Climate Change in CA Education Curriculum
California has long been held in public opinion as the place where things start, whether they, those things, are good, not so good or even outright bad. And generally speaking, Californians are somewhat proud of that. It was therefore only a matter of time before someone had to come up with this idea: Make Global Warming, or to be more precise, Climate change part of the science topics in all of California’s public schools.
Democrat State Senator Joe Simitian from Palo Alto has proposed this idea and the measure mandates that future science textbooks approved for public schools include climate change. According to an article in the Mercury News, dated February 15, 2008 entitled “Bill would require California’s science curriculum to cover climate change”, the Senator says: “We cannot have a science curriculum that is relevant and current if it doesn’t deal with the science behind climate change. This is a phenomenon of global importance and our kids ought to understand the science behind that phenomenon.” The State Senate has already approved the bill, SB 908 on January 30 by a 26:13 vote and now heads for the State Assembly. Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has not commented on the bill as yet but he has been known to have taken action to reduce global warming.
The thirteen ‘No’ votes were all cast by Republicans as they believe that the science of global warming is not clear and might inject environmental propaganda into classrooms. Republican State Senator Tom McClintock from Thousand Oaks argued during the Senate debate: “I find it disturbing that this mandate to teach this theory is not accompanied by a requirement that the discussion be science-based and include a critical analysis of all sides of the subject.” This law’s sponsor, Senator Simitian responded that his bill would not dictate what to teach or in what grades, that would be up to the State Board of Education and State Department of Education.
The executive director of the California Science Teachers Association, Christine Bertrand is excited about this piece of legislation: “This is a great idea; I don’t think there is any reason to talk about politics. There is no argument that there is climate change, the argument is how much is caused by the activities of mankind.” She added that teachers would have plenty to talk about, rising levels of carbon dioxide, how temperatures are measured globally and what is known and not known about global warming.
There you have it, folks. Once it becomes law, there is no way to stop it! And what better way to start by making it part of the educational system, teaching it to our kids and spreading this phantom phenomenon by indoctrinating the young ones. They of course will pass it on to Mommy and Daddy and the next thing you know, a vast majority will believe it and will consequently not object when higher taxes will be introduced to fight climate change. And since it will be taught as Man-made global warming, we are all guilty of having caused this situation and are therefore all in this together and we have an obligation to save the planet for future generations.
Back to realities, as it stands right now in California, lawmakers are faced with an annual fourteen billion dollar ($14,000,000,000) budget deficit and some cuts have already been made and signed into law by the governor. But there is still a long way to go before this gigantic problem can be resolved and we doubt very much that Schwarzenegger can keep his promise to Californians to NOT raise taxes. His proposals will include huge increases of fees and permits. So, instead of working around the clock to resolve these budgetary deficits in accordance with state law by finding ways to cut funding for the multitude of state responsibilities without seriously harming such programs, they have to keep on working on new laws that are definitely new funding requirements.
For us here at this Common Sense Thinking, it does not surprise us that, first of all, there are no limitations for lawmakers to come up with new ways to spend more money and secondly, that these proposals come mostly from Democrats. It makes therefore no sense at all to us here; we see it as acting with ignorance and irresponsibility to enlarge government, period!
This article and others on Common Sense Authors are designed to provoke further thought and investigation. It is not the intent for the articles to be politically biased. Sources are referenced in each article to encourage readers to delve into the supporting material. We welcome all readers to participate with their point of view either in support or contrary with additional information sources.
Related posts:
- Finally – The Climate Change Hoax is Exposed! For precisely three years, Common Sense University has written...
- Happy New Year 2010 – A Year of True Change It is customary to start a new year with...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
