{"id":262338,"date":"2023-06-16T12:21:33","date_gmt":"2023-06-16T10:21:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=262338"},"modified":"2023-06-16T12:21:36","modified_gmt":"2023-06-16T10:21:36","slug":"climate-ideology-in-americas-classrooms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=262338","title":{"rendered":"Climate ideology in America\u2019s classrooms"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – SEPTEMBER 20: Thousands of school students and protesters gather in The Domain ahead of a climate strike rally on September 20, 2019 in Sydney, Australia. Rallies held across Australia are part of a global mass day of action demanding action on the climate crisis. (Photo by Jenny Evans\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From\u00a0CFACT<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By\u00a0Peter Murphy<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

America\u2019s K-12 classrooms are increasingly becoming indoctrination centers for a one-sided view of climate change, aka, global warming and the supposed existential threat to humankind. The Biden administration, universities, left-of-center think tanks and state governments are developing and spreading climate change curriculum that also contains an explicit activist bent to turn the nation\u2019s children into climate crusaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While climate and weather issues are not a recent curriculum topic in America\u2019s elementary and secondary school classrooms, the teaching and content has accelerated in recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By 2013 the Next Generation Science Standards<\/em> were developed by the National Research Council and other non-profit groups, along with two dozen states. These standards recommended that \u201cman-made climate change\u201d be taught beginning in the fifth grade and incorporated into all science classes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The degree to which states comply with these or other climate standards remains voluntary. In 2020, the National Center for Science Education and the Texas Freedom Network Education Fund\u2014organizations that fanatically embrace global warming\u2014assigned<\/a> \u201cgrades\u201d on the extent states adopted climate change curriculum and indoctrination. Twenty-seven states received a grade of \u201cB+\u201d or higher on their respective climate curriculum, while 20 states got a \u201cC+\u201d or lower, among which ten received \u201cD\u201d and six states received an \u201cF\u201d grade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As with two sides of the same ideological coin, the embrace of human causation as the \u201cpredominant\u201d factor in a changing climate coincides with activism in climate curriculum, including assignments and projects for students to undertake to save the planet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Radhika Iyengar, director of education at the Columbia University Climate School, which promotes one-sided climate education, the teaching of climate change should include \u201ccaring for each other and caring for the planet,\u201d he said<\/a>. \u201cIf you\u2019re not emotionally connect with your environment, it\u2019s very difficult to save it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Climate writer Renee Cho further described<\/a> climate education this way: \u201cWhat helps students deal with their feelings are solutions, so teachers need to offer opportunities for collective action and problem solving\u2026promoting understanding of environmental justice issues \u2026also introducing a spiritual connection with nature.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Man-made climate indoctrination is what is sought for children, and it is spreading in America\u2019s K-12 public schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2020, New Jersey became the first state to mandate climate curriculum across all subjects beginning in kindergarten, including science, social studies, physical education, computer science, and the arts \u2014 both visual and performing arts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, Connecticut followed suit by adopting a law to require science classes to include lessons on man-made climate change, its impact, and potential solutions. State assessments for grades 5, 8, and 11 include questions about students\u2019 understanding of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Massachusetts, in the current 2023 school year, more than a dozen high schools have adopted a pilot climate education program developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology\u2019s Climate Action Through Education (CATE) program. The program developers are looking to spread the curriculum nationwide that will include lessons for subject areas beyond science and \u201copportunities for students to explore climate solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MIT professor Christopher Knittel, the leader of the CATE program, said<\/a>, \u201cwe will be honest about the threats posed by climate change but also give students a sense of agency that they can do something about this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, other one-sided climate change education programs are listed here<\/a>, which invariably go back to manipulating children\u2019s emotions and turning them into political activists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Nature Conservancy is about preparing students \u201cfor the world ahead and empowering them to advocate for change.\u201d Its climate educator, Jaime Gonzalez said<\/a>, \u201cI would literally start with footage of people being rescued from Hurricane Harvey,\u201d then explain how climate change \u201cmade the storm more destructive.\u201d Historical storm activity is ignored since it refutes such drivel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Biden administration also is infusing one-sided climate education. The U.S. Department of Education\u2019s \u201cclimate action\u201d plan<\/a> is about \u201csupport[ing] states, districts, schools, and institutions of higher education by disseminating resources related to school facilities and climate education.\u201d Multiple federal agencies also have established curriculum content, including the EPA, NOAA, and the National Science Foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A report<\/a> released in April 2023 by Teachers College at Columbia University claims that 80 percent of parents surveyed support climate change being taught in elementary and secondary schools, although the level of support varies by ideology, according<\/a> to the authors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, parental support for climate curriculum as part of their child\u2019s education does not necessarily translate to embracing the ideological one-sided nature of climate curriculum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two separate polls conducted in the last year by OnMessage, Inc. and the Senate Opportunity Fund found overwhelming support across party and ideological lines that: Schools should be focused on teaching the basics and stop focusing on pushing a political philosophy. Parents should be able to move their children to a different school if they believe their school has become too political.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The evidence that most parents and teachers support climate change education should be part of K-12 curriculum, combined with their opposition to political agendas and ideology in the classroom, provides an opportunity to fill the void in America\u2019s classrooms. Children deserve climate facts and realities by using scientifically sound, agenda-free climate components to K-12 curriculum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Author<\/h2>\n\n\n\n