cheers to the youth.

MGMT: The Youth, they sing:

The youth is starting to change

Are you starting to change?

Are you?

Together

I can’t help but think – indeed.

The youth are starting to change and we are starting to change in response; we are changing together. Our responsiveness is something they need. They need us to change. They need something very different from nearly everything we have been giving them. They need us to give them rules, to follow through, to discipline them, and to provide them with guidance and mentors. Their actions, habits, behaviors, it is all showing us that we need to provide something different for them. We need to change for them, together change needs to happen.

We need to start teaching them how to be children: how to imagine, create, explore, and work well with others, how to share, build a fort, and make a mess (and then also clean that mess up). And after all of that, at the appropriate time, we need to teach them how to be adults: how to be independent, responsive, and diligent, how to manage their finances and take care of their family, friends, and community. Regardless of their age, they need to be responsible and respectful. Most importantly, they need someone to teach them how to do all of this.

Where we have become more responsive to these needs is in our decision to create and sustain farm to school programs. Farm to school: a three-pronged approach to building connections between farms and schools. 1) school gardens, 2) nutritional education and 3) assisting schools in their efforts to purchase food from nearby farmers. School gardening lessons and units take students out of their desks and classrooms and provide them with an opportunity for hands-on experiential learning. Students learn how to plant, nurture, harvest, and sell their produce. Then, students learn about a complete life cycle when they prepare their garden for the winter and return their scraps to the compost. Time outside of the traditional classroom gives students the time they need to build a relationship with the world around them. As they spend time in the dirt and monitoring the growth of their plants they begin to learn how other things grow and change over time. They learn that spending time outside can be a great time to explore (and in turn, as they mature into adulthood they grow with an intricate knowledge of the outside world and “outside” is no longer a dangerous place for their own children to explore.)

When children learn about how food grows, within them a sense of curiosity is aroused. They are more likely to try new fruits and vegetables; the same fruits and vegetables they have cultivated over the previous weeks and months, and with that we can begin to teach them how to appreciate what is on their plate when they sit down to eat a meal. In the kitchen, when preparing a feast for themselves and others, they will learn how to work well with others. At the table, their interest is piqued when they notice a purple carrot on their plate, the same one they dug up from the ground moments earlier. In these moments we have the opportunity to teach children about what eating well looks like. How what we eat will give our bodies the nutrients to live healthy lives or will force our bodies into survival mode. Meal time is also where we have the opportunity to teach students lifelong lessons about table manners, the value of sharing a meal with others, and etiquette.

Further, when schools are able to foster relationships with the farming community that surrounds them, it gives children the opportunity to learn about farming and about a way of life. Here they will learn how others in their community live and contribute to the world around them through their work. With local food purchases schools have the opportunity to teach students about how they, as consumers, can have a positive impact on their community or can purchase outside of their community thereby actively choosing a stranger over a neighbor. Local procurement gives students a first-hand look at the give-and-take involved in community building and the awesome responsibility of being a part of something bigger than themselves.

If the youth succeeds in changing us, rather, if we can respond appropriately and adequately to their needs, then maybe, just maybe we can figure out how to help them not only survive in this world but how to thrive and become productive, responsible, independent, and respectful members of their communities. So yes, the youth is starting to change and we are starting to change together. And rightfully so,

Cheers to the future.

To the youth.