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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] a research project is born

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Subject: Market Farming

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Chronological Thread  
  • From: Pamela Crowe <sustainableharvestsc AT gmail.com>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] a research project is born
  • Date: Tue, 2 Nov 2010 10:51:35 -0400

Kathryn----
 
This issue is not exclusively a farming dilemma. It is widespread even though agriculture has been the prime example for many years.
 
Higher Education has been claimed as a separate world that functions with it's own rules which have no relationship to the world at large. It's becomes just like any organization that grows too large.
 
I was an accountant most of my working career. I hired employees and had a prejudice against any newbie college grad since there was no hands on experience making them useless compared to someone coming out of tech schools with lesser education but could take the tasks assigned and go forward with little supervision. I could and did teach theory/critical thinking, if the person was to be expanded. I didn't have the time to start from the ground up building that which the college grad thought was below them.
 
The European educational system of OJT combined with classroom time into certain careers has worked for them. They have been doing this for easily 50 years and it works. To me this is what needs to be established to round out those entering higher education.
 
We learn best from experience, not from memorizing sets that some theorist thinks will lead to success. The subtle becomes evident when it is "in your face" and critical thinking either blossoms or doesn't.
 
Get these students out on the farms and let them decide if they want to continue. They need to be taking back the practical to the schools where the theory pushers can deal with the ramifications to fill in what that student really needs to accomplish being a farmer.
 
Small farms can produce significantly better products and get more out of smaller acreage. Big is not better and this idea needs to die first before many aspects of our society can make the change to being more realistic. Again Europe has the know how since they are entrenched for the most part in this as well.
 
IMO, many answers lie in how Europeans have meet this same thing in the past and accomplished a viable solution.
 
Pam
SC 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 



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