There has been talk for many years of redoing the school curriculum, mostly due to universities saying many students are lacking some skills or knowledge. Having been to university I can concur that a lot of basic knowledge and skills are not there.
Following an episode of Gardeners World where an article looked at the Landschafts Park (Landscape Park) in Duisburg, Germany i had a thought on how our education system could be altered to benefit us all.
We are all used to the basic subjects: maths, English, the sciences etc. Each has a curriculum with set topics which must be covered in preparation for exams and the next stage of education. The problem though with this secular form of teaching, however, is that children fail to see the connections in everything around us. Thus ideas and inventions fail to satisfy but a few areas of our understanding.
Though an overused example in this present day, plastics are still a focus which conveys my message perfectly.
In the early 1900’s plastics (as we know them today) were invented by Belgian chemist Leo Baekelandt o be convenient for multiple uses such as storage, carrying or creating tough cases for electronics. Now though we realize just how harmful they are to our planet and ourselves. Yes education has changed s lot since the creator of plastics went to school, but if my proposed (and soon to be explained (stay with me)) education system had been in effect then could our current dilemma have been avoided?
In simple terms my proposal is that school subjects should be integrated within each other.
Now, this does not mean that a math teacher gives a geography lesson or that each lesson contains components of each subject. By integration I mean that a child can connect the topics of each subject with each other (obviously within reason). Plastics for example, their creation was scientific predominantly chemistry. Imagine though if whilst at school Leo Baekeland had connected how what we 'throw away' influences the natural world and how chemicals can alter this further. In other words, how chemistry alters home economics and home economics influences the environment which is over all dictated by the geography (both human and physical). Human geography has an influence through trends and population whilst the physical geography determines what happens with the rubbish and anything it breaks up into. Rivers would likely result in the ocean being the end destination for a product whilst a cold or freezing climate causes a reduction in degradation speed.
Thinking back to plastics then, we now know that they take 100's of years to degrade and before the they become microplastics ready to inch up the food chain. Could this have been avoided if the connections formerly mentioned had been thought of? Hemp can also make plastics and biodegrades in around 30 days, there's also bamboo to name but a few. If people had already understood the connections between 'subjects' and gone to the experts i.e. a geographer, a biologist and a mathematician, could the inevitable plastics ocean invasion have been prevented from the start?
