BEFORE2030 - A LIVABLE FUTURE For people, planet, and all life
5 – 12 YEARS OLD, SELF-RELIANT, SYSTEMS THINKING EDUCATION
We used to say don’t give a person fish, teach that person to fish. That is no longer applicable, now we need to teach that person about the system the fish swims in. In my town, we have a functioning steel mill and a river that runs past it. Of course, years ago, that’s why the steel mill originated there, so when I see someone fishing from the river bank, I ask them why don’t you fish further down where it’s deeper? They always reply, I’m upriver from the mill, less pollution. For a start the mill hasn’t used the water for years. However, the fish still look pretty sick to me. And I tell them, actually up river from you is the largest polluter in Pennsylvania, to their surprise. It’s runoff from industrialized agriculture: fertilizer, pesticide and herbicides are toxic to biology. This usually elicits a shrug. Perhaps they’re more interested in fishing than fish!
“System: A set of elements or parts that is coherently organized and interconnected in a pattern or structure that produces a characteristic set of behaviors, often classified as its ‘function” or “purpose.”” (Donella H. Meadows, Thinking in Systems, 2008)
Example: The fire that destroyed the town of Lahaina, on the island of Maui, in 2023, wasn’t responsible for the destruction, the system that surrounds it was. Public works, landscaping, codes department, town management, fire department, utility supplier, etc., the interconnected, interdependent elements of the built and natural environment. If we think only fire, we might issue fire extinguishers to the next residents, and that wouldn’t be of any use to prevent a similar situation.
We can teach this to children, why aren’t we? Are we teaching it to every student at college level and if not, why not? Can you imagine the creative thinking skills the children would acquire through this and how that would feed into their understanding of the world? Of course, what I’m suggesting here would also require the re-education of teachers.
Other teaching styles like project-based learning, and putting the A for arts into the STEM curriculum, while emphasizing life-long learning, should be explored. And outdoor classroom spaces should be built into all school property designs and used. Last Child in the Woods author, Richard Louv, is pioneering more Nature education due to his concept of Nature Deficit Disorder, maintaining that the children benefit so much from this.
I think all this and more, a self-reliant component would produce engaged, dynamic students. Add to their activities: cooking, carpentry, metal work, tool use, repair skills, house care, gardening; within a nature setting, all the collecting, observation, foraging, explanation of natural systems right in their backyard, flora and fauna, knowledge of place; all the curriculum standards would be incorporated within this structure, math, language, etc., exposure to them would flow naturally from their interactions and need to measure and document; as blackboards fade into the background. Imagine a child telling the mother, no need to call the plumber, I’ll fix the flushing system in the toilet tank! From 5 to 12 years old, confident of their place in their world, knowing their world.
“The future of our planet depends on a change of consciousness, in which the people and the resources of the natural world are no longer taken for granted and exploited without considering long term impacts. Supporting children from early childhood to develop a sensitive, compassionate and cooperative relationship with each other and the natural world is a crucial step in generating this new consciousness.” Earth Care, People Care, And Fair Share in Education: The Children in Permaculture Manual, 2018.
It seems to me that current elementary, middle and high school education doesn’t teach self-reliance, but prepares people for dependency on corporations; even a degree turns us into beggars, having to hawk the degree around to beg for a job!
Further info:
Carolyn Nuttall and Janet Millington, Outdoor Classrooms: a handbook for school gardens, 2019
12 – 18 years old, Corporate Education
What exists today, pick it up at grade 8. Children exposed to my self-reliant education may have some influence over the style of this continuation toward the college years.
We used to say don’t give a person fish, teach that person to fish. That is no longer applicable, now we need to teach that person about the system the fish swims in. In my town, we have a functioning steel mill and a river that runs past it. Of course, years ago, that’s why the steel mill originated there, so when I see someone fishing from the river bank, I ask them why don’t you fish further down where it’s deeper? They always reply, I’m upriver from the mill, less pollution. For a start the mill hasn’t used the water for years. However, the fish still look pretty sick to me. And I tell them, actually up river from you is the largest polluter in Pennsylvania, to their surprise. It’s runoff from industrialized agriculture: fertilizer, pesticide and herbicides are toxic to biology. This usually elicits a shrug. Perhaps they’re more interested in fishing than fish!
“System: A set of elements or parts that is coherently organized and interconnected in a pattern or structure that produces a characteristic set of behaviors, often classified as its ‘function” or “purpose.”” (Donella H. Meadows, Thinking in Systems, 2008)
Example: The fire that destroyed the town of Lahaina, on the island of Maui, in 2023, wasn’t responsible for the destruction, the system that surrounds it was. Public works, landscaping, codes department, town management, fire department, utility supplier, etc., the interconnected, interdependent elements of the built and natural environment. If we think only fire, we might issue fire extinguishers to the next residents, and that wouldn’t be of any use to prevent a similar situation.
We can teach this to children, why aren’t we? Are we teaching it to every student at college level and if not, why not? Can you imagine the creative thinking skills the children would acquire through this and how that would feed into their understanding of the world? Of course, what I’m suggesting here would also require the re-education of teachers.
Other teaching styles like project-based learning, and putting the A for arts into the STEM curriculum, while emphasizing life-long learning, should be explored. And outdoor classroom spaces should be built into all school property designs and used. Last Child in the Woods author, Richard Louv, is pioneering more Nature education due to his concept of Nature Deficit Disorder, maintaining that the children benefit so much from this.
I think all this and more, a self-reliant component would produce engaged, dynamic students. Add to their activities: cooking, carpentry, metal work, tool use, repair skills, house care, gardening; within a nature setting, all the collecting, observation, foraging, explanation of natural systems right in their backyard, flora and fauna, knowledge of place; all the curriculum standards would be incorporated within this structure, math, language, etc., exposure to them would flow naturally from their interactions and need to measure and document; as blackboards fade into the background. Imagine a child telling the mother, no need to call the plumber, I’ll fix the flushing system in the toilet tank! From 5 to 12 years old, confident of their place in their world, knowing their world.
“The future of our planet depends on a change of consciousness, in which the people and the resources of the natural world are no longer taken for granted and exploited without considering long term impacts. Supporting children from early childhood to develop a sensitive, compassionate and cooperative relationship with each other and the natural world is a crucial step in generating this new consciousness.” Earth Care, People Care, And Fair Share in Education: The Children in Permaculture Manual, 2018.
It seems to me that current elementary, middle and high school education doesn’t teach self-reliance, but prepares people for dependency on corporations; even a degree turns us into beggars, having to hawk the degree around to beg for a job!
Further info:
Carolyn Nuttall and Janet Millington, Outdoor Classrooms: a handbook for school gardens, 2019
12 – 18 years old, Corporate Education
What exists today, pick it up at grade 8. Children exposed to my self-reliant education may have some influence over the style of this continuation toward the college years.