Feb 3, 2012 HW- Richard Kahn

Rebecca Purvis

Dr. Taylor

February 5, 2012

ENG 101

Schools and the Environment

            “Towards Ecopedagogy” by Richard Kahn functions as a call-to-action for not only Americans, but for individuals of the earth to figure out how to teach sustainability properly in schools. Kahn briefly describes the environment that American’s are currently living in, mentions that problems that arise with environmental education and the need for a more beneficial type of education, and examples of environmentalists with opinions on environmental education.

            In the beginning section of the article, Kahn talks about the state of the environment as an effect from the various social events and happening of the past century. Kahn talks about the “threat of [mass being] extinction (Kahn 1)” caused from the globalization that occurred in the Post- World War II world. Globalization, according the Kahn and his colleagues, is one of the causes of the unbelievable degradation of natural resources that has happened in the last few decades. The large corporations within capitalist systems that are big on fast production, more product, and huge profit, have forced humans to become a species of consumers. Kahn talks specifically about the fact that “tree consumption… has doubled… resulting in about half of the planet’s forests disappearing (2).” He also talks about the disappearance of 90% of major fish species over the last forty years. The lifestyle that many humans have acquired is not healthy, nor environmentally sustainable and Kahn is sure to point that out.

            He then goes on to write about the legislation that mandates environmental education to become a part of the public education since apparently a shocking number of American’s have no idea what’s going on in the world from an environmental aspect. One example of how this legislation is being put into play is with the Apple Valley, Minnesota “Zoo School.” Although the school’s students are primarily taught on the zoo grounds where they are able to learn through independent studies featuring environment themes, Kahn still wasn’t so hip to this idea. He claims it doesn’t actually teach students how to voice opinions and make change because it forces them to simply stress doing better on standardized tests and to get good grades.

            Since Kahn wasn’t so thrilled to hear about the “Zoo School,” he decided to research various ideas about how to weave ecopedagogy into schools in more beneficial ways. He writes about leaders within the field such as Jim Cummins, Dennis Sayers, Frijtof Capra, David Orr, and many other scientists and environmentalists with their own beliefs about how students should be taught the concept of sustainability.

            Overall, Kahn effectively shows the need for change in how school children are taught about the environment and sustainability. Due to the large metamorphosis that the world has had to endure since the end of the Second World War, it’s important that students be taught how to prolong the amount of natural resources available and learn important concepts of saving the environment. 

Kahn, Richard. "Towards Ecopedagogy: Weaving a Broad-based Pedagogy of Liberation for Animals, Nature, and the Oppressed People of the Earth." n. page. Print.