Some Thoughts on Weeds

By Ms. B

My friend has an elaborate garden. As we stroll among the vivacious penstemons and aromatic sages, I am transported to a place of serenity and beauty. Not so my friend,however. She relentlessly peruses the landscape for weeds. As I pause to absorb all the colors and watch the hummingbirds, she bends down repeatedly to pull out a wayward oxalis or dandelion.

Being a gardener myself, I understand that some weeds are quite pushy if left to their own devices. But I cannot imagine walking through such glory and always focusing on the weeds.

In the quest for perfection in ourselves (and others), are we not focusing on the weeds?

Weeds are in the eye of the beholder. I have a book called Weeds of the West, written by a group of "weed specialists" and used primarily by people who raise crops and cattle.

Ironically, this book includes a number of "native plants" prized by those whose objective is to restore or maintain lost habitats.

While one group considers the Western brackenfern, Miner's Lettuce, Prairie Onion, Rocky Mountain beeplant, Geyer larkspur, and various sagebrushes and lupines to be noxious pests, another group is out replanting them.

As teachers, we encounter students who just don't fit in with the rest of the class or with our planned strategy of instruction. Are we willing to change our perspective and really take the time to cultivate them? Are they bad, lazy, noxious little weeds? Or does that view just make it easier for us to pluck and discard them?

When I thought of plants such as dandelions and thistles, I used to think "useless weeds." But that was due to my own limited knowledge. Turns out that teas and coffees containing dandelion have been used since ancient times as everything from liver detoxifiers to cures for swollen ankles.

The dandelion found its place among cures of Native Americans, American folk medicine practitioners, and Chinese herbalists on the opposite side of the world. As for thistles, their seeds are coveted by American goldfinches. Hummingbirds use both dandelion and thistle "down" to soften their nests.

Sadly, some kids are viewed as "useless weeds" by educational systems that do not take the time to learn more about them. Too many kids are weeded out of the system because of unidentified learning disorders or an unmet need for counseling. How many school systems weed out kids because they are just too squirmy, too odd, or too much trouble? Einstein was a high school dropout. Edison was at the bottom of his class. Dali was expelled. Mozart barely went to school at all.

Good schools discover value in the "weeds" rather than destroying them.