organization | Home

 

[bobhikes]

(Inspired by this thread and a thought I had in it)

Not any particular crop or method, but simply agriculture in general. Should room be made in the public high school curriculum for a class on agriculture, focusing on either the different types of agriculture around the world and/or the nature of agriculture itself?

Why or why not?

Bonus question: if you think that students would be better served by using this time to teach them about religion: why?

I was taught agriculture in schools, the current elementary school my kids attended has a garden they use to teach the kids and actually raise some vegetables.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

(Inspired by this thread and a thought I had in it)

Not any particular crop or method, but simply agriculture in general. Should room be made in the public high school curriculum for a class on agriculture, focusing on either the different types of agriculture around the world and/or the nature of agriculture itself?

Why or why not?

Bonus question: if you think that students would be better served by using this time to teach them about religion: why?

I would love to see more emphasis on sociology, including studies of pastoral and agricultural society and comparative religion.

 

[sun rise]

At a pretty low proportion of schools, I’d bet. Would you support getting agriculture classes into more schools if they had to cut, say, the religion elective? A school has only so much class space and only so much room in the schedule.

But I wasn’t talking about actually doing agriculture; I was talking about learning about it: the history of agriculture, how agriculture is practiced around the world, etc. Would you support a class like that? History & geography through the lens of agriculture, maybe a unit on the influence of agriculture on literature?

I've forgotten a lot of what I learned in school about history and the like. I'd rather see some activity which connects kids to the world which might inspire them.

 

[Skwim]

We already have these courses in our schools. Many schools in our area have greenhouses where students are able to grow plants and vegetables. Plus we have the 4H club which has been around forever.

About 68% of the schools in the USA have 4-H clubs,

Number of 4-H clubs 90,000 (Wikipedia)
Number of schools 132,600 (National Center for Education Statistics)​

.

 

[David T]

At a pretty low proportion of schools, I’d bet. Would you support getting agriculture classes into more schools if they had to cut, say, the religion elective? A school has only so much class space and only so much room in the schedule.

But I wasn’t talking about actually doing agriculture; I was talking about learning about it: the history of agriculture, how agriculture is practiced around the world, etc. Would you support a class like that? History & geography through the lens of agriculture, maybe a unit on the influence of agriculture on literature?

What's the point of studying agriculture if you aren't actually doing agriculture? A bit like studying comedy, which isn't funny it's lame. And since school is completely full of lame, we steep the kids in lame I say lame is completely taken care of! In fact all evidence points to kids being complete experts in lame, and we insist as adults they be lame to function in daily life!!! In fact the definition of a modern highly functional member of society is to be well versed in lameness. We need courses studying lame by lameologists!!! Although I think to be an expert you have to have a different brain. They usually become what we call comedians and would find classes teaching comedy lame.

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

well, kids need to learn where food comes from. Over the course of eight years of teaching college undergraduates, I encountered several who did not know that the meat they ate came from cows and pigs and chickens, etc., that were actual living things and raised on farms...food came from the grocery store or the restaurant; they did not have any concept that it wasn't something produced in a factory...which is what a lot of farms have become...

 

[shunyadragon]

(Inspired by this thread and a thought I had in it)

Not any particular crop or method, but simply agriculture in general. Should room be made in the public high school curriculum for a class on agriculture, focusing on either the different types of agriculture around the world and/or the nature of agriculture itself?

Why or why not?

Bonus question: if you think that students would be better served by using this time to teach them about religion: why?

I grew up on a farm and attended high school with a mixed urban and farm student body, and they did not mix at all. I got my BS degree in Agriculture at Oklahoma State University.

My conclusion is the only way to teach agriculture to the young is stick them on the farm and teach them getting their hands dirty, and involved.

Teaching religion is an iffy sensitive issue. It is possible to teach comparative religion, but it would be more important to teach philosophy and the art of Socratic skeptical objective evaluation of everything. There would by many objections to this approach from various sources that would object to the logical processes of questioning beliefs and not learning the logic to justify beliefs.

 

[shunyadragon]

About 68% of the schools in the USA have 4-H clubs,

Number of 4-H clubs 90,000 (Wikipedia)
Number of schools 132,600 (National Center for Education Statistics)​

.

I do not consider 4-H programs adequate. The high schools that actually have a farm and related shop program are better, but my experience is that almost all the students in these programs are from the farm.

 

[Jeremiah Ames]

(Inspired by this thread and a thought I had in it)

Not any particular crop or method, but simply agriculture in general. Should room be made in the public high school curriculum for a class on agriculture, focusing on either the different types of agriculture around the world and/or the nature of agriculture itself?

Why or why not?

Bonus question: if you think that students would be better served by using this time to teach them about religion: why?

No.
It serves no purpose.
Large corporations have agriculture covered, and there is no need for individuals to study it outside of college. Imo

Students may be better served learning about religion, but it’s highly unlikely that anyone could agree on a curriculum.

 

[Renascibilitas]

(Inspired by this thread and a thought I had in it)

Not any particular crop or method, but simply agriculture in general. Should room be made in the public high school curriculum for a class on agriculture, focusing on either the different types of agriculture around the world and/or the nature of agriculture itself?

Why or why not?

Bonus question: if you think that students would be better served by using this time to teach them about religion: why?

I think if we focus on the core question which is what should our children be learning in school we can ignore the subtext of Agriculture vs, GASP! Religion. Forget presupposing the idea that our poor children are so busy with no free time and therefore could never learn both... because why not?

Why not teach both? One odd thought did occur. My mother was on the phone and I was watching TV, a bit too loud. My mother put her hand over the speaker of her iphone and screamed into the mic to turn it down. I've become wise and know when to just shut up and comply. I turned the TV way down. Right down to Volume 4 where I could barely hear.

Now I don't know how to build a TV yet alone how one works. I don't even know what the 4 in Volume 4 is supposed to represent. Is it decibels or percentages that end at 40 for some reason? What is this scale?

In the very sense that I think you can change the volume on your Media device I feel you will just as easily manufacture/"slow grow" whatever you desire. I doubt anyone will really understand how that works with or without a class in agriculture but I'm not against teaching it or religion.

 

[Kelly of the Phoenix]

Large corporations have agriculture covered

And their employees live forever, do they?

 

[shunyadragon]

I do not consider 4-H programs adequate. The high schools that actually have a farm and related shop program are better, but my experience is that almost all the students in these programs are from the farm.

I wanted to add a few things that could help young people get involved in Agriculture.

(1) I have worked with Future Farmers of America, which is a more involved program than 4-H, but it remains dominantly sons and daughters of farmers.

(2) I am involved with a coop garden that raises food collectively for distribution to subscribers for a (CSA) food boxes and distributes food to those who cannot afford to pay the CSA subscription fee. I do their irrigation plumbing, carpentry, mechanics, and electrical repairs and maintenance. There are high school student training programs that pay some students to work the summer. I believe this is the most productive way to teach young people agriculture that is meaningful to them.

 

[Jeremiah Ames]

And their employees live forever, do they?

Employees are just a commodity to be used up and thrown away.
Some day we may see a better world. Or not.