Yesterday
was the annual introductory animal handling workshop for the brand new,
first-year, Captive Wildlife Care and Education class at
Womerlippi Farm.
We've a large entering class for this major this year and the workshop
sessions were a little shorter because of that, but the basic format was
the same as in previous years (examples
here and
here).
Students
entering this major as first years fresh out of high school (there were
some students present from other majors and some transfer students, but
not many) may require a good solid dose of what the military would call
"indoc." That would be the introductory briefings and attitude
adjustments that are, in that service context, delivered through the
first few days of "Basic" training.
What boot-camp briefings and attitude adjustments might be required for a brand new CWCE major?
We
have multiple goals with this workshop, we being the major professors,
Doctors Cheryl Frederick (AKA "Fred", and Sarah Cunningham) as well as
the Womerlippi farmers. And surprisingly, but not unusual for anyone
properly familiar with experiential education practice and theory, they
aren't very much to do with animal handling. Animal handling theory and
practice is probably only the fourth or fifth outcome on the priority
list.
The first outcome is that these students must
understand that they are now trainee scientists and engage with that
career identity and goal?
Why would someone show up to a
science major degree program and not identify with being a scientist?
Good question. I jokingly blame "Animal Planet" as kind of a catch-all
placeholder for the mentality that says that fuzzy animals are cute and
meant to be cuddled like teddy bears, but there are probably multiple
overlapping cultural factors at work, from the sheer raw power of
commercial teenage culture, to the delinquency of science in many high
schools, and the general collapse of civilization. Of course I'm being
hyperbolic here. But the fact remains that a number of students show up
to this particular degree program with a fairly unrealistic idea of what
the kind of work is that they'll be getting into, what kind of skills
and attitudes are required, and why. Science tops the list for
remediation.
Of course these majors are scientists,
when you think about it. Duh! The degree could be titled "Applied
Biology," subtitled "Animal Care Concentration" and that would perhaps
be more accurate.
Scientific practices are used to work
out animal care routines, nutrition, animal behavioral protocols, and
of course medical care. One reason zoos are in existence in the first
place is educational and scientific. These majors are first and foremost
applied scientists in the field of animal care, as well as science
educators, and research scientists, once they get out into the
workforce.
But. of course, science is considered "hard"
and scary, especially, surveys show, by teenage American girls. This is
truly tragic, and so we do our best to fix it. We do this by
straightforwardly demonstrating to the students that it is purely vital
to know your science in order to take proper care of an animal.
And there's nothing quite like being told to grab your sheep and check them for a parasite with a long scary Latin name,
Hemiconchus contortus, or being asked to give an injection of a strange substance you are told is a special kind of medicine called a
vaccine, to protect against another organism with a yet-more-difficult Latin name,
Clostridium tetani,
all the time hearing the instructor's words ringing in your ears,
telling you, not for the first time but perhaps the first time that you
actually
listened, that you already are a scientist, if only a trainee.
The real power of experiential education is that it
works better.
Even for what might seem like outcomes that could be delivered in the classroom.
The
sheer scariness of the experience, and the adreneline rush of catching
and holding your first "wild" animal (our sheep can be pretty wild),
will drive the lesson home forever. I think it entirely possible and
even likely that these young women and men will remember this into their
old age as the day they became scientists.
I still
remember some of the similar experiential educational experiences I had
at the hands of military and outdoor activity and yes, science teachers.
The
next outcome is that students identify with the proper level of
professionalism and learn to employ a gutsy, can-do attitude. We want
them to be "switched on," engaged, organized, thinking all the time,
willing to get "stuck in", and above all, not distracted.
A
new notion for this year's class was that they were told that anyone
answering their cell phone would have it dropped in the deep sticky hole
in the pig-pen. I doubt I would actually have dropped anyone's cell
phone in pig poo, but I did get their attention.
They
were given some quite strict warnings about paying attention, about
proper workplace safety, about why they needed to be one hundred percent
engaged, for their own, and for the animals' sakes.
And no-one dared to answer their cell phone or text another student.
Today
it was sheep and lambs. Tomorrow it will be lions and tigers and bears,
oh my, and safety must come first. Distraction is lethal.
