The multiple logics of school gardening: a ‘return to nature’ or ‘love of labour’?

Urban Farm DB summary

This article explores the history of school gardens in early twentieth-century US educational projects, finding that gardening activities were primarily for urban children lacking farming experience. It compares gardening's role in northern experimental schools with proposals for rural and segregated southern schools. The analysis identifies various logics, including arguments for promoting or dismissing school gardening and rationales for educating or retaining specific labor forces, highlighting a paradox between "return to nature" and "love of labor" in the discourse.