LIFE LESSONS

You ask about the benefits of gardening in schools. Well, gardening and horticultural skills should, in my opinion, be compulsory at all levels of education. Why? Because gardening teaches children how much we depend on nature for our quality of life, how nature and ecological systems are finite, and how humans are using the environment in an unsustainable manner.

In New Zealand in the 1920s, children gardened as part of their curriculum, vegetable growing was encouraged and agricultural clubs were a popular concept.

Enviroschools do a great job and they should receive better funding. Many schools do indeed have gardens or gardening clubs – but that is not enough. Gardening has to become part of the school curriculum. Ian Spellerberg, CHRISTCHURCH