Another Voice / Environment
Laura E. Huggins: Schools' eco-propaganda doesn't teach kids to think
It’s back to school—the time of year when the cool autumn air rolls in, crisp apples fall from the trees and my 5-year-old daughter comes home from school asking, “Mommy, what corporation started the sun on fire and made global warming?”
Turns out there are all sorts of scary green monsters, from cow eaters to forest destroyers to villainous corporations discussed in schools and children’s books. When asked what global warming means, many kids have absolutely no idea, but they know it’s caused by humans and they can quickly recite the mantra “stop global warming.”
Green mantras are seeping into children’s books. Even classroom textbooks are influenced “by an ideological view that presents human beings as evil,” according to Dr. Michael Sanera, director of the Center for Environmental Education Research. Sanera compared science textbooks used in sixth through 10th grades in Wisconsin. Though he felt the textbooks all did a good job explaining the carbon cycle and greenhouse effect, nearly all focused only on the human causes of climate change and all predicted catastrophic impact.
Top off the eco-propaganda with the fact that many schools have moved away from hands-on nature-study and field trips, and that parents are no longer sending their kids to camps or even outside to play, it is no wonder kids are increasingly disconnected and uninterested in the outdoors. Richard Louve coined this phenomena “nature deficit disorder” in his book, “Last Child in the Woods.” Louve’s research led him to the conclusion that the baby boomer generation is probably the last to have built tree houses, explored creek bottoms and run loose in the woods.
Indeed, visits to national parks have been trending down since 1987; in 2008, fewer people entered national parks than they did 20 years ago. While researchers debate the root cause of people spending less time outside and its associated impacts on mental and physical health, there is little debate that this trend spells trouble for our commitment to conservation.
Rather than scaring susceptible young people about the environment, why not teach them the truth and get them outdoors? To really “teach the truth,” Holly Fretwell, author of “The Sky’s Not Falling,” says, “We must teach students of all ages to become critical thinkers and to gain knowledge, not just information, from science.” Demonstrating the complexities of science and providing them with tools to find and evaluate evidence creates self-reliance, critical thinking and hopefully enough curiosity to go outside.
What can we do to get our kids out of the virtual world and into the woods? First, say no to the eco-propaganda that dribbles down on them all day. Second, teach them to think about environmental issues. And third, say yes next time your child asks to “go play outside.”
Laura E. Huggins is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and is co-author of “Greener Than Thou: Are You Really an Environmentalist?”
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