Suhee and I were pleased to show film excerpts and give an opening talk about the Final Straw film to a great group of people at the EDUfarm conference just this morning in Korea!
For us, it was a beautiful match to be invited to such a conference, mainly because their goals as an organization are so close to our own mind… bringing together teachers, authors, artists, activists, and small scale farmers and farming organizations to create cross-discipline open dialoges.
EDUfarm, the organization which hosted the conference, believes that agriculture is the very basic building block for a holistic education. In fact, they go so far as to say that it is the only truly holistic learning system we have, and when you think about it, they have a good point.
In the United States, our education system has become so focused on things like S.T.E.M., that we forget Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math are all completely lost disciplines if they do not have the likes of Humanities, Arts, and Environment as their guides.
Instead of focusing on relatively short-sighted goals as much of our industry is obsessed with doing today, EDUfarm focuses on long-term ecological values which are critical for the next generation. In addition to this conference, they are also involved in collaborations and curriculum development aimed at integrating agriculture within our education system, not simply as a skill, but as one of the very basic building blocks of learning for all students (and teachers).
We want to extend our thanks to the organizers for their invitation, and for the opportunity. We look forward to continuing to build a relationship as we move forward with the film screenings and related activities later this year!
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Yes!!! I am glad that you and Suhee are connected with this organization, and I love the quote “Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math are all completely lost disciplines if they do not have the likes of Humanities, Arts, and Environment as their guides.” Keep up the good work.