So, besides going to the primary school and teaching the children, this was probably my favorite day of the trip. On Monday, not everything went as planned with the school due to the virus (they just needed to sign some new paperwork) but we made the best of it and visited a castle and we were able to go to an agricultural college there in Scotland. We were able to speak with the professors and they showed us the campus, dairy barn, and sheep pins. While touring the barn, I was able to talk to one of the professors and I asked him if they had an equivalent to FFA and how they taught agriculture in their secondary schools. I explained to him what FFA was and how our school systems taught agriculture classes. He told me that they didn’t really have one big organization like FFA, but they did have a few smaller clubs and such that are normally started by agricultural companies trying to increase involvement. I was especially shocked when he told me that they do not teach agriculture in their schools and, later, I found out that is more uncommon to teach it. He said the college will go to the primary and secondary schools and have days where they will teach to the students but it is becoming harder to get the schools to approve the visits. When they are able to go, it is even harder to get the students to be engaged in the secondary levels. I guess always growing up in ag, having “barn days” in elementary school, and LOVING ag classes in middle and high school, it’s hard to believe it’s not utilized and engagement isn’t high among students.
To top the day off, while at the barns, we were able to go see some VERY cute dairy calves that loved all the attention and then we moved to the sheep where we met the sweetest orphan lamb that I would have loved t0 bring back to the US.
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