|
Items in cart [1] |
Questions? Call 888-624-8373 |
| Copyright © 2009. National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Terms of Use and Privacy Statement |
Below are the first 10 and last 10 pages of uncorrected machine-read text (when available) of this chapter, followed by the top 30 algorithmically extracted key phrases from the chapter as a whole.
Intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text on the opening pages of each chapter.
Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.
Do not use for reproduction, copying, pasting, or reading; exclusively for search engines.
OCR for page 55
CHAPTER
6
Environment and Ecology:
Greening the Curriculum
A Public Policy Perspective
James R. Moseley
r
1, like practically every American citizen, am more than willing tO
say something about education and our educational system. In
looking over the information that was sent to me as background for
the conference, I read that I should make my presentation from the
perspective of someone who is confronted daily with the real-world
demands for decisions and policy interpretation relative to environ-
mental issues and what the curriculum through which we educate
the food, agriculture, and natural resources professionals for the
twenty-first century should provide these young people.
I thought about the assignment and then reflected on some of
the things that 1 had dealt with over the previous week. For ex-
ample, I became Involved in policy related to the free trade agree-
ment between the United States and Mexico (the environment is
going to be a key question related to that agreement). I met with
lawyers on an Everglades National Park lawsuit. l spent hours on
wetlands negotiations. I tried to determine how to keep the courts
from shutting down timber production in the Pacific Northwest be-
cause of the threat to the spotted owl. I worked on writing the
rules and regulations for the logo Farm Bill. I prepared to go to
Capitol Hill to testify on our 1992 budget. I wrote a briefing for a
trip I took to Geneva to establish an international forestry agree-
ment. 1 worked with the two department chiefs on management
strategies for the 60,000 employees in the Soil Conservation Ser-
vice and the U.S. Forest Service.
My assignment for the conference was to discuss what the cur-
riculum should be to prepare students to address issues such as
these. In other words, what courses should I have taken when I
55
OCR for page 56
AGRICULTURE AND THE UNDERGRADUATE
was at Purdue University to get myself ready to do the things
listed above?
As I examined this subject, I thought about higher education and
realized that there was no curriculum that could ever prepare me to
address all of the issues that I must deal with today. When I worked
at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency with William Reilly, the
agency~s administrator, I wished that I had understood environmen-
tal law much better. Now, as an assistant secretary, I wish that I
had obtained more experience in forestry, soil science, and public
administration. I can make a lengthy list of areas in which I wish I
had more experience.
The point is that none of us can predict what the issues are
going to be as we move Into the next century. As a result, we
cannot determine exactly what classes our students should be tak-
ing today. I do know, however, that there are some fundamental
skills that all of us must master in order to be effective in handling
whatever issue comes our way.
In her book Megaskills (Rich, 1988), Dorothy Rich defined megaskills
as those things that each of us needs in order to succeed. She
says they are inner engines of learning and the stuff that achieve-
ment is made of. The lo megaskills that she identified are confi-
dence, motivation, effort, responsibility, initiative, perseverance, caring,
teamwork, common sense, and problem solving.
One may think that there is really nothing new to that, and that
may be right. These are the basic skills that all of us need to have
in order to have a fulfilling life. However, her book focuses on how
to teach these skills to our own children as they are growing up. I
would like to take it a step farther, though, and suggest that at the
fundamental level of preparing and delivering any college course,
whether it is a basic introduction to agriculture or organic chemis-
try, these megaskills should also be reinforced. I am not suggesting,
however, that we need to offer specific classes on problem solving,
teamwork, or common sense. That is not a good use of anyonets
time. I do suggest, however, that as teachers we must make certain
that each course that we offer incorporates these key skills.
The skills I need to have in order to handle the daily issues I
mentioned above are the foundation on which I can build. When I
try to look objectively, then, at young people who are successful
and those who are struggling following graduation, the difference
generally is not a lack of technical knowledge as much as it is a
lack of inter- and intrapersonal skills.
I am reminded of an old Chinese proverb: "Tell me, I will forget.
Show me, I will remember. But involve me, and then I will under-
stand." We need to ask ourselves what kinds of teachers and
classes we have at the universities: Are they Tell met' teachers and
classes, or do they get to the essence of education? That is, do
they involve people in the learning process7
56
OCR for page 57
GREENING THE CURRICULUM
When I look back at my college experience, I know I am no
different from anyone else. The classes that had the biggest impact
and that were the most useful to me are the ones that In some way
took me into action and involved me. So the college curriculum
should entail the best Uinvolve me" teachers we can find, teachers
who incorporate things like cooperative work and study and inter-
national travel experiences, mentor programs, and even extracur-
ricular actlvitles.
For some time I have believed, and I continue to talk about, the
publish-or-perish mindset that Is doing serious damage to our higher
educational process. we need a strong research program, and we
need some way to report that. we must go back to science; for ex-
ample, we must go back to science to address environmental Issues.
I believe in science and I believe in research, but the publish-or-
perish mentality used to evaluate and promote teachers does not
necessarily reward those teachers who are the best communica-
tors in the classroom. For several years I have encouraged univer-
sity administrators to take a serious look at this particular issue and
the way we work through this system. Publishing is important, but
it should not be the main criterion for an individuals evaluation.
I would also like to see more universities develop partnerships
with business and government, partnerships that provide students
with firsthand experience on what we mean when we say that
school is not a preparation for life, it is life. Learning and education
do not end when the sheepskin Is placed in our hand; it is only the
beginning of lifelong learning.
