"In an era of budgetary constraints, dwindling faculty positions, declining enrollment, and the ever-looming threat of extinction to soil science departments within the Land Grant University systems, soil science must be taught as a business."Business survival hangs on the ability to deliver value to a broad, diverse and dynamic community. Our client base is shaped by the interplay of social, environmental, and economic drivers. Soil science educators draw clients from the same end of the pool of societal needs that we do. This introduces a perceived conflict of self-interest that can impair an educator's capacity to serve the consulting sector. NSCSS considers itself a client of soil science education, but it is a relationship that works to the degree that soil science educators embrace it.
Rattan Lal, SSSA President, "Making Soil Science Education Relevant to Societal Needs" in the February 2007 issue of CSA News (pdf).
There are encouaging signs that soil science educators are successfully adopting new concepts as to who their clients are. Continuing soil science education efforts, such as by the University of New Hampshire, and North Carolina State University, are good examples.
Competency in the areas that NSCSS members consult in are very important to NSCSS. This requires stepping away from the agricultural paradigm. North Carolina State University's Land Application Training and Demonstration Center, and California Polytechnic State University's success at sustaining a broad undergraduate soils curricula are my personal favorite examples of success in this regard.
Before we move on to NSCSS' client role, let me share a consultant's moment I had. When I originally read the selected text my first thought was that it meant preparing students for the business of soil science consulting. Didn't you? The ambiguity of the statement is part of its charm. Later the article mentions using soil science as an "engine for economic development", so I sense we are closing on the same goals here. Certainly this is a striking choice of phrasing no matter the interpretation.
NSCSS' Role as a Client of Soil Science Education.
NSCSS' most visible role as a client of soil science education is helping our members expand soil science consulting. Demand for recent graduates to serve this business expansion is critical to sustaining soil science departments. We need to communicate our success in this area.
Soil science education needs NSCSS as a client as never before, and we should respond. NSCSS should evaluate individual soil science educators on their ability and commitment to preparing soil scientists for careers in business. NSCSS can then endorse and promote soil science departments to the degree that they can meet those needs. In support of that we can offer some guidance and encourage improvement in areas that meet our needs and the needs of our own clients. Crafting this into a coherent strategy and a set of tactics is the previously mentioned work in progress:
We at NSCSS seem always to have the topic of education and soil science curricula in front of us. In a nutshell, here is how we see curricula adapting to the business of soil science: To be an entry level consulting soil scientist in most of our businesses, you need the classic field pedology skills in your tool box. Because edaphic effects are what drives the business of soil science, one also need a solid grounding in edaphology (agricultural and environmental soil science). But that's not enough: the entry level consulting soil scientist needs the classic communication, writing, research and business skills required in any innovative collaborative competitive environment. NSCSS member businesses express a preference for candidates who have established these skills by the time they achieve their undergraduate degree.By the time you read this, the above information will probably have changed: it is a collaborative document, subject to continuous revision by NSCSS members.
Two other areas educational needs come up in NSCSS discussions: ethics and commercial value. Combining business and science creates interesting ethical situations that especially confound the ethical bearings of soil scientists making the transition into business from academic and institutional environments. A little awareness training in those settings would help the profession. Regarding the concept of commercial value for services, to excel in soil science consulting, one needs to embrace value from the point of view of the community served. Consulting scientists are relied upon to provide objective, practical science-base information on which to base critical decisions. Deviating from this or even understanding it poorly is damaging not only to the individuals involved but to the profession. Adhering to this has the added benefit of eliminating those ethical dilemmas involving a choice between advocacy and scientific objectivity.
"Making Soil Science Education Relevant to Societal Needs" has been added to the reading list for the NSCSS Education Project. Here are some excerpts:
Revisiting Soil Science Curriculaand the article concludes:
"Thus, there is a strong need for a paradigm shift in training young soil scientists to effectively address these societal needs. Soil science curricula, from high school through undergraduate and graduate education, needs to be revisited to address what students must know to be good world citizens. To gain a better understanding of soil science, students must also possess a strong background in physical, biological, and social sciences. The soil science curricula must train graduates to be prepared for life, responsive to societal needs, and useful to humanity, especially in the current era of a flattening earth and globalizing economy. They must focus on problem-solving skills, creativity and originality, synthesis and integration, and linking scientific advances to indigenous wisdom. While the computer is a good tool to master, it should not be allowed to master the human brain and hinder innovative thinking. To be innovative thinkers, students must depend more on their brains than their computers."
"In an era of budgetary constraints, dwindling faculty positions, declining enrollment, and the ever-looming threat of extinction to soil science departments within the Land Grant University systems, soil science must be taught as a business. The goal should be to attract the “best and the brightest” and provide more value for the taxpayer’s dollar without eroding the traditional values of the educational system. Therefore, responsibility of teaching soil science is more than just giving a set of lectures on soil taxonomy, water movement, or carbon sequestration. The real purpose is to train students to be innovative problem solvers rather than lab technicians, original thinkers rather than data massagers, and knowledge synthesizers rather than disciplinary hermits."
"Soil science has advanced more since the 1950s than in all prior history. This momentum must be kept up through modernizing the curricula and making soil science education relevant to societal needs. Soil scientists must be appropriately educated to address the emerging issues of increasing global temperatures, decreasing per-capita freshwater resources and arable land area, mounting industrial and urban wastes, ever-increasing energy demands, dwindling biodiversity, and degrading ecosystems, which threaten political stability and exacerbate terrorism. Making soil science education relevant to the needs of society is also the best strategy for increasing enrollment, creating new faculty positions, strengthening soil science programs, and reversing the downward spiral that is threatening the soil science profession. Now is the time to take appropriate action."A promising option to move this forward is to match NSCSS members with their individual alma maters. I look forward to discussing this with you all at the annual meeting. There is much to be gained by action.
Special thanks to Rattan Lal for permission to upload
"Making Soil Science Education Relevant to Societal Needs" to nscss.org.
