02/05/07 High School Agin Crisis

The story of Jack and the Bean stalk could be a metaphor of sorts of what is happening to the high school ag curriculum, except in this story the beanstalk is being cut down before anyone can get the golden egg. I discussed this dilemma with a dedicated Ag instructor who felt that Ag studies are under attack and being diluted into strictly a physical science program. This is being done under the clever guise of "agriculture" so that schools will continue to receive state and federal dollars. This Washington State teacher feared his program will become but a shell of itself because academic rigor and imagination have been sacrificed so that districts can merely teach to test standards. The focus of high school now is to pass the standardized tests irregardless of what skills students might need to make it in the real world. IN the past the Ag curriculum was valued for teaching vocational skills and preparing students for agriculture at the university level. Today we are churning out a world of "jacks" and Jill's so dulled by their high school education that they will spend their lives at the bottom of the bean stalk , looking up, lacking the skills to even make the climb.