Is Soil Science a Vanishing Skill?
The article discusses teaching and learning of soil science in the U.S. Randy Miles, professor of soil science at the University of Missouri, Missouri, enjoys showing the distribution and properties of soils. He thinks that unless students don’t go to the field to understand the landscape, they cannot interpret land use. There are very few dedicated soil scientists with practical experience these days. Students opting for soil science has declined greatly. Daniel Fritton, soil scientist at Penn State University, Pennsylvania, says that it is a struggle to attract students to this field. High costs and student inconvenience are seen as the main reason for the declining number of students.
