Communism Reborn in Nation's Classrooms -
What schools do teach worse than what they don't teach

It's incredible what kids are NOT taught in schools these days. One study shows 44% haven't been taught to read. Others show equal ignorance of math and science.
But incredibly worse is what they ARE taught!!!
"Madmen and madwomen are wrecking this beautiful, blue-green living Earth," brays one high school textbook.

Calling for "Earth-wisdom worldview", it cites this quote from Dave Foreman, founder of the terrorist group Earth First!, as the defining example. Recommended by EPA, it's used in Texas and other states.
It's bad enough textbooks call such bilge "Earth-wisdom". But would you believe Arizona students were being taught coyotes don't kill sheep? Well, state representative Rusty Bowers couldn't believe it either when his son learned this in ecology class. So Rusty began campaigning against environmental education (EE).
Besieged by concerned parents, state legislators finally overturned the requirement that EE be taught in grades K-12. But 31 other states mandate it, and Arizona still requires that teachers complete a course in EE before receiving a teaching certificate!

Surely everyone agrees the condition of the planet on which we live is critical to all life. Students should learn the importance of clean air and water. They should also be taught that healthy trees absorb CO2 while creating oxygen, and that they provide habitat for wildlife as well as building materials, paper and other necessities for people.

What stops us from teaching sense rather than nonsense? The environmental movement. No longer is it concerned about saving humanity from excesses and mistakes. Instead, it has become viciously anti-human, claiming bugs, trees and rocks are more important than people, and insisting we teach this to children.
Typical is this absurdity. While chair of the Sierra Club, Mike McCloskey told members in Minnesota, "Trees and rocks have rights to their own freedom, to go their own way, unfettered and untrammeled by man."
But equally asinine are these words: "Tests with 'right' and 'wrong' answers reinforce math's misleading image as a subject with unique correct answers. Poor scores give students poor self-images." (Quotes condensed, meanings unchanged.)

Who is stupid enough to say that? A "Teacher's Manual" published by Macmillan/McGraw Hill!!
Recently we spoke with Kathleen deBettencourt, director of the Independent Commission on Environmental Education. Members include Frederick Seitz, past president, National Academy of Sciences, and other leading scientists and educators. Analyzing the vital question "Are We Building Environmental Literacy?" they concluded schools and teachers, inundated with phony science and "ecological myths", are turning out students "woefully lacking in knowledge about environmental concepts."

The Class Project, fielded jointly by the National Wildlife Federation and the California Department of Education, teaches "By the year 2000 most of the world's oil may be depleted."
But nowhere are students told improved methods of extraction can reopen old wells, that new reserves are still being discovered, or that foolish lockups of existing reserves could cause artificial shortages.
Instead, Living Lightly for grades 4 - 6 says, "Half the oil consumed in the U.S. is used in automobiles, affecting people and the environment..Burning fuel pollutes the air (causing) acid rain."
What isn't said is car emissions have been greatly reduced and the most detailed study ever of acid rain (the NAPAP report) concluded it's no big problem.

Worst of all, various texts rail against "overconsumption" and economic growth. Ignoring that we're no longer cave dwellers and modern amenities reflect a better quality of life, some, like Earth Matters, teach students they must accept "a more equitable distribution of wealth which improves the global quality of life for all."
This pernicious hogwash is communism reborn. Parents should rise up and kick it out of our schools - while they still have the freedom to do so.

(To comment, write: Environmentalist, Box 146, Silver Bay, MN 55614. For personal response, enclosed stamped, self-addressed envelope.)