A massive program intended to teach California students about the environment is coming under fire. The Education and Environment Initiative (EEI) has been developing school curricula to help California “lead the nation in environmental literacy.” Spearheaded by the California Environmental Protection Agency, the lesson plans have been designed with input from numerous government agencies and stakeholders. In particular, during a public comment phase in 2009, the American Chemistry Council – a lobbying group for the plastics industry – submitted information about plastic bags. Now, an 11th grade lesson plan includes a section listing the benefits of plastic shopping bags – alongside some of the problems with the bags. There is also an exercise requiring students to list the advantages of using plastic bags. In protest, a Santa Cruz school librarian has launched an online petition to remove that content. So far, she has 24,000 signatures. This isn’t the first time a business has influenced classroom lesson plans. Most recently, Scholastic Inc. was criticized for working with the American Coal Foundation on teaching material that failed to address the negative effects of coal mining. What do you think is the best way to develop school curricula? Should interest groups be allowed to influence educational material in public schools? How do you balance the various interests and avoid false equivalencies?
Guests:
Steve Russell, Vice President, Plastics, American Chemistry Council
Mark Gold, President, Heal the Bay