I cannot begin to thank your wonderful organization and its dedicated members for helping me to make education vital, alive and relevant with your many contributions during my tenure as the chief state school officer of the Golden State. I am forever in your debt for helping me to engage our students in hands-on learning even as you were helping children to be healthier and excited about their academic achievement working in living laboratories.
I think I first learned of this great organization more than 20 years ago, while I was serving in the legislature. The granddaughter of a farmer and the daughter of a gardener and a great cook, I have always loved fresh fruits and vegetables. I ate seasonally even though I did not understand the importance of my family's food choices until later. I was thrilled to find an organization of educators committed to learning by working in the garden and teaching our children about our rich agricultural heritage, especially here in California.
For my part, I think it is time to give more thought to the wonders of working in the dirt and on the land, even as we recognize that most of us will not be moving to a farm any time soon. The relationship of people to living plants and to digging in the dirt perhaps bears some reconsideration, particularly as we seek to advance the education of our children.
Beyond the glory of laboring in the earth as entertainment, I think we should see it as a key that can unlock many doors in America’s education systems. Garden-based education can address health, fitness, academic achievement and promote curiosity of the natural world for students and adults alike.
We now have substantial research that says that eating healthy is imperative if we are going to reverse the obesity tidal wave and the associated illnesses, including Type 2 diabetes, asthma, hypertension, and sleep apnea. Ag in the Classroom and associated gardens helps us to promote physical education (gardening is great exercise) as well as a greater appreciation of fresh foods.
When I became the state Superintendent of Public Instruction, I called for a garden in every school. From the beginning, this vision had the backing of many supporters like California Foundation for Ag in the Classroom, Alice Waters and the Chez Panisse Foundation, the Future Farmers of America, the Center for Ecoliteracy, California Women in Agriculture, many garden clubs, growers, Farms Bureaus, family farmers, and lots of PTAs. My Alma Mater, UC Davis, created a Children’s Garden and sought to provide a regional center as a resource for children in this area. I serve on the advisory board for the Center for Nutrition Education at UCD. In the city of Davis, I serve on the board of the Farm to School Connection designed to improve nutrition and increase understanding of agriculture's importance in our society, economy, and culture. We have other research institutions that are validating this garden-based approach to education.
When I left office, we had gardens in more than three thousand schools that we knew of. This notion, that more and better gardens in schools should be encouraged, is wonderful. Gardens for our children can and should be a powerful academic lever to the highest achievement academically. But it is also healthy activity that leads to an appreciation of fresh, locally grown produce.
With gardens at the center of our efforts to create healthier, more engaged, better motivated and more academically successfully children, we think we can get our children to much higher levels of achievement even as we make education more fun. We know that gardens are living laboratories, and a wonderful key to unlock the imaginations of our children about science. But all subjects can and should be integrated into the garden. Where better to come to understand measurements and mathematical concepts. Add to this the kitchen and the many joys of cooking, and now we are really cooking academically and in terms of health! Hands-on learning is the most valuable learning.
By the way, when we put gardens in schools, we are also beautifying those schools. Of the hundreds of schools I visited, those with gardens were invariably more beautiful and inviting, and, dare I say it, alive. Too many of our schools are comprised of sad dreary structures with vast expanses of dirt and asphalt. Ah, but a garden is a beautiful change in surroundings.
I think my Ah-Ha! moment came in a garden behind Just Desserts in San Francisco. At that garden, Alice Waters and Sheriff Hennessy introduced me to incarcerated youth who were working in the garden. One young man who had been homeless, and was arrested for mugging an elderly woman, was fundamentally changed by working in the garden. He loved nurturing plants and had a new appreciation of fresh vegetables. He told me he had never liked salad because his mother often made it with "old lettuce that tasted like the refrigerator." Then leaning down and picking some fresh greens, he said, "But this arugula is great."
Up in Trinity County, I found students who loved their greenhouse because it allowed them to start growing vegetables when the ground stayed cold longer than in lower elevations.
Down in Santa Barbara County I met middle school children waxing philosophically about the wonders of fava beans.
In Yuba County, I met children growing food for the local restaurants.
In Del Norte County, I found children nurturing five acres of fresh vegetables.
In Oakland, Berkeley, Sacramento, Fresno, and Los Angeles, I met urban children who felt that gardens made their learning come alive.
I continue to advocate for gardens in schools and for cooking fresh vegetables because I believe it is imperative that all children understand the importance of fresh vegetables and fruits, as well as becoming advocates for fresh food and for California's rich agricultural heritage. While I am no longer Superintendent of Public Instruction, I work hard to promote an appreciation of agriculture and fresh food, of hands-on learning and good exercise. California needs Ag in the Classroom and I thank all who are involved in preserving this important aspect of education. You have my great respect and gratitude.
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