One of the real pleasures that I have had since I left Purdue has
been the opportunity to work with current college students. we
live about 20 miles from campus, and over the course of the past
20-some years we have had more than 200 part-time students em-
ployed on our farm. And I suspect we have probably had at least
1 ,ooo to 1,200 students come to our farm in various kinds of classes
and laboratory settings. Many of them ask me for advice on what
they should be doing in school, what classes they should be tak-
ing. I always tell them that I cannot make that decision for them. I
can tell them, however, some things that I did not do adequately
and some things that I would do differently if I had the opportunity to
do it over. For example, I would have broadened my curriculum: I
would not have specialized quite as much as I did. It is hard to tell
an undergraduate not to specialize. They do not listen, because
they are focused on getting a Job. They think that they must special-
ize, and they want to make sure that they have adequate skills.
I am not saying, though, that I would not have obtained an agri-
cultural degree. My agricultural degree is very important to me. It
is the degree I should have obtained, and I am pleased with what I
have achieved. It was critical for me in terms of developing a
knowledge base about science, the technology process, and tech
57
OCR for page 58
AGRICULTURE AND THE UNDERGRADUATE
nology transfer. It was also critical because, from my experience in
dealing with environmental issues, we simply do not have enough
people who understand science and technology.
My career has obviously gone well beyond the fences of the
farm. In fact, it has gone well beyond agriculture. The statistics
Indicate that our current college students" careers will do the same.
Therefore, I would have spent more time learning about the social
sciences and would have taken courses In history and philosophy,
ethics, political science, and law, because my career today prlma-
rily focuses around the application of social sciences to the physi-
cal science and technology questions that society faces.
I once heard a quote that said, The man we call a specialist was
formerly called a man with a one-track mind." In my Job, I cannot
afford to have a one-track mind. I must understand the members of
the public who want to till the soil, but I also must understand
those members of the public who want to leave the soil alone. I
must understand the reasons why we should save the spotted owl.
But I must also understand the reasons why timber communities
are important and vital to the economic well-being of a region.
It is that continual need to balance the needs and the desires of
society that requires all of us to think beyond our own small world.
As a result, we cannot have focused and specialized minds.
I would also have learned a foreign language. I did not do that,
and it was a serious mistake. I would have tried to participate in
some kind of foreign-exchange experience as well. There is no
question that we have truly become a global village, a global com-
munity. I now know with great certainty that learning a foreign
language would have been one of the most useful things that I
could have done. We can expect knowledge of a foreign language
to continue to be important, because the world is going to continue
to get smaller as technology, and communications technology in
particular, continues to expand.
Finally, I would like to encourage faculty and administrators to
be cautious about pursuing what I call the "salad bar approach" to
college curricula. There are many people who believe that we
should offer a broader range of courses in college. And I suspect
that there will be numerous suggestions that we should broaden
the curriculum to address environmental Issues. As I look at the
type of instruction that would have helped me deal with the envi-
ronmental issues that 1 must face now, however, most of them
would not have come from specific environmental classes. There
are natural resource management issues that encompass the ethi-
cal, political, social, and scientific views of society. These are at
the core of the environmental questions and are essential to help-
ing us find the answers.
Although I wish I had taken a broader range of courses, I do not
necessarily mean that I wish that I would have had more electives
to choose from. In fact, perhaps I had too many elective opportuni
58
OCR for page 59
GREENING THE CURRICULUM
ties at the undergraduate level. What I would like to have seen was
a required core curriculum in the college of agriculture that con-
tained more of the social sciences. At the undergraduate level, we
must focus on a more traditional education of the basics of the
physical and social sciences. Students of colleges of agriculture
should not be able to use a golf class or something similar to
obtain graduation credits. That is not the type of course that is
necessarily going to help students deal with the issues.
Even though I am now an assistant secretary of agriculture and I
am dealing with a multitude of issues at the national level, we
should not forget that many of these issues can and should be
solved at the local level. We do not need to be spending our time
developing curricula specifically so that we develop national or
international leaders and secretaries and assistant secretaries of
agriculture, because these issues need to be resolved, insofar as
possible, at the local level. We need to develop a program that
produces people who appreciate the value of a good education;
who understand that good education goes beyond just getting a
good job after graduation; and who become school board mem-
bers and county commissioners, 4-H Club leaders, and people who
understand what it means to think globally but to act locally. These
are the kinds of students who I would like to see graduate from
U.S. colleges and universities.
In closing, I want to share part of a letter Abraham Lincoln wrote
to his son on his vents first day of school:
World, take my son by the hand. He starts school today. Teach
him, but gently, if you can. He will have to learn, I know, that all
men are not just and all men are not true. Teach him that for every
scoundrel, though, there is a hero and that for every enemy there
is a friend. Let him learn early that the bullies are the easiest
people in life to beat. Teach him the wonder of books. Teach him
that it is far more honorable to fail than to cheat. Teach him to
have faith in his own ideas, even when everyone tells him that he
is wrong. Try to give my son the strength not to follow the crowd
when everyone else is getting on the bandwagon. Teach him to
listen to all men, but to filter all he hears on a screen of truth and to
take only the good that comes through. Teach him to sell his
brawn and his brains to the highest bidder, but to never put a price
on his heart and his soul. Teach him to close his ears to the
howling mob and to stand and fight when he thinks that he is right.
Teach him gently, world, but don't coddle him, because only the
test of fire makes fine steel. I know that this is a big order, world,
but see what you can do.
That is the essence of what we have to do.
Reference
Rich, D. 1988. Megaskills: How Families Help Children Succeed in
School and Beyond. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
59
Representative terms from entire chapter:
current college
