Multiple Intelligences (MI) In Education And Multiple Intelligences In Agriculture (MiA) – The Bests Are Yet To Be!

The idea of “multiple choices” is prevalent neither in E­ducation nor in Agriculture neither in the Philippines nor elsewhere – as a Teacher and Agriculturist, I have always wondered why. I came to know about Multiple Intelligences (MI) in 2011(?) when I learned about Cahbriba Alternative School (CAS) and sent my children there  - Neenah, Edwin and Ela – to study via the new educational paradigm called “Multiple Intelligences” (MI) that was brainchilded by Harvard psychology professor Howard Gardner. Here is my list of MI:

1. Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence (“Body Smart”),
2. Creative Intelligence (“Thinking Smart”), added by FAH,
3. Existential Intelligence (“Life Smart”),
4. Interpersonal Intelligence (“People Smart”),
 5. Intrapersonal Intelligence (“Self Smart”),
6. Mathematical-Logical Intelligence (“Number/Reasoning Smart”),
7. Musical Intelligence (“Music Smart”),
8. Naturalist Intelligence (“Nature Smart”),
9. Spatial Intelligence (“Image Smart”), and
10. Verbal-Linguistic Intelligence (“Word Smart”).

I sent my children to Cahbriba, and Neenah cultivated her Body Smarts; she is now into Dance – while Graciela cultivated her People Smarts; she is now a high school teacher at the Potter’s School in El Nido, Palawan.

Today, I think of “Multiple Intelligences” when I scan my personal list of the world’s Regenerative Agriculture (RA) practices totaling 13:

(1) Cover Cropping,
(2) Crop Rotation,
(3) Farm Crops + Tree Crops (Agroforestry),
(4) Green Manuring,
(5) Intercropping,
(6) Multiple Cropping,
(7) No-Till Farming,
(8) Organic Fertilization,
(9) Ratooning,
(10) Rotational Grazing,
(11) “Three Sisters” Planting,
(12) Trap Cropping, and
(13) Trash Mulching.
(bottom image from natural.com)

Now then: I call my RA list Multiple Intelligences Agriculture (MiA) to parallel Harvard psychology professor Gardner’s list of Multiple Intelligences shown above.

With MI, individual students’ learning becomes a pleasure;
with MiA, individual farmers’ earning becomes a treasure!

I don’t know but: Equally, both RA and MI are being brushed aside, bypassed, ignored, neglected, overlooked, or shrugged off! By our agriculture columnists, educators, universities, department heads, and legislators.

That science has long been neglected and declining in England, is not an opinion originating with me, but is shared by many, and has been expressed by higher authority than mine. – Charles Babbage

There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about. – Oscar Wilde

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. – Edmund Burke

Ignore the noise of the world, and you will find the symphony within. – Kiat

When you ignore the negativity around you, you give power to the positivity within you. – Jay Shetty

Each of the 13 MiA practices guarantee Very Low Costs=Very High Returns (VLC=VHR)! The Philippine Department of Agriculture (DA) is neglecting Filipino farmers by not declaring an MiA-based PH Agriculture and providing all sorts of assistances – technical and financial – to the farmers. Chemical agriculture is very high costs-very low returns (VHC=VLR). MiA: No expensive chemicals, neither fertilizers nor pesticides. We must choose VLC=VHR over VHC=VLR!

Our DA leaders should connect MiA with the fact that the Philippines remains the #1 rice importer in the world!@517

Is My Alma Mater UP Los Baños Waking Up To The Urgent Need For Regenerative Agriculture? UPLB – “Sustainable Agriculture Is Regenerative Of The Poverty Of Farmers!”

Reading Ana Vera G Oleta’s article, “UPLB Establishes Two National Consortia For Academic And Research Initiatives (28 Oct 2024, University of the Philippines Los Baños, uplb.edu.ph), I am heartened with the news of UPLB’s new initiatives for national academe and research programs:

“UPLB spearheaded the establishment of two national consortia aimed at enhancing education, research, and sustainable development in the country through the promotion of academic collaboration among higher education institutions (HEIs).

“The two new national consortia are the Philippine Consortium for Cooperative Education and Research (PCCER) and the Philippine Human Ecology Consortium (PHEC).”

As an Agriculturist who never stopped learning – a UPLB alumnus (BSA major in Ag Edu, 1965) and teacher (Civil Service Professional, 1964) – I remain interested in these subject areas: Education, Research and Ecology. And so I note that:

“Through these consortia, member institutions are poised to make substantial contributions to national development by promoting innovation, inclusivity, and sustainability in their respective fields.”

I note particularly sustainability, which is in sharp contrast with regeneratability. Since its founding in 1908, UP Los Baños has been espousing sustainable agriculture via chemical fertilizers and chemical pesticides – you can only sustain your agriculture if you keep using such chemicals!

