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Natural culture is important too

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Natural culture is important too

13 Feb 2008 1:38 PM
  • Comments 2
Ballet, theatre, art and history are to be taken to teenagers to enrich their lives and open the door to creative careers, the government has announced today.

Youngsters will be encouraged to attend the opera and learn to play a musical instrument. The plan is that they should have five hours of culture a week.

There is nothing in the 10 pilot schemes, costing a total of £10 million, to enrich children’s lives by promoting the natural world, however, which is a shame.

There is ample evidence to show that contact with nature boosts wellbeing. Richard Mabey has written a book about it. The government is incorporating spaces for wildlife and other green places in its Thames Gateway developments, to improve quality of life for those living and working there.

There is more to education than what you know. Growing up is also about appreciating the world around you – its beauty, its importance, sometimes its wildness, sometimes its emptiness.

Those appreciating none of this will not care to look after nature or the countryside. Those knowing nothing of it will think nothing of concreting over the countryside, bulldozing a fine landscape for a new road or even building a 10-mile barrage over the Severn Estuary.

Our future depends more on our stewardship of the natural world than on the extent of our experience of man-made culture. Appreciation of the natural beauty of geology, plants and animals is a fundamental test of our development.

Comments
  • 16 Feb 2008 4:27 PM

    Every school or other educational establishment should have, at the very least, a bird table or feeding station. Children could take it in turns to keep feeders full, thus also learning responsibility towards wildlife. The national curriculum science requirement to learn about diversity of life could be covered by learning about the birds using the feeders and table. A wild area with nestboxes, woodpiles and othe natural habitats would increase opportunities for learning about bio-diversity.

  • 20 Feb 2008 2:33 PM

    The RSPB and BBC have just launched Breathing Places Schools, a two year project to encourage schools to transform their grounds into places that are good for wildlife.

    By doing just one thing each term over then next two years, children will be able to help wildlife, learn about plants and animals and create a place where they can enjoy nature.

    This spring, children can grow a set of wildlife friendly plants and in the summer they will have chance to explore the world of beetles and bugs. More exciting projects will follow in the autumn and beyond!

    Click here for more details http://www.rspb.org.uk/ourwork/teaching/breathingplacesschools/index.asp

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