That’s right! It’s the duty of good citizens to treat them kindly. Especially worms and ants and spiders:
Good citizenship is not just a question of respect for one’s fellow humans, it seems. The government has decreed that children should be taught not to hurt a fly.
New curriculum guidance says citizenship classes should pay due regard to the wellbeing of what it calls “mini-beasts”, including bees, ants and worms.
The classes are part of the “animals and us” section of the primary school citizenship curriculum. It says children can become “active citizens” by learning that “other living things have needs and they have responsibilities to meet them”.
By the age of seven pupils should have learnt that “humans have a responsibility to ensure the wellbeing of animals, including mini-beasts” and will have been told rules for “behaviour in areas where animals live”: for example, “not stamping on insects”.
Hey, I’m all for looking after animals and refraining from hurting insects (I make exceptions for mosquitoes, black flies, and deer flies – these I have an absolute right to exterminate at will). I just wish they’d teach kids to respect smaller forms of human life as well, is all.
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Update: A thoughtful reader reminds me that this would be a splendid time for a t-shirt plug.
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Time for a PET-P plug?
I didn’t even have to look at the link to know this was in the UK. I don’t think any other government uses the term ‘mini-beasts’ – I remember that one from my own primary school days.
I don’t think this is going to change anything. At all. It’s impact on conservation is negligable – children squishing insects does not have any significent impact on their numbers. The social ‘all life is precious’ training will last a couple of years at most, or until they encounter their first pest species and the parents explain what ant poison is for. It’s just some politician’s pet project.
At most, you’ll end up with children who would be horrified at the thought of stepping on a bug, but completly guilt-free about living in a house built on top of what used to be an increasingly rare habitat.
There used to be herons where I live – you could see them occasionally, and they were fond of the koi in the pond next door. Then our local marshland was drained and concreted over to build a housing estate some years ago, and the herons disappeared. Even the fish remain uneaten.
I liked those herons.