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| Today's Date |
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| To the Editor, |
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I am writing on behalf of our local
school children. They are being done an injustice, and the
entire public should become involved in correcting it. A major
goal of their education should be to prepare them to become active
participants in our community, the area's leaders and future policy
makers.
One area of education that does an
excellent job at promoting the types of attributes we need in our
community is environmental education. It has been shown to
develop strong leaders, active community members, and the feeling of
empowerment. It teaches our kids to feel like they can make a
difference.
Knowing what we do about these
benefits, why isn't there more environmental education (EE) in our
schools? That is a question I can not answer. Our local
school district has an EE curriculum plan, but hardly any teachers
seem to be using it. One of my child's teachers is using the
EE curriculum, and says that it has not been evaluated or improved
for nearly a decade. She also says that she knows of only
three other teachers in our district who are trying to use the
district's EE curriculum in their classroom. (*See note
below!)
Many teachers do not have the tools
they need to effectively teach environmental education in their
classroom. Our school administration should take steps to
ensure that the environmental education curriculum is current and
encourage more of our teachers to start using it by providing the
training, materials, and time necessary to do so.
As a community member and a parent, I
want the best possible education for our children.
Incorporating environmental education into our school can help us
achieve this.
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**Note: The statements in this
paragraph are specific to one school and may not apply to the
situation in your school district. To determine the status of
your district's EE curriculum plan, talk to your curriculum
coordinator, school principle, and teachers.
