Maybe it's simply a cultural difference, but I find them very appealing for a number of reasons. For one, just as it's the student's responsibility to clean the school each day before they leave (a simple way to develop responsibility and respect for the premises, a dire inadequacy in the public schools I attended in NY) the students are also required to maintain the garden…though I've never sensed there was any qualm about it. There seem to always be a number of students just dying to get their hands in the dirt and re-pot plants or grab a net and clean out the fish and turtle ponds