One
of the unfortunate aspects of today's commercial teenage culture has
been the way that it has dis-empowered the high school teacher and
infantalized the teenager. In ancient and even in more recent American
societies, teenagers were trainee adults, and their culture was little
different from that of adults. Actually, there was simply no such thing
as a "teenager" as we know it today. There were just young adults. They
had adult responsibilities and adult work to do, and distractions like
cell phones, fashion, and video games simply didn't exist.
You'd
think that at Unity College we wouldn't have too much anxiety over
fashion and popularity and the hierarchy of teen society and that kind
of stuff, but we do, especially among the first years. By the time they
graduate, they've more or less discarded all that nonsense and are much
more professional. But the process has to start somewhere, and if we hit
it hard in the first few weeks, we can get them to begin to drop the
habits of distraction, and become focused instead on learning, which is
where we need them to be focused.
Again, there's
nothing like having this brought home to you because the very nice
outfit you assembled for your day out at the farm got spattered with
sheep blood or manure. Hopefully you'll never forget the lesson and
perhaps even develop the fortitude to pass it on to your own children.
Lets
talk about that, too: Fortitude. Guts. Gumption, whatever you want to
call it, today's is a competitive society and the CWCE field certainly
no less competitive than any other and perhaps more so. Students can't
be shrinking violets and expect to succeed. Animal care can also be a
dangerous profession, where adversity and difficulty rein, and where
it's entirely possible for you to go to work one day and do something
stupid or have a workmate do something stupid and get hurt or killed, or
have an animal get hurt or killed. Being switched on and engaged is
part of safety, but being simply
brave enough to actually grab your animal and get stuck in is also part of it.
And it can't be taught easily in the classroom, and certainly not by computer. You have to do it to learn it.
In particular, if you are half-hearted or shrink back, your animal will struggle and escape and likely hurt itself or you.
And
if you shrink back from grabbing a sheep, or wilt at the thought of a
dung tag, this might not be the career for you. Better to learn that
sooner rather than later. There are plenty of less physically
challenging careers.
It was a good day to be alive at
Unity College. My faith in human nature is undiminished, and my basic
and innate feeling that all young people
can be good and brave
and true, if they try, was of course proven once more, replenishing my
own faith in the world. The kids got stuck in and did the work, and
although many confessed to being scared of the sheep and particularly of
"not doing it right," most realized that, as we said, again and again,
"...it's time to get over all that, isn't it?"
Here are some of the best "action" shots. Aimee has many more on her Facebook album which you can access
here.
Here
(above) is one of the CWCE young men catching his first sheep. Note the
hesitant body language. This is where we say "...it's time to get over
it."
Here's
Bentley the Womerlippi ram, our most dangerous animal, demonstrating
the sheer effectiveness of the basic control position for sheep. Bentley
probably weighs 250 pounds, and can be violent, especially with his
head. Another good lesson. Animals are not your fuzzy friends.
This
is what we like to see. Total concentration, total engagement. Everyone
using the proper tools and procedure, everyone getting stuck in. Well
done.
One
aspect of professionalism is to listen whenever a briefing is being
given. You don't want to miss anything, especially the safety
instructions. We're all very seasoned teachers and so our built-in radar
can pick up a distracted student at fifty paces by body language alone.
Here students are being shown how to clip chicken wings to help keep
the birds safe. if their wings are clipped, they have a much harder time
getting out of their pen. Some, I'm sorry to say, are more focused on
the birds they're holding or watching than the briefing, and may have to
be told once more what to do.
Here's
a little more concentration on the part of one particularly switched-on
student, as well as a great photo of Aimee doing what she does best.
We
had a good day out with the students and were pleased to have them over
to the farm. We made sure, of course, to show them the other animals
and the garden operation, and to show them a selection of farm products.
There are lots of great lessons to be had at the farm. We touched on
some of the sustainability lessons, including the nutrient cycling as
well as the general human ecology of keeping several types of animals in
combination with a truck farm or market garden operation. We were a bit
rushed for this part because the vans of new students kept coming, but
everyone got a little of everything, and the Unity College curriculum
will drive home the goods later in their careers.