The latest issue of The Atlantic includes a piece by Caitlin Flanagan criticizing school gardens. Kurt Michael Friese has written an excellent response. I want to address two points that relate specifically to my professional expertise, as the Director of Urban Sprouts.
Ms. Flanagan claims, “I have spent many hours poring over the endless research on the positive effects of garden curricula, and in all that time, I have yet to find a single study that suggests classroom gardens help students meet the state standards for English and math.” This is an extreme misrepresentation of the current research on garden-based education. I cannot imagine how Ms. Flanagan missed the current research conducted by California’s most prestigious universities, published in peer-reviewed journals, and even co-authored by our Deputy Secretary of the US Department of Agriculture, Dr. Kathleen Merrigan.
Current research goes beyond providing strong evidence that garden-based education increases academic achievement, even test scores, but shows that students benefit in a complex, longer-lasting and more compelling way. School garden-based education addresses two of the main barriers to success in school for many low-income students of color: poor nutrition and health, and low “resiliency,” a term that describes the psychological stress affecting youth who grow up in economically, socially, and politically marginalized communities. In fact, students in Urban Sprouts’ school garden programs tell us that they choose to show up for school at all because of the therapeutic experience they find in the school garden.
We at Urban Sprouts, together with colleagues around the nation, are documenting a complete theory-based and research-tested model for garden-based education that provides standards of practice and evidence of strong results not only for academic achievement, but this wider range of benefits, including preventing youth obesity, improving youth and family health, and increasing youth resiliency and therefore success later in life.
Some resources that directly counter Ms. Flanagan’s incorrect claims:
- Research compiled by the California School Garden Network
- Summary of studies on Academic Achievement
- Recently-published article on which Dr. Merrigan is a co-author
Secondly, I cannot imagine The Atlantic’s purposes in publishing this piece; certainly this viewpoint accomplishes the very opposite of advocating for the many communities in the US who are severely under-served by our nation’s public education system. Ms. Flanagan expresses disdain for physical work, and portrays members of marginalized communities such as farm laborers, African Americans and Hispanics as passive recipients of misplaced do-good volunteerism by privileged and elitist school volunteers. Again, she reveals her ignorance.
School garden-based education is part of a strong and vibrant history of struggle for justice, that straddles the labor movement for farmworkers’ rights, school reform, environmental justice, and food justice, movements with leaders of color, many of whom are proud farmers, both urban and rural. US school gardens, in fact, give land and resources to urban youth and their families, empowering them to grow their own fresh, organic and healthy food, while strengthening their voices within the urban school system. This will improve both our food systems and education systems; petty critiques of highly-successful grassroots efforts and the food movement certainly will not.
Please add your comments below in response to Ms. Flanagan’s article!
It was if Ms Flanagan wrote her piece just to drum up rebuttals.
I would suggest The Atlantic publish another view point. Here is a great example “The Garden, A Master Teacher”
http://www.lifelab.org/birthday_essay1.php
Thanks Abby for writing this. I have seen the way Urban Sprouts gardens transform schools, families, and youth. Young people that were disengaged in traditional teaching approaches thrived from being outdoors, using their hands, and seeing things grow. Schools get more engaged in thinking about healthy eating. Families start sharing stories. Keep up the excellent work.
Well written Abby! I suppose we should be thankful to Ms. Flanagan for bringing attention to garden-based education and providing a platform for insightful evidence in response.
I was just meeting with a friend of mine to plan our seed orders for the year. She told me that her 4 year old son has learned the difference between invasive and native slugs and is a regular slug hunter now (who spares the native ones). He also eats raw broccoli from the garden (maybe no one else finds that astonishing but I do!). She also said he noticed some fennel growing just over the fence from his day care and gathered all the other kids around to eat some. He is learning from his family garden more than most kids learn in regualr school. Sure hope his school has a garden when (if) he starts next year.
P.S. Even in my oh so posh prep school, one teacher used a pie, a real pie, to teach fractions. I’m very good with fractions now.
And we had chickens and rabbits and made candles. Balance is the key–between academic classroom work and OTHER kinds of learning.
Gardens can be used to teach all manner of topics, including math and science! Is this not obvious?
Well argued Abby!
Well stated. While I completely disagree with Flanagan’s conclusions about the value of garden-based education, my biggest argument with her is that she equates achieving standards with education. Time and time again we have learned that passing an exam does not indicate competence to do something. She has fallen into the testing trap. Our children deserve better.