Introductory Remarks
After reviewing the attached letter drafted by the Texas Department of Agriculture, I began my data-collection research.
Keeping in mind the concepts introduced in this letter, I attempted to locate similar misinterpretations in the Las Cruces School District Curriculum. To facilitate my research, I went to the Teachers' Center in Las Cruces and was pleased to note that the personnel on hand were very helpful, with particular reference to the Manager of the Center. She provided me with the entire range of material at her disposal, and conducted a tour of the facilities.
Substantive Content
The Manager explained that the primary mission of the Center was to train teachers in proper instructional technique and to formulate and compile updated curriculum materials for their use. If the New Mexico Department of Agriculture wishes to consult the School District, the Teachers' Center seems a reasonable point of contact. Unfortunately, only the Las Cruces School District has a Teacher's Center; other districts do not have such a facility. Because of distance and other factors, I did not conduct research within other school districts.
The second office to which I reported was the Las Cruces Public School Administration Office. There, I was able to meet with the Coordinator of Curriculum Development who provided me with Curriculum Guides for Kindergarten through Grade 12. I examined closely all of the material and discovered that The Science Curriculum for the Sixth Grade, edited by Elaine Hampton and Jane Murphy, was found to have certain weaknesses.
Among the shortcomings was the passage on Page 6 which describes the space ship garden (paragraph 2). Not only was this concept poorly developed, but the first sentence in the 4th paragraph seems to place on all "human beings" a sense of guilt for misuse of natural resources. This concept is inadequately applied to the material being presented.
Furthermore, under the section entitled "Rain Forests", on page 39, there appears to be another contentious statement, amounting to a misleading oversimplification.
We read:
Farmers and ranchers in the rain forest countries burn the forests to plant food crops and grass for cattle. The farmers can make a lot of money selling the cattle for steaks and hamburgers. Each year humans burn an area of rain forest the size of Nebraska. The soil in the rain forests is not very fertile, and after a few years, no more crops will grow on it. So the farmers are forced to chop and burn even more rain forest. Gone forever are the precious plants and animals that our Earth needs.
We must realize that the food produced through destruction of the rain forest is useful. The children who eat this food are entitled to grow and thrive. It is a shame that rain forests must suffer, but humans must survive. Perhaps there is a compromise which Jane and Elaine should mention.
Again, we read:
The farmers who serve the community are unfairly the people who derive the least benefit from their hard work.
The text quoted is misleading because it simplistically asserts that farmers profit minimally, when in reality it is frequently the opposite. Their products are labor-intensive, but their rewards are more than adequate, when federal and state subsidies or incentives are given to them in the developed world, or when special humanitarian and philanthropic programs are made available to them in the Third World.
A final point seems insulting to the intelligence of 11 year olds. It appears at the bottom of page 39:
Imagine that you are a monkey living in the rain forest. One morning you smell the smoke of workers burning your forest. How would you feel? What would you do? What might happen to you?
Sixth graders should not be asked to place themselves in the position of a monkey...not for the obvious reasons dealing with the limited intelligence of our simian relatives...but because animals simply occupy a position far beneath that of human beings. We do not need to "read into the feelings" of mere monkeys, who could easily survive in the neighboring trees and jungle.
Glancing lastly at the "Everything is Connected" heading on page 44, we can readily see that, in fact, many of the connections are tenuous, largely because technology eliminates many of these so-called linkages. For example, "more people" does not necessarily mean "more trash" in the negative sense. We may be able to convert the trash to better use and find solutions to the other connections.
Thirdly, to pursue my investigation state-wide, I reported to Santa Fe. I met with Ms. Mary Jane Vinella, Chief of the Instructional Material Bureau within the Department of Education.
Due to the in-house, non lending policy of the State Department of Education, I was compelled to review curriculum materials on site at their facility. Attached is a listing of Books on hand which deal directly with agriculture. A sample title is Agriscience: Fundamentals and Application, by Elmer L. Cooper.
During my research, I was requested to consult with the New Mexico Communities Environmental Education Project. I cooperated with them and attended their conferences and writings. The last such meeting was held on May 14, 1996, in Albuquerque, and dealt with the Environmental Education Task Force. I derived the following insights, among others, from this meeting, which focused on the "Environmental Education 2000 Program", aimed firstly at nine key states, soon to increase to twenty by 1997.
The National Environmental Education Advocacy Project (NEEAP) initiated in Fall of 1991 has fulfilled its dual mission, consisting of two roles, namely:
(a) to coordinate national expertise and resources in support of state and community environmental education advocacy efforts; and
(b) to help educators and other supporters of environmental education advocate for specific EE plans, programs, structures and funding that they have deemed necessary for their states and communities.
My principal recommendation for the NMDA is to interface directly with the designers of the EE Task Force and its diverse projects.
[Note: A Brief Look at Recent Innovations in Indonesia's Educational System: Education Ministry - Jakarta