I worked on a farm every summer. Decided it was too hard for me and went to medical school instead. Still have good memories of working on the farm. I had to dump 2 tons of rotten onions on a field once, shovel manure into the spreader and many fun jobs like those. One thing you learn is when you hoe a long row it will be finished eventually. Just like going to med school.
Former Title I public HS teacher here. This piece reads like a self-congratulatory college application essay. "My Volunteer Experience Performing Unskilled Manual Labor." The author ignores the unfortunate reality that most U.S. high school students need to learn how to "work hard" academically, not physically. This means learning how to focus for sustained time periods on complex tasks, learning how to read and write with fluency and accuracy, etc. And if the author feels that it's important to "stand in solidarity" with workers who perform unskilled manual labor, one would assume that she also supports expanding wealth taxes and labor unions.
You can also go to other countries. Our son did a summer of WWOOFing on a farm in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica, harvesting ginger and pineapples. This was in a Maroon community (founded by enslaved Africans who escaped into the interior to form their own society). An elderly relative of the farm owner spent a lot of time with him and taught him to recognize many wild plant species and what their traditional medicinal uses are. It was such a unique opportunity; I'm so glad he was able to experience it.
Working on the farm should be included in school curriculum. The majority of kids do not know what is hard work and they will avoid it later in life. That is why oriental kids are so successful, because their families teach them study hard and work hard for want they want in life.
There's always summer. We have a bunch of opportunities around where we live, mainly in the summers, although not entirely. They range from community gardens to full farming operations. When I was a teen, my father (who had grown up on a farm and swore he'd never do it again) planted a very large garden in part of our backyard. From about age 11 to 17, I played amateur farmer, learning how to plant, hoe, and harvest; recognize and control pests and blights; and create and use compost as fertilizer.
I grew up very middle class, loved hanging out and gardening with the little old ladies and was able to ride at horse stables when my mother had the extra cash. I always wanted to farm and after a physically demanding career in the USN, we started a small sheep farm, me the farmer and my husband an occasional farm hand. I have always loved physically demanding work, but physical work is not the only hard work. If I had to do laptop work, it would be hard work, but I love digging in the dirt, adding to my naturalized areas, taking care of livestock and working on fencing. I'm at peace when immersed in the natural ecosystem. It's all about perspective, and I believe we've lost an appreciation for what others contribute whether that be a carpenter or reporter. I do like that your time at WWOOF gave you a greater appreciation for your food.
Well, this got ugly quick. Take it all out on the kid, why don't you all? Shouting at the lass who does the brews and go-fer-ing; the person on the lowest rung of the ladder . That's the way to set an example! NOT. I hope you are all pleased with yourselves; you might stop and think: Maybe you've gotten the America you deserve.
Thanks, Julia, I didn't know this outfit existed. If I had, it'd have been well worth a punt 15-20 years ago. Probably still worth a punt; if Jeremy Clarkson can make a fist of it.... Cheers!
I grew up in a poor, working-class family. I went to work picking strawberries in the summer when I was 10. At age 12, I had my first "job" working after school and on Saturdays in my family's gas station. My family was middle-class for about five minutes when the business did well in the '70s, but we lost it in 1981 after Reagan took office. From there I worked a string of service jobs--cooking, bartending, cleaning. I tried to go to college, but an undiagnosed learning disability precluded any success in academics. I lied my way into an entry-level job in a personnel office and then busted my ass to learn as much as I could. Turns out I was good at it, and I rose to the director level. (I retired early a few years ago.) Here's what I know: I learned to work hard, and it helped me in the world, but there's nothing romantic about hard work and there's nothing romantic about being poor. I worked just as hard in my white-collar jobs as I did in my service jobs, but I was paid better, and the work was more interesting. And I got to stay clean (a BIG plus). I only ever aspired to the middle class, but it took more than hard work to get there. It took a lot of luck, and I'm grateful for it.
Where do I begin? I am privileged, but not because I am white, as critical race theorists would lead you to believe. I am privileged because I grew up on a small family farm in rural South Carolina and I lived a life of hard work and also some leisure, thanks to my hardworking parents who took me to church every Sunday. Our days and weeks and years were tuned according to the cycles of sunrises, sunsets, plantings, harvests, preservation, and always, one day per week: worship-lunch-rest. Was it idyllic? For me it was, because I did not bear the full brunt of the work, as did my parents. I took to reading and was good as school. I went to college, law school, and lived in cities most of my adult life. But on that small farm, where we grew or raised most of our food, where my siblings and I learned what physical labor is all about, I had learned the best lessons of nature. From my parents, I learned the best lessons of faith in God and caring for others. Don't call be privileged because I have a certain pigmentation. Call me privileged because I am a farmer's daughter.
