At the end of the day, as rural and bucolic as you think farming is, it is a science and technology based industry

So yes, we need to fund science and scientists that live and work in rural communities, but we also need to fund science education.

A few years ago, the city of Napa eliminated science education before high school as a cost saving measure.

Think about that, children of farm workers are unable to learn, as children, how plants grow, the water cycle works, about photosynthesis and the carbon cycle. They are not longer taught about geology and soil minerals. These simple science lessons are easy to explain to children and are easily observable.

The majority of children in the Napa public schools have parents that work in agriculture, so these simple lessons directly impact the lives of the children and their parents lives. These children aren’t being taught how to use magnifying glasses to see insects and nor about why salt dissolves. So obviously, these boys and girls are not being taught how insects and salts relate to the fertilizers and pesticides.

Three generations ago, my relatives who were immigrants made their children tell them everyday what they learned in school, as a way to absorb information and the American culture.

I don’t live in Napa, nor do I have children … but even now, years after hearing the story, it still stays in my mind as an example of what’s wrong with America. It really bothers me that an agricultural community would eliminate science education.