Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/11/29/girl-scouts-in-indiana-learn-a.html
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Makes sense. If nothing else it should cut down on the costs to the families of the next school shooting victims.
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But there’s no embalming merit badge… 
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This reminds me of Brainscoop and how that started with animal dissections 
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Do they teach shrinking heads too?
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"In the past, you think of funeral directors being dour old men, and it’s not," she said. "We’re young women. We’re grandmothers. We’re mothers."
Very cool!
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Yes… because no one buries the dead anymore… we all just let our deceased loved ones pile up by the side of the highway. There is literally no reason at all for anyone to learn about mortuary science… it’s just as outdated as shrinking heads…
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Wait… what? I mean, I guess I can see that, but isn’t it more than just the science of interring bodies? It’s also a social relationship and a economic one, right? It’s more than just dealing with the bodies, it’s a whole host of activities that fall outside of the STEM category, yeah?
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Yes, but generating interest in the human body, including death, and getting kids comfortable with the kind of sciences that involve the human body could lead to all kinds of diverse pursuits.
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I guess that’s kind of my point? While there is certainly science involved in dealing with dead bodies, there are other important components to working in the funeral industry as well, that isn’t really STEM? But I also suppose that someone who is doing a mortuary science degree might not become a funeral director that deals directly with public.
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“Oh my, and what did you do to earn this patch?”
“Uh, I’ll tell you more after your operation, Grandma.”
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I think this is great! It gives the scouts a chance to learn about death and what happens after. A fine idea.
I’d hazard a guess that it will depend on what precisely the focus is. If it touches on biology, anatomy and possibly chemistry then it would be related to STEM, but personally think that there’s a fair amount of art and social abilities/sensibilities that come along with deceased human beings.
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Kind of off-topic, but: if ghosts or haunted houses or John Edward-type spirit channeling actual existed, you’d think that mortuaries and morgues would be the places most inundated by all the spirit traffic.
But you never do hear of the Haunted Mortuary (they handled a dead body), only the Haunted House (someone died there). Similarly, the decomposition cleanup crews that deal with death on a daily basis yet to report a single “haunt.”
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well, but isn’t the legend that most houses (or whatever) are haunted by people who die there, not just because of the existence of a dead body there? I’d guess that most people don’t die in a mortuaries.
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An argument could be made that spirits would follow their remains vs the place they died. If one were to believe such things.
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I mean, they could, but is that part of the mythology surrounding modern hauntings? Not really an aspect I hear about too much… not that it’s not there, but it’s not one I’m familiar with.
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Which is why the STEAM approach is better. Especially in this field. Knowing the science of decomposition and preservation is necessary, but making the body presentable for viewing is an art. So even if you never have to directly deal with the bereaved, you need that background.
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I used to work as a body mover for the Coroner, picking up and moving the dead to and from funeral homes. It seemed to be about a 50/50 split between men and women working at funeral homes here.
