>4. Practicum/Apprenticeship/Real World Experience. It is at least
>arguable that holism is ill-suited to being well taught in the
>abstract. Rather, it is best conceptualized and internalized when
>"experienced", perhaps in the context of problem identification
>and resolution. Perhaps the McMaster University approach to teaching
>medicine could be integrated into the SA [sustainable ag] curriculum,
>whereby students begin their clinical rounds at the start of their
>education, rather than at the end.
> farm "rounds" could be designed with a circuit of cooperating
>farmers(4), such that one afternoon a week, a van-load of
> students and faculty would visit farms to learn about
>decision-making in the real world,
> a portion of the UBC farm/research station could be set up in
>mini-farm units, to allow more advanced students to test out
> ideas with real plots and livestock, subject to supervision by
>experienced staff and farmers
> the curriculum could include a "coop" or apprenticeship semester
>at intervals, whereby students would live and work on
> actual farms, participating in farm chores in a structured,
>supervised setting. The apprenticeship semester(s) could be in
> addition to structured learning, which would extend the duration
>of the degree, or could replace coursework semesters,
> which might require some kind of reporting/grading. Cooperating
>farmers - and students - would have to be screened and
> selected carefully to ensure a positive experience for all >sides.
> the apprenticeship might include a range of relevant venues, not
>necessarily on the farm. For example, it could involve
> experiences in ag policymaking with the staff of provincial or
>federal legislators, with seed or other input supply firms, with
> an abattoir, with urban land use planners dealing with
>rural/urban interface issues, or with a horticultural nursery.
>Sustainable
> agriculture hinges not simply on on-farm practice, but on the
>many off-farm influences which bear on on-farm decisions.
> an integrated "capstone" course in the final semester could
>involve an undergrad thesis focusing on some real world farm
> problem, perhaps following on from one of the apprenticeship
>semesters.
> --- Synthesis. The future will not be an extension of the past. The
>forces which created contemporary resource-intensive agriculture
>will be joined, and to some extent counteracted, by an increasingly
>transparent array of adverse environmental implications and
>unacceptable human health impacts. For many, these concerns are
>paralleled by a quite worrying concentration of power in the
>hands of a remarkably small number of life sciences companies.
>Educators need to anticipate such changes and not only be ready
>for them, but in our own way, to modulate and guide them through our
>progeny - our students. In the absence of organized
>societal intervention, in the form of objective, independent
>government input, it is plausible and appropriate that educators take
>more pro-active approach in questioning, challenging, and perhaps
>shifting the directions being taken by contemporary agriculture.
>Educating those destined for a career in sustainable agriculture will
>demand fundamental changes not only in the curriculum itself
>but in the style of delivery. Applied ecology must be the central >axis
around which the curriculum is based. Lecture format,
>single-discipline-based teaching must be complemented by more
>integrative, targeted module instruction. Laboratory practicum
>exercises will need to be broadened to enhance exposure to real world
>questions and holistic decision-making.
My reply:
Maybe I should've edited that more, but my time is short. I'll just
comment on a few items. Holism is an important thing to put into
practice in our society, but women are more adapted to it than are men.
Did you know a man can focus on a single conversation when two different
discussions are going on at the same time at the same volume and women
find it very hard and thus cannot make much sense of either one? That
really applies to 80% or more of men and women, I think, as some are
more like the opposite sex. I think our society and the world
desperately needs more of conventional women's culture, but being
largely non-competitive, it's hard to get that. Even women's movements
seem to be structured like the male culture [hierarchically] more than
the female. --- Though science is needed for any area of progress, the
male culture creates many facades that give the appearance of science
without much reality. The education system too is mostly such a facade.
People learn while they're in school, but only because they learn in any
setting. They do not learn nearly as well as they could and the system
is designed to reward the heirs of the rich more than others. Education
is largely propaganda and a means of removing competitors for the rich.
I'm not a socialist; I believe in free enterprise, but the male culture
doesn't permit much freedom. It favors hierarchy and the super rich are
at the top and they do any despicable thing they feel they must to stay
on top. The male culture is also able to keep secrets, unlike the
female, and so people can be made to believe whatever the controlled
media say is true. The female culture cannot easily understand how our
culture can lie and keep secrets. Therefore, I see your educational
goals as applicable more to the "counter-culture" than to the
mainstream. I'm not a pessimist, but I doubt if the male culture will
change appreciably without some outside help. The counter-culture might
be part of that outside help. The communities movement, the organic and
health movement, unconventional science, etc are what I'd call part of
the counter-culture. Some other movements are merely competitive and not
helpful. John Holt, who wrote Instead of Education and started the
magazine, Growing Without Schooling, and who helped start the Home
Schooling movement, had a lot of good ideas that you might like to
consult. I hope to hear some more from you. Aloha. Lloyd
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
To Unsubscribe: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with "unsubscribe sanet-mg".
To Subscribe to Digest: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with the command
"subscribe sanet-mg-digest".