However, without bridges linking such programming to objects closer to home, children become stranded without mechanisms for firsthand experience. Seldom are such bridges built, as the system of higher education which produces our elementary and secondary school teachers is woefully inadequate at arming these vitally important professionals with the information to inspire wonder and to dispel the myths which ultimately conspire to drive children indoors and away from their world. By the time many children reach college age, most have been indoctrinated into a lifestyle of seclusion from nature, a lifestyle through which urban and suburban dwellers come to view cattlefields and cornfields as the great outdoors, and one in which we constantly devise new ways to vicariously experience the natural world. It is amazing, therefore, that by college age some students are still interested in learning about nature, and overall this is powerful testimony of the allure of plants and animals. Unfortunately, most university life science curricula require so much minutia to be crammed into students heads that personal exigencies linked to a genuine curiosity about nature and the need to participate in the excitement of scientific discovery are soon betrayed.
Many students become disillusioned.
Sometimes they feel they can salvage their creativity and curiosity by transferring into other disciplines. Without mechanisms for interested students to experience firsthand the thrill of science, it is no wonder that science continues to loose some of its brightest young minds. The loss of bright, young, energetic science students has direct bearing on our ability to correct and avoid environmental problems such as the imperilment of native plants and animals. Most obviously, science helps to level the playing field regarding the management of natural resources. Just as an accountant and a financial forecaster can be vitally important in predicting the potential ramifications of a corporation s financial actions, scientists can do likewise regarding manipulations of natural resources.