I just had a thought. When I was in 4th grade, we did a bug project. We had to catch and freeze like 20 different bugs. We then had to pin them out, research their scientific and general names as well as habitats and life cycles.

In the 7th grade we had a leaf project. We had to collect several different leaves and pin them out, displaying them with some information containing scientific and general names, locales, different things the trees were used for.

2 of my children are in high school at the same rural, Bible Belt school system. They didn’t have to do these projects. Their teachers do not give them projects where they interact with nature anymore.

What happened to our education system? Why did we allow such mediocrity to exist in our teachers? I am very thankful for the teachers I had and the education system that I grew up in! They allowed and even encouraged curiosity, reading, studying and learning.