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If they won't listen, yell

09 Sep 2020 | OP ED Watch

The New York Times’ “Climate Fwd.” breaks a vital climate story. “Whether children are studying at home or in person… they might not be learning much about the climate.” In light of our previous item we actually count this discovery as a good thing, since there are far too many ill-informed alarmists out there whose idea of climate education ends up with anxiety-ridden children needing psychological help. Likewise the Times’ concern is that they’re not getting enough propaganda. This American-centered item complains that “Only 36 states and the District of Columbia include the reality of human-caused climate change in their regulations that outline what students should learn. The rest reference the human role as a possibility or a matter of scientific debate, or omit it entirely.” Wait a minute? Isn’t education meant to open minds and encourage debate? Your complaint is that only two-thirds of American states mandate indoctrination? Wow. Glad we got that straightened out.

Actually the complaint goes beyond that point, in the same direction, to complain that some teachers insist on teaching other subjects as well, like math, biology, history, English, Spanish and who knows what all. Climate Fwd. laments that, “According to a 2016 study from the National Center for Science Education, 71 percent of middle- and high-school science teachers spent one or more classes on climate change. Of those teachers, the median amount of time they devoted was just 1.5 class hours per school year. The topic is covered most frequently in earth science, which only 7 percent of high schoolers take. Among teachers of all subjects, fewer than half say they’ve ever addressed the issue.” Which means that close to half of all teachers have slid climate change into their classes even when it’s not related to the topic.

It’s also rather strange to think that if their teachers don’t drone on about it endlessly, students will never hear of climate change. It’s in the newspapers and on the television. And while the youth of today are more likely to be online you can certainly find it there too; for instance this Greta Thunberg person who’s apparently still at it. And their parents are in such a lather about it that climate anxiety is so widespread among the young as to constitute something approaching a genuine crisis.

Still, it’s never enough. So go ahead. They’re stuck in their desks. Yell it at them over and over.

One comment on “If they won't listen, yell”

  1. I believe that this is a significant issue for many young people, who lack the judgement and balance that being older brings; when Scoldilocks tells them they are all going to burn to death, many children take her literally (she herself has fallen victim to this literal interpretation of things), while an adult knows that something might happen in many hundreds of years, but then again, the exact opposite could happen. Children need reassurance that they are safe, and it doesn't help when their XR brainwashed grandma goes out to get arrested after gluing herself to an underground train.

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