Learning by doing 

Thank you for Kathy Johnston’s article about school gardens and green education (“Real-world learning,” Aug. 6). I am a Cal Poly, SLO graduate who now teaches agriculture science and agriculture elective
at Main Street Middle School in Soledad.

We take the state standards and show the students how the science they are learning applies to the agriculture that surrounds this quiet country town. They love it. I have about 40 kids per class, and there is a waiting list versus regular science. In our elective agriculture class they install school gardens, learn about being “green,” how to be leaders, public speaking, and computer skills, with ties to the Future Farmers of America (FFA)

One part in the article said it’s hard to have “green education.” We think it makes it easier for the kids to learn the information, for it’s “learn by doing” (Cal Poly’s motto).

This is our third year as an agriculture department and second year as an agriculture science department. You’ve got to see it; it’s amazing what kids learn when you apply it to the food they eat, the fibers that make up their clothes, the agriculture jobs where their families work, and the sites around this happening little town.