Re: (rotten) Food for Thought

As for the heat in schools…well…it’s a real mess, actually.  Honestly, I don’t know where they find these people.  I don’t want to talk shit about my collegues, but it is not a secret that in my school, the whole science department tells the kids that global warming is not man-made…that it’s a cyclical thing…that there is nothing to worry about.

And, I don’t know.  Kids have mixed responses to the issue.  Some of them are like, really?  How can we NOT be influencing the changes in our climate?  Which is good.

But many of them take their science teachers’ word for it….they cling to that.  These teenagers are psyched to hear that their science teachers think it’s a farce because it means they don’t have to change anything about the way they live now, or the way they will have to live in the future….no worries….

At my high school, the global warming crisis has been presented much like it’s been presented at Hofstra, too….like it’s a debate, with two sides.  It’s just messed up because most of our science dept. is telling the kids it’s a lie…while I doubt that most of the science dept is doing that at Hofstra…but…you never know…

It’s disheartening for sure…my students know how I feel about it.  I’m done with political niceties…this is not a debatable topic as far as I’m concerned.  I try to provide as much literature as I can…articles, information, etc.  But it’s really up to them.

And it seems that people’s capacity to deny is that strong.  Because when you go from 70 – 100 degrees in a day…your body reacts, you know?  It’s something felt.  And your body says, wait a minute, something isn’t right about this…I think people that want to pretend that this isn’t happening like to think that these heat waves are just coincidence…denial is that powerful of a thing…

Ok.  I’ve gone on for far too long.  Let’s talk soon, shall we?

Helen