Does Governor Brewer hate 4th graders?

For whatever reason, Governor Brewer is being very mean to Arizona’s 4^th grade students. She walked into the Arizona Mining and Mineral Museum and presented her until then secret plan to decimate the museum and essentially replace it with yet another history museum administered by the Arizona Historical Society.

School buses arrive daily, as they have for decades, bringing students participating in field trips specifically designed to support the state mandated earth science educational curriculum. The museum also provides teachers with earth science education materials and instruction.

Students are absolutely fascinated by the experience. After a structured classroom introduction, they experience hands on learning about the three basic types of rock in the earths crust. They learn how minerals are deposited in the earths crust, and a huge new interactive copper mine display show them how man extracts minerals from the earth and process them to make the raw materials for the non agricultural materials that support our modern economy. They also learn, from numerous educational displays, how hundreds of different minerals are used to make the many products their lives depend upon.

Educational displays also show them how volcanoes work, how crystals grow, how color is formed in minerals, and how minerals are related to the chemists periodic table of the elements. They also learn how their state is unique in its abundance of mineral wealth.

Other exhibits show them the beauty irreplaceable natural treasures taken from Arizona’s many historic mining districts and carefully preserved for over a century. They also see the unique beauty of lapidary arts.

The many historic mining artifacts are also a source of fascination for children. The old narrow gauge steam locomotive from the copper mines in Clifton-Morenci is a favorite.

While the museum and its collection have serious scientific and historic value and are of interest to adults as well as children, children in particular leave with an indelible impression in their minds. Ask any middle aged Arizonan if they went to school in metropolitan Phoenix. If they did, ask them if they remember a school field trip. They will fondly share their memory of their class field trip to the Arizona Mining and Mineral Museum.

For Governor Brewer to deprive future Arizona school children of this very enjoyable learning experience is shameful.

Note: Governor Brewer is not decimating this one of a kind earth science museum to cut cost. As explained in the first post on this blog, she is spending much more money to convert it into another history museum, of which Arizona already has many.