Graf is a fourth-grade teacher. As a class project, her students at Diamond Valley Elementary School near St. George decided to promote their school mascot, the diamondback rattlesnake, as the official state reptile. They lobbied their senator to carry a bill in the Legislature.

But their proposal has met with criticism from snake experts, who say the diamondback rattlesnake isn't native to Utah, and the resulting controversy has caused Graf to second-guess whether the project was a such a good idea.

On the contrary, it was a great idea. If the kids' bill had sailed through the Legislature without any fuss, it would not have been a realistic example of what happens when someone proposes a law. Because their bill stirred up an argument, as most bills do, the students are getting a realistic look at what happens in government, up close and personal.

True, that might be a bit too much realism for 9-year-olds. The legislative process and public debate can be cruel.

But in general, Graf has done a wonderful thing for her students. Their project shows them what happens when someone throws an idea into the public square and all comers get a crack at it. The lessons can be painful, but they are a lively opportunity for learning.

One of the first lessons is that there are all sorts of people with all sorts of ideas in society, and it is almost impossible to anticipate how some of them might react to an idea that the originator believes is a no-brainer. Put an idea out there and you learn quickly about the law of unintended consequences, just as these fourth-graders have.

But if they can get past the bruises to their egos that attacks on their idea have created, they will learn from their critics. For example, the students didn't know that the snake they nominated for the state reptile is a not a diamondback rattlesnake at all, but a Great Basin rattlesnake or, more properly to scientists, Crotalus viridis.

And they probably know a little about taxonomy and morphology now, how biologists name species, and what characteristics differentiate one species from another.

They stand to learn more about the political process if their bill is taken up by the Legislature.

So hang in there, Ms. Graf. You're doing a great thing for your students.