Why they should teach Horticulture in School

When you really think about it, it becomes crystal clear that a lot of students in American schools are underserved in some important ways. Although some schools have started adding community gardens to their campuses, the idea of learning about agriculture isn't really up there with “reading writing and arithmetic” -- but there are some good reasons why gardening really should be taught in schools, much more than it's being focused on today.

Hands-On Science

Schools spend a lot of money introducing high school students to science with chemistry labs and other similar hands-on activities. But a lot of this fails, for most students, because they have never learned the basics of biology and some of the scientific processes that are most relevant to our lives. Too many students never learn how a seed germinates, how to nourish plant life and how to work with elements like sun, soil and nutrients. So they could be forgiven for not taking an intense interest in bunsen burners in the ninth grade.

Life Skills

A lot of today's classroom offerings related to life skills are also a little bit off.

Why should students learn to balance a checkbook if they won't have any money to put into their checking accounts? Why should students learn about how to put diapers on babies, when they might not be able to afford diapers? Focus on teaching students about the big things, and the smaller things will work themselves out.

In amongst all of the learning that students do in American elementary and high schools, there's not enough of a focus on actually preparing them for adult life in terms of the skills and initiative they'll need to produce. We are creating passive citizens with minimal job skills, and then wondering why unemployment is so high and family incomes are so low.

Learning about horticulture is a powerful way to reverse parts of this vicious circle. Agriculture is one of the few areas of education that actually empowers people to create something of value. We can't all be metalworkers or electricians, or build houses, but almost all of us can be gardeners and harvesters of produce, which is also becoming an even bigger commodity in today's economy because of questions about supermarket produce value.

All of this comes down to the idea that agriculture and hydroponics would be perfect additions to the modern classroom. Instead of just paying lip service to these ideals with a couple of quick lessons about potatoes, we should be really allowing students to develop in these areas, not just to promote scientific learning, but to allow them to acquire skills they'll need later in life.

For more about hydroponics and how easy it can be, read all about it in Dealzer’s web site.