Climate Change Debate Brewing in American Classrooms

Climate Change Debate Brewing in American Classrooms

There’s a new battle brewing in America’s classrooms, and while it doesn’t have the religious implications of the evolution vs. creationism debate, it has prompted several state legislatures and local school boards to get involved.

Climate change — that topic that makes you bang your head against the wall when talking to your obstinate brother-in-law — is the new battleground in science education in middle and high schools in the U.S., Oregon Public Broadcasting reports.

State boards of education in Texas and Louisiana have established standards to require the presentation of climate change denial as a valid scientific position, while legislators in Tennessee, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Kentucky have introduced bills to mandate equal time for climate change skeptics’ views in the classroom, according to OPB. Earlier this week, we told you about an Oklahoma bill that would cover teaching climate change in the same way it covers evolution — require that alternate theories be presented.

While courts have held that some criticism of evolution in public schools is a violation of the separation of church and state, deniers of climate change argue that they are simply pushing academic freedom.

Last May, a school board in Los Alamitos, Calif., passed a measure — which was later rescinded — that classified climate change as a controversial topic that required special instructional oversight, the L.A. Times reported.

The National Center for Science Education, a nonpartisan organization of teachers, scientists, clergy and concerned citizens, launched an initiative to defend and support teaching the science of climate change. Eugenie Scott, the executive director of NCSE, told the LAT it will be harder to use the courts to protect climate science education, since climate change denial is rooted in political ideology, not religious indoctrination.

Resistance to scientific consensus breaks down mostly along regional lines, according to Susan Buhr, director of education outreach for the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences. Buhr said resistance to climate change is greater in the South and regions where “livelihoods have been built on extractive industries” of fossil fuels, L.A. Times noted.

In many ways, the fight over this is just beginning, since new national science standards for grades K-12 are due at the end of the year, and are expected to include climate change. That’s expected to increase resistance at the local and state levels in some areas. The legal fight — at the legislative and judicial levels — will surely intensify.

Climate Change Debate Brewing in American Classrooms
Joe Palazzolo
Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:19:39 GMT