22/05/2020

Aristotle, How Would You Mix Heart And Mind In Agriculture In Schools?


Jean Loyola shares on Facebook the article “Do You Think Agriculture Should Be Included In School Curricula?” from Agriculture.com.ph (16 July 2019), actually a reprint of the American “Should Agriculture Be Compulsory In Our Schools?[1]” by Georgia Hoolihan (08 July 2019, Barossaherald.com.au), who says:

Agriculture is arguably one of the most important industries to the human population, as it feeds and clothes us. ¶ Whether you are a vegan, a fast food junkie, a paleo dieter or anything in between, your diet has been provided by agriculture. ¶ It seems only logical that agriculture should be included in school curricula regardless of the school's (location).

In fact, Ms Georgia, Agriculture is the most important of the industries to us humans! You have to find food and can’t do anything else if you are hungry! “Agriculture… feeds and clothes us” – yes, what would you do without clothes!

Yes, let’s teach agriculture in high school. To make it exciting, the primordial thing is to study the theory – and in digital times, it’s easy to travel the information superhighway, so sky is the limit, and your imagination is the sky.

By all means let us include the subject Agriculture in high school – making sure it is more intellectually stimulating than scrolling Facebook or watching a film on Netflix!

With the quote from Pinterest[2], I teacher agree with Aristotle but say, “Educating the mind comes before educating the heart!”

Now then, encourage the boys and girls to debate the de/merits of my Theory of Reactivity (below) – while avoiding such logical fallacies as argumentum ad hominem(name-calling) and either/or(limiting the argument to this one or the other and no more).

With Ms Jean’s “yes!” above, I thought of something quite radical to make inclusion of Agriculture in school quite intellectually stirring. Today, Tuesday, 19 March 2020, I am reinventing Albert Einstein’s formula used to convey the Theory of Relativity:

E = mc2
where E is energy, m is mass and c2 is the square of the speed of light.

Borrowing, here is my Theory of Reactivity:

E2 = m1C2 x m2C2 x m3C2 x m4C2
or E2 = mc2 (x4)

where
E2 = Enhanced Energy (Energy squared);
m1C2
= mass times Crop squared;
m2C2 = mass times Culture squared;
m3C2 = mass times Cultivation squared;
m4C2 = mass times Core squared;
Crop is either plant or animal;
Culture is how the soil is treated to grow the crop;
Cultivation is how the crop is grown; and
Core is the heritage of the crop.

Then, ask the high schoolers to debate any/all of these:

Incomes differ with different crops.
Richer soils give higher yields.
Cultivation method changes the behavior of the crop for better or for worse.
The core of your crop determines your harvests.

Teach the boys & girls to make videos or short takes via cellphones in the field or lab. You have just made secondary education as exhilarating as multiple games of wits – even out-of-schoolers will want to attend those clashes in classes!@517




[1]https://www.barossaherald.com.au/story/6261366/should-agriculture-be-compulsory-in-our-schools/?cs=10865
[2]https://www.pinterest.ph/mykenziegabriel/philosophy-of-education-quotes/

No comments:

Post a Comment

This Writer Sees, “When Farm Groups Go Up, Up Goes The Nation!” Kadiwa Is A Godsend – Whose Idea Do You Think?

National recovery is a prime concern of the Du30 Administration, and this is visible in the latest joint move of government agencies to gene...