Cows and sheeps and pigs, oh my!

I ran across this blog entry today about schoolkids from Harlem being taken to a farm to get an exposure to rural life, including looking at sheep, cows, and other farm animals. What's interesting is that the New York Times reporter spins it as an attempt to raise test scores. Here's a quote:

New York State’s English and math exams include several questions each year about livestock, crops and the other staples of the rural experience that some educators say flummox city children, whose knowledge of nature might begin and end at Central Park. On the state English test this year, for instance, third graders were asked questions relating to chickens and eggs. In math, they had to count sheep and horses.

As the blog points out, this is all well and good if it's part of a commitment to broadening students' horizons, but as a one-day gimmick, it's probably fairly pointless.

To go slightly off-track, this reminds me of something I ran across many years ago that I just didn't understand. The nickname other cyclists had given to Bernard Hinault was "the badger" because of his exceeding competitiveness. I didn't really get it. Couldn't they have nicknamed him after a more suitable animal? I only learned later that badgers are pretty vicious little animals that you wouldn't want to get in a fight with. My lack of cultural education was getting in my way.