City parks Quote by Barbara Kingsolver
““Many bright people are really in the dark about vegetable life. Biology teachers face kids in classrooms who may not even believe in the metamorphosis of bud to flower to fruit and seed, but rather, some continuum of pansies becoming petunias becoming chrysanthemums; that's the only reality they witness as landscapers come to campuses and city parks and surreptitiously yank out one flower before it fades from its prime, replacing it with another. The same disconnection from natural processes may be at the heart of our country's shift away from believing in evolution. In the past, principles of natural selection and change over time made sense to kids who'd watched it all unfold. Whether or not they knew the terms, farm families understood the processes well enough to imitate them: culling, selecting, and improving their herds and crops. For modern kids who intuitively believe in the spontaneous generation of fruits and vegetables in the produce section, trying to get their minds around the slow speciation of the plant kingdom may be a stretch.””
About This Quote
Source Essay: The Wild Life of Plants, Barbara Kingsolver, 2018
Kids lack understanding of plant evolution, mirroring broader denial of scientific change.
In simple terms: Youth misunderstand plant growth.
Teach evolutionary concepts through lived experience.
Themes
Mood
Type
When to use this quote
- classroom lessons
- garden projects
- media curricula
- family discussions
Key Concepts
Questions to Reflect On
- How can schools make evolution tangible?
- What role do families play in science education?
Complex ideas need relatable examples.