I do hear from my colleagues, both in the Ministry of Education and 4-H, that the indigenization and decolonization of the curriculum are of vital importance for there to be acceptance of that teaching.
There are four or five other provinces where you can actually earn a high school credit by participating in 4-H. There is a valuing of experiential learning outside the classroom that I've seen develop over the last five years, from P.E.I. all the way to B.C. There is that opportunity. It does spark more of a.... You can see yourself doing it. As you know, in 4-H, our motto is “Learn To Do By Doing”. The way we engage young people is through the experiential learning model that many ministries of education have implemented as well.
In Ontario, we're very focused on the specialist high skills majors program, which does allow for elective credits to be earned by doing 4-H activities. Those can be applied to a specialist high skills major in agriculture. We've been working with the Ontario ministry on that for a little while now.
We see the value of the 4-H club experience around meeting management, networking and connecting youth with leaders, entrepreneurs and farmers in their community. It's also in the classroom, but there's something special that happens in a 4-H club when you have those mentors with you to encourage you, to push you outside your comfort zone, to recognize your gifts and tell you to use them. Those are all great mentorship things that happen in 4-H and in the education system. You have those teachers who encourage students to use their skills in different ways.
I do think there's a big role to play with that youth-adult partnership that happens in a club or in a classroom. However, there is also a lot to be said for what is in the handbook or in the curriculum. Is it going to be accepted by students, and is it going to be accepted by their parents?