Yes, a man who had lived through that told me all about it over dinner in Beijing. His academic parents were sent to the country to farm, with predictable results. They ate bark, grass, rats, pigeons - anything to survive when their crops failed.
Plenty didn't make it. He did, and he became strong, starting a company in the US and then a venture firm back in China. But I doubt he would tell you that it was worth it.
Thank you, Julia! A summer of physically demanding farming to grow food for people must have been healing for your mind, body and soul. Now you spend long hours planting ideas and nourishing our truth-starved communities with high-quality, thought-provoking publications. You must be brilliant and very pleasant to be able work along side the amazing team at TFP under high pressure deadlines and insanely ambitious goals (Truth to everyone, a daily Front Page, 1 million subscribers, etc.)
Please disregard the ingrates in the Comments. They were probably as useless at twenty as they are at fifty. Your work is very much appreciated and needed by millions of people.
There’s no such thing as a progressive who could last 10 seconds working on a farm. It’s one of the reasons they hate Israel and its kibbutzim so much: the people work, grow their own food and do it themselves. Progressives—particularly the urban ones—are parasites who subsist on handouts and welfare.
I'm happy for you Julia that you did this and hope more young people would. As I look back on 80 years of living some of the most important lessons I've learned came from my summers spent on my aunt's farm as a child and teen. You did an excellent job of explaining the value of this experience.
What a great article, I’ve never heard of this organization.
On another, less idyllic note, when is the FP going to do some investigating on the Trump shooter?? What an absolutely bizarre scenario—he has basically no online presence and a month later no one is talking about who this is and why he did it? Like we’re all supposed to forget about it? When there’s a school shooting there are countless articles about the shooter and his life story, friends, family, etc, etc.
The story is done. FBI already looked at his online footprint (small), had no friends, cellphone didn’t provide any info either. Parents already investigated too. What exactly do you expect a journalist to find?
I think there’s more to the story. The lack of information on the shooter combined with the way the secret service ignored him until he actually fired a shot seems very fishy.
I worked on a farm every summer. Decided it was too hard for me and went to medical school instead. Still have good memories of working on the farm. I had to dump 2 tons of rotten onions on a field once, shovel manure into the spreader and many fun jobs like those. One thing you learn is when you hoe a long row it will be finished eventually. Just like going to med school.
Former Title I public HS teacher here. This piece reads like a self-congratulatory college application essay. "My Volunteer Experience Performing Unskilled Manual Labor." The author ignores the unfortunate reality that most U.S. high school students need to learn how to "work hard" academically, not physically. This means learning how to focus for sustained time periods on complex tasks, learning how to read and write with fluency and accuracy, etc. And if the author feels that it's important to "stand in solidarity" with workers who perform unskilled manual labor, one would assume that she also supports expanding wealth taxes and labor unions.
You can also go to other countries. Our son did a summer of WWOOFing on a farm in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica, harvesting ginger and pineapples. This was in a Maroon community (founded by enslaved Africans who escaped into the interior to form their own society). An elderly relative of the farm owner spent a lot of time with him and taught him to recognize many wild plant species and what their traditional medicinal uses are. It was such a unique opportunity; I'm so glad he was able to experience it.
How wonderful!
Working on the farm should be included in school curriculum. The majority of kids do not know what is hard work and they will avoid it later in life. That is why oriental kids are so successful, because their families teach them study hard and work hard for want they want in life.
There's always summer. We have a bunch of opportunities around where we live, mainly in the summers, although not entirely. They range from community gardens to full farming operations. When I was a teen, my father (who had grown up on a farm and swore he'd never do it again) planted a very large garden in part of our backyard. From about age 11 to 17, I played amateur farmer, learning how to plant, hoe, and harvest; recognize and control pests and blights; and create and use compost as fertilizer.
I grew up very middle class, loved hanging out and gardening with the little old ladies and was able to ride at horse stables when my mother had the extra cash. I always wanted to farm and after a physically demanding career in the USN, we started a small sheep farm, me the farmer and my husband an occasional farm hand. I have always loved physically demanding work, but physical work is not the only hard work. If I had to do laptop work, it would be hard work, but I love digging in the dirt, adding to my naturalized areas, taking care of livestock and working on fencing. I'm at peace when immersed in the natural ecosystem. It's all about perspective, and I believe we've lost an appreciation for what others contribute whether that be a carpenter or reporter. I do like that your time at WWOOF gave you a greater appreciation for your food.
Well, this got ugly quick. Take it all out on the kid, why don't you all? Shouting at the lass who does the brews and go-fer-ing; the person on the lowest rung of the ladder . That's the way to set an example! NOT. I hope you are all pleased with yourselves; you might stop and think: Maybe you've gotten the America you deserve.
