The U.S. culture wars in education are being further fueled by Oregon lawmakers’ efforts to make the state the second in the nation to require climate change curriculum for K–12 public school students.
Many high school students from Oregon filed letters of support for the law, stating how much they care about the environment. Yet, some want schools to put more emphasis on reading, writing, and math after test scores dropped during the epidemic. Some teachers and parents believe that education about climate change could help the next generation deal with it better.
Schools all around the country are now at the heart of a contentious political debate about the curriculum and how — or even whether — to teach subjects like gender, sex education, and race.
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Democratic Sen. James Manning, one of the bill’s main backers, noted that even primary school pupils had expressed concern about climate change to him.
According to Manning’s legislation, every Oregon school district must create a climate change curriculum within three years that addresses the ecological, sociological, cultural, political, and mental health components of climate change.
Manning said he would scrap an unpopular proposal for financial penalties against districts that fail to comply but didn’t say whether another plan was coming.
Story was adapted from The Journal
