Cattle-to-Cafeteria

FOOD

Beyond a stack of hay bales, high school students in a tiny Indiana town stroll down a grassy slope to reach their newest classroom: a fenced-in field of cud-chewing cattle. (New York Times)

Use our resources to learn more about classroom “green scenes.”

Both rural and urban school districts are incorporating hands-on agricultural classes to their traditional curricula. This high school student and her steer in Shelby, Montana, are actually part of 4H, not academia. Photograph by William Albert Allard, National Geographic
Both rural and urban school districts are incorporating hands-on agricultural classes with traditional curricula. This high school student and her steer in Shelby, Montana, are actually part of 4H, not academia, however.
Photograph by William Albert Allard, National Geographic

Discussion Ideas

  • Compare the agricultural program described in the New York Times article (in Hagerstown, Indiana) with the program described in our article “Green Scene” (in Newark, New Jersey). What do the programs have in common? How do they differ? What parts of the programs could be shared with the other school? Which parts of the programs could not be shared with the other school?
    • Similarities
      • Both programs use agriculture as part of mainstream school curricula, and harvest food for their classrooms or cafeteria.
      • Both programs take place outside traditional learning environments (classrooms).
      • Both programs claim to serve at-risk or disadvantaged students.
    • Differences
      • The Hagerstown program serves traditional public schools, while St. Philip’s Academy is a charter school.
      • The Hagerstown program serves students in a rural community, while St. Philip’s Academy serves an urban population.
      • The Hagerstown program focuses on livestock, while the program at St. Philip’s Academy focuses on growing vegetables and other plants.
    • Shared Features
      • The Hagerstown program could feature the gardening aspects practiced by the St. Philip’s program, if it already isn’t.
      • The St. Philip’s program could expand the way their program is taught to include economics, the way the Hagerstown program has.
    • Unshared Features
      • St. Philip’s is in a huge urban area—Newark, New Jersey—and could probably not have a herd of cattle on school grounds!
      • The St. Philip’s program (EcoSPACES) focuses on sustainability solutions in urban areas—not directly relevant to issues in Hagerstown.

 

Thanks to eagle-eyed geographer Allie for the heads-up on this great current-event connection!

2 thoughts on “Cattle-to-Cafeteria

  1. What a great contrast from yesterday’s to today’s blog! Always keeps us on our toes. Education comes in all forms and all are important. Thanks for the information.

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