I am passing along a link to my latest article because I was SO impressed with the educational model of this unique private university in Costa Rica dedicated to sustainable agriculture and that has a whole culture of sustainability (including being a carbon-neutral university that also certifies local businesses, and builds biodigesters for others and conulsts on all these things). But what really impressed me is their "upside down" education model. We need more of this! They recruit students from third world nations (mostly Latin America but also Africa) and more than have have 100% scholarship and the rest get more than 50% of their tuition covered. It's funded through a USAID endowment, and was started during the Contra-Sandinista war, and the US wanted to send military $$ and Costa Rica refused it but said they would take $ for education, as they are inclined to do
The upside down part means they stick students in the field right away. They go to the banana plantation, or the peri-urban garden, or in the rainforest, or the dairy or pig farm, or work with the biodigesters. They also get $5000 to run a sustainable-ag related company for 2 years By the last 2 years they are in the classroom more. Why don't we have more education like this in the US? Oh, here's the article http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/121-a212/ (PDF mag-layout here http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/wp-content/uploads/121/7/ehp.121-a212.pdf) What do you think of their ecological education model? Wendee Wendee Nicole, M.S. Wildlife Ecology ~ Freelance Writer * Photographer * Bohemian Web: [ http://www.wendeenicole.com ] Blog: [ http://bohemianadventures.blogspot.com ] Twitter: twitter.com/bohemianone Email: wendeenic...@nasw.org Online Magazine Writing Class starts July 20, 2013 - Ask me!
