I have always felt that our current education system is sorely lacking. Its focus on grades and athletics feeds rivalry and competitive impulses and has little to do with actual learning. Cheating becomes a problem too, because the end goal overshadows the enjoyment of learning. The subjects taught are often irrelevant or they are geared only towards navigating our modern, digital world. Those who endure the laborious studying and memorizing, achieving the coveted degree, PhD or Doctorate certificate, are often ignorant about the real world we live in. Important things like basic survival and growing food are not taught, even to very young children. These things are given little, if any importance, and are offered only as extra curricular activities like Girl Scouts or Boy Scouts.
As an alternative to traditional schools, I enrolled my daughters in Montessori schools when they were around three years old. Montessori methods honor individuality and recognize that children learn at different rates. Older students helped the younger students, fostering a sense of community. Learning was designed based on a child’s interests, rather than forcing the student to fit into a standardized expectation of performance.
I have been passionate about gardening since I was a teenager, but this was not taught to me by my parents, or anyone in my family. It was not taught to me in school. I have had to learn on my own by spending a lifetime reading, taking various gardening classes, and by hands on experience. Most people, even college educated ones, cannot tell you the names of more than a few species of birds. They do not know the difference between annuals and perennials and they cannot tell you the names of trees or shrubs. They often detest all insects and do not have a clue about why they exist.
When I first discovered permaculture design, I was thrilled. I had always been an organic gardener, but the concept of permaculture can be applied to nearly all systems of life – even in the areas of finance and relationships. It has occurred to me that a permaculture design school would fulfill a huge need in our culture. Children could begin learning at a very early age, the keys to survival on our planet like gardening sustainably, preserving and cooking, growing food forests, foraging, caring for the natural world, and appreciation for the land, air, water, sunlight, and soil. They would learn to apply permaculture design to solve every problem, to create and sustain a healthier planet. It would foster in them a sense of community and cooperation, building skills that would promote inclusion, rather than separation and exclusion. They would come to understand the importance of reuse, recycle, and repurpose. They would gain these skills early on along with a reverence for the planet that sustains us.
I hope that soon, someone will begin a school and create a curriculum for a permaculture design school. Reading, writing, and arithmetic are important as well, and can be integrated into the whole system design for children. Currently, adults can earn a PDC (permaculture design certificate) through taking classes, but this is far too important to be quietly carried on in the background. It needs to be shouted out to the world. It needs to begin with our children. The children are our hope for a better future.
