Learning Sustainability From Each Other
Posted on: Friday, 2 May 2008, 06:00 CDT
By Brierton, Sara
This issue's theme is Sustainable Agriculture - Sustainable Education. I would suggest these concepts are interwoven (like those braided lucky bamboo plants in the grocery store) and interdependent, supporting and growing upon each other. Sustainable agriculture is based on a balance of three ideas; each is equally important and often portrayed by a three-legged stool (Figure 1). If one leg is longer than the others the stool is out ofbalance and unusable. For agricultural education to be sustainable it must be viewed the same way. The first leg is economics-sustainable agriculture must be economically viable. If a farmer is losing money, he cannot stay in business for long; the same is true for education. Imagine if a group of students a particular agricultural program continued to consistently "produce" negative outcomes in terms of academic achievement and leadership development. At some point decisions must be made for the sustainability of agricultural education and consequently agriculture. Effective agricultural education costs time, resources, and money, but the return it produces is usually an employable, productive student who contributes to the fiscal and social stability of a community. If agricultural education fails to provide employable and productive students, its economic viability comes into question.
The second leg of sustainable agriculture is social accountability. Agriculturalists (e.g. the farmer) recognize that he or she is part of a community and they understand the roles, responsibilities, and compensations of the mutually beneficial relationship between a community and an agriculturalist. Educational institutions and agricultural educators should also be active partners in society. Schools should be responsive and accountable to the community, while benefiting from the support received from that same community.
Lastly sustainable agriculture must be environmentally responsible-for many this is the focus of this sustainable agriculture. However, without the other two components (social accountability and economic viability) environmental responsibility has no staying power. Sustainable agriculture is a lovely idea, but has little hope of success alone. Couldn't we say the same for sustaining agricultural education? Oftentimes emphasis, admirably, is on the academics. Academics are desperately important, but academics alone do not create educational success and longevity in an educational program of any kind. Only an educational system that is in balance with regard to fiscal responsibility and social accountability can be prolonged.
How can this balance be accomplished? What can we learn from one to enrich the other? Much talk in sustainable agriculture is about being good stewards of the earth, and encourages followers to adhere to management practices that support and develop the land and other natural resources. Shouldn 't educators be stewards of their students: surely they should attend to them and care for them and contribute to what they need for them to grow, learn, strengthen, and develop?
An educational plan that lasts is one committed to being responsive and open to new trends and ideas without leaving all traditions behind. We can't do exactly what we used to do, but we must learn to carry forward what works in order to provide solid foundations upon which new ideas can take root and grow. An agricultural plan that is sustainable does the same thing-it brings proven techniques and procedures from throughout history and marries them with cutting edge research and technology that supplements and strengthens our practice. Think about your own agricultural education programs. What traditions and opportunities will sustain your program?
Is agricultural education looking to just do no harm, or is it looking to move the profession, society, and/or agriculture forward? It is not enough to just prevent students from falling behind or to maintain a status quo. We must improve the minds and lives of our students; we must provide them with opportunities and skills needed to meet and exceed the challenges they will face. We must do the same for the environment. Sustainable agriculture cannot be satisfied to just do no more environmental harm. We need to repair the damage done and provide avenues for improving the strength of our planet in order to allow it to meet the challenges it will face. The key is to be proactive, not reactive. Educators can lead this charge through sharing their experiences, practices, and research.
Sustainable agriculture means using practices that are designed to allow agriculture to continue to perpetuate itself. Sustainable education should mean the same thing, using practices that incite in students a desire to perpetuate their learning even after they leave the classroom.
What proactive measures do we use to accomplish this? Research has led us to many solutions and this issue is sure to indicate more, but this much we know we must do:
* Explore research-based techniques to increase student learning.
* Explore research-based techniques to increase sound environmental practices.
* Be cautious about changing students too much, let their individuality shine.
* Be cautious about changing the earth too much, let its innate beauty shine.
* Trust a learner's ability to grow and develop on the solid foundation education provided.
* Trust the environment's ability to maintain when a strong ecological foundation is followed.
* Nurture the learner within.
* Nurture the world throughout.
* Respect the learner.
* Respect the earth.
* Work for sustainable education.
* Work for sustainable agriculture.
* Believe that students are our future.
* Know that our earth is their future.
Copyright National Council for Agricultural Education Jan/Feb 2008
(c) 2008 Agricultural Education Magazine, The. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
Source: Agricultural Education Magazine, The
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