Thanks, Julia, I didn't know this outfit existed. If I had, it'd have been well worth a punt 15-20 years ago. Probably still worth a punt; if Jeremy Clarkson can make a fist of it.... Cheers!
I grew up in a poor, working-class family. I went to work picking strawberries in the summer when I was 10. At age 12, I had my first "job" working after school and on Saturdays in my family's gas station. My family was middle-class for about five minutes when the business did well in the '70s, but we lost it in 1981 after Reagan took office. From there I worked a string of service jobs--cooking, bartending, cleaning. I tried to go to college, but an undiagnosed learning disability precluded any success in academics. I lied my way into an entry-level job in a personnel office and then busted my ass to learn as much as I could. Turns out I was good at it, and I rose to the director level. (I retired early a few years ago.) Here's what I know: I learned to work hard, and it helped me in the world, but there's nothing romantic about hard work and there's nothing romantic about being poor. I worked just as hard in my white-collar jobs as I did in my service jobs, but I was paid better, and the work was more interesting. And I got to stay clean (a BIG plus). I only ever aspired to the middle class, but it took more than hard work to get there. It took a lot of luck, and I'm grateful for it.
Where do I begin? I am privileged, but not because I am white, as critical race theorists would lead you to believe. I am privileged because I grew up on a small family farm in rural South Carolina and I lived a life of hard work and also some leisure, thanks to my hardworking parents who took me to church every Sunday. Our days and weeks and years were tuned according to the cycles of sunrises, sunsets, plantings, harvests, preservation, and always, one day per week: worship-lunch-rest. Was it idyllic? For me it was, because I did not bear the full brunt of the work, as did my parents. I took to reading and was good as school. I went to college, law school, and lived in cities most of my adult life. But on that small farm, where we grew or raised most of our food, where my siblings and I learned what physical labor is all about, I had learned the best lessons of nature. From my parents, I learned the best lessons of faith in God and caring for others. Don't call be privileged because I have a certain pigmentation. Call me privileged because I am a farmer's daughter.
THIS!!!! This is awesome!! I love it....truly!
Mao was on to something when he ordered students down to the countryside to learn from the peasants.
Yes, a man who had lived through that told me all about it over dinner in Beijing. His academic parents were sent to the country to farm, with predictable results. They ate bark, grass, rats, pigeons - anything to survive when their crops failed.
Plenty didn't make it. He did, and he became strong, starting a company in the US and then a venture firm back in China. But I doubt he would tell you that it was worth it.
Thank you, Julia! A summer of physically demanding farming to grow food for people must have been healing for your mind, body and soul. Now you spend long hours planting ideas and nourishing our truth-starved communities with high-quality, thought-provoking publications. You must be brilliant and very pleasant to be able work along side the amazing team at TFP under high pressure deadlines and insanely ambitious goals (Truth to everyone, a daily Front Page, 1 million subscribers, etc.)
Please disregard the ingrates in the Comments. They were probably as useless at twenty as they are at fifty. Your work is very much appreciated and needed by millions of people.
I think it used to be called "WOOF"'ing or "workers on organic farms"--seems they changed the branding a bit over time.
There’s no such thing as a progressive who could last 10 seconds working on a farm. It’s one of the reasons they hate Israel and its kibbutzim so much: the people work, grow their own food and do it themselves. Progressives—particularly the urban ones—are parasites who subsist on handouts and welfare.
Lots of tough progressives through history, but the armchair representatives of any ideology probably aren't good for much.
Bernie Sanders was kicked out of a kibbutz. He wanted to talk but not work
The anti-Israel mob has always been a magnet for society’s rejects. It’s how they get attention and give their sad little lives meaning
I'm happy for you Julia that you did this and hope more young people would. As I look back on 80 years of living some of the most important lessons I've learned came from my summers spent on my aunt's farm as a child and teen. You did an excellent job of explaining the value of this experience.
What a great article, I’ve never heard of this organization.
On another, less idyllic note, when is the FP going to do some investigating on the Trump shooter?? What an absolutely bizarre scenario—he has basically no online presence and a month later no one is talking about who this is and why he did it? Like we’re all supposed to forget about it? When there’s a school shooting there are countless articles about the shooter and his life story, friends, family, etc, etc.
It definitely feels like the assassination attempt is being memory-holed. At least FP acknowledges it, which is more than many other outlets.
The story is done. FBI already looked at his online footprint (small), had no friends, cellphone didn’t provide any info either. Parents already investigated too. What exactly do you expect a journalist to find?
I think there’s more to the story. The lack of information on the shooter combined with the way the secret service ignored him until he actually fired a shot seems very fishy.
By that logic, everybody making a comment is only doing so to get likes, which isn't true. So it still makes no sense.
Understand the sentiment about those commenters. My original point was simply stating that TFP would be fine if they all decided to unsubscribe.