The Earth School

In class someone mentioned the idea of changing the academic material, which i felt was an exceptional idea.  I went to a school called the Earth school which academics are far from the normal.  We were taught to love, embrace and take care of the environment.  Where many children were pressured to learn vocabulary and equations, we learned how to make the environment better and how to treat animals as if they were humans.  Our classroom assignments consisted of planting trees, growing gardens, and even learning to cook with many produce and vegetarian dishes.  Many of these produce was picked ourselves from local markets and gardens.  A school where Earth day was our biggest day to celebrate.  And where our classrooms were full of animals that we were taught to love as we do each other, and where it was frowned upon to kill a bug especially lady bugs.  Though this may be far from practical to many it was my life for years.  And i believe because i was presented with this knowledge and this way of life at such a young age it became apart of me and how i am even today.  Though i believe this can help the future children and how they treat the environment i am not saying our entire educational system should be altered this way.  Besides we do need room to learn the basics.  But i do believe from grade school on their should be a required course in which we learn some aspect of the environment or how we can help.  Whether that includes courses such as gardening, farming, animal care taking or even courses where we become involved and interact in nature i feel it is necessary.  The children are the future and the way they are taught will continue to affect us and the environment, whether it be positively or negatively.