Biology dies in a classroom

I got a bellyful of clams from our back bay and beans from our garden. what else is there to say?

Today I got my thumb chomped as well as it has been in 4 decades by a blue crab, saw a hummingbird sit on a dead yucca stalk, watched 4 admiral butterflies flutter on a pod of zinnias started from seeds harvested from last year's zinnias, saw a few hundred killies, saw my second favorite bird (an oystercatcher) on a tidal flat, picked about a hundred or so string beans, waded in the Delaware Bay, got bit by (and slaughtered) a dozen or so mosquitoes, paddled a couple of miles, watched diffuse sunlight set on the water,and in a minute will be eating clams harvested by me.

A decent sized bluefish caught by my daughter....

And in four days I start "teaching" biology in a room lit up by fluorescent light, cooled by a compressor, using 21st technology reduced to an interactive white board that made a lot of money for SMART Technologies, but really, when you get down to it, doesn't have much effect on student understanding.

I do what I can--the room already has local critters--sow bugs, centipedes, spiders, millipedes, and will have a lot more in the next few weeks.

***

The natural world blows away anything I can do in the classroom.
The natural world blows away anything I can say to my kids.

To tell a kid she's made of stardust, while true, does little good in a culture that puts corporations over people. Why would a child even believe that in a classroom dominated by fluorescent lights and a Smartboard?

So we plant stuff. A lot.

...eaten before the next high tide.

Students expect their beans to germinate, flower, and fruit in less time than it takes to complete a round of WoW. But that's OK, in the end, they get a bean pod or two, for nothing more than a little care.

We have a generation of children who receive accolades less rewarding than a simple bean pod--in the end, the beans win.

***

I am a government agent charged with teaching biology--and that's exactly what I plan to do.

If your child leaves my classroom hungry for real food, for wisdom, for life, I've done my job.

P.S.: I am going to tell your lamb she is going to die. This should not be news to children.