Yes, animals are in vogue in all kinds of human sectors in the 21C. We see animals helping heal traumatised people, working with those with a disability, animals helping with depression and mental illness, and, now, in education. Educating kids via pet-focused activities is the new cool in 2020. One can almost bottle the exuberance that kids emit during fun activities involving animals. Personally, I think that it is the honesty and faithfulness exhibited by animals, which makes them so good for kids and vulnerable human beings. Animals don’t dissemble the truth and you know where you stand with them, unlike the all too clever Homo sapiens.

Animals as Teachers of Our Children

Contrast quality time with animals vs strategies for digital education. On one hand you have real tactile contact with a beautiful and noble beast and on the other, more faceless screens with pixels and bytes. Human beings are animals, we are mammals, and not machines, but many of us seem to have forgotten that. Too many are too enamoured of their iPhones and the like. We are in danger of disappearing up our very own waste tube, all too soon. Returning to the animals, the only ones that I remember back in my day were dead. Cutting up chilled frogs and rats in biology classes.

Animals in Education

There are positive stories involving animals in education in schools and private classes. This is despite the ethical abuse of animals by human beings over millennia. Educators are bringing dogs and other animals into the classrooms and schools to foster things like respect, consideration and listening skills. Love, warmth and supportive behaviour are fast becoming all too rare human characteristics, perhaps, animals can help us rediscover them. A teacher at my kids’ school used to bring her dog in every day and it would lie at her feet under her desk. The kids loved this relationship and the animal’s presence at their school.

Some schools and teachers are investing in a classroom pet, whether it be dog, cat, rabbit, bird or reptile. Animals have a universal appeal and can become a central focal point for the feelings and thoughts of the entire class. Loving a living creature, who is not interested in the latest phone or being on social media, can be a liberating and healing force within young lives. A pet lends itself to classroom projects and ideas for all sorts of stuff. Go on and embrace animals in education. Bow wow wow!