Unfortunately, such sustainable agriculture has sustained the poverty of millions of Filipino farmers!

Why? Sustainable Agriculture is very high cost while yielding very low returns (VHC=VLR). The reason millions of farmers keep borrowing from usurers (the notorious “5/6 Scheme” – borrow 5 and pay back 6 within 2 months. Note: Urea P1,581, Complete P1,603, and Ammonia P823 (PhilRice, philrice.gov.ph).

Now, when can those poor Filipino farmers rise from Poverty to Prosperity?

Not by Chemical Agriculture (CA) but surely via Regenerative Agriculture (RA)!

Here is my  personal list of RA practices:

(1) Cover Cropping, (2) Crop Rotation, (3) Farm Crops + Tree Crops (Agroforestry), (4) Green Manuring, (5) Intercropping, (6) Multiple Cropping, (7) No-Till Farming, (8) Organic Fertilization, (9) Ratooning, (10) Rotational Grazing, (11) “Three Sisters” Planting, (12) Trap Cropping, (13) Trash Mulching.

None of those practices require chemical fertilizers and chemical pesticides. They are all low-costs. Very low cost=very high returns (VLC=VHR): 

(1) RA practices are not scientist-dependent on knowledge of how to practice them.

(2) RA does not destroy the fertility of the soil; on the contrary, it adds to it!

(3) RA practices are easy to master, nothing complicated.

(4) RA practices do not attract insects – crops are not palatable to them. So, no infestation, no need to apply any kind of pesticide.

(5) RA practices grow healthy crops – the health-conscious consumers would gladly pay for them!

No, PCCER people – you do not have to believe me; I urge you go and conduct so many researches on Regenerative Agriculture yourselves. You can be sure knowledge will set you free!
(image from sg.images.search.yahoo.com)

“Know that you don’t know. That is superior.” – Lao Tzu.

“The beginning of knowledge is the discovery of something we do not understand” – Frank Herbert

HEis, DO YOU UNDERSTAND?@517

For Ricky Lee, To Write Is To Be Free. For Frank A Hilario, To Write Is For Farmers To Be Free From Poverty!

Pauline Miranda says, “For Ricky Lee, To Write Is To Be Free” (30 Oct 2024, Lifestyle.Inq, lifestyle.inquirer.net). In my case, to write is for the Filipino farmers to be free from poverty. When you are a writer, you are free to choose why you write after all.

Ms Pauline says, “What truly makes (Lee’s) career as a writer fulfilling is in how it frees him:

“Every act of writing ay isang act ng pagpapalaya ko sa sarili,” he says. “Mahiyain akong tao, since childhood. May feeling ako na nakakulong ako sa… being unworthy, feeling inferior, or kung ano man ’yong mga problema ko at depekto. May feeling akong ganon. … Pero every time na nagsusulat ako … nagiging ako ’yong ibang tao na hindi ako. So nakakalaya. … nakakalaya ako in so many ways when I write.

We write for our respective kinds of readers, of course. Differently, Ricky Lee writes to open the hearts – I write to open the minds. Writing frees Ricky Lee’s opinion of himself as a limited human being. Writing, I hope to free the Filipino farmers’ opinion of themselves as limited human beings!
“Creativity is a wild mind with a disciplined eye” (image from sg.images.search.yahoo.com)

For whatever reason you write, you should learn to be creative. Ricky Lee’s creativity comes from his desire to free himself from feeling unworthy – into feeling socially worthy. My creativity comes from my desire to free others from their unfree thinking! And to look for leaders with the Vision to steer the people from Poverty to Prosperity with intelligence and without bloodletting.

Ricky Lee is into fiction. Frank A Hilario is into nonfiction – the science of agriculture.

Ricky Lee wants his name known and admired throughout the educated world of the Philippines and even abroad; I want not my name known but the social ideas I espouse: Communication For Development Of Vibrant Villages (ComDev2), which is the title of the blog where this appears). For Ricky Lee, let me say he is after communication for development of vibrant readers.

As a creative writer myself – having authored and blogged at least 40,000 essays in the last 24 years – google for “Frank A Hilario” if you wish. Going digital, I don’t need publishers for my works.

I repeat: I write to help free the millions of Filipino farmers from their poverty, which even my alma mater, UP Los Baños (UPLB) has neglected in all of her 116 years (1908-2024)!

“Pag nagsusulat ako, at marami akong characters nasulat, and feeling ko nag-succeed ako, nabasa ng iba at nagustuhan nila sa book fair, nagpapa-autograph sila, I feel that I’m seen. I feel that I’m validated as Ricky. I feel that nabuo ako. That’s why I write.”

I Frank A Hilario write not to validate myself, not to validate those farmers themselves, but to validate their poverty and, for the poor farmers to appreciate their poverty and appreciate the fact that they can free themselves – without resorting to violence!@517