On What ‘Eco-Kids’ Appear to be Missing
When I was talking with a journalist from The Christian Science Monitor a couple of days ago, I emphasized the need for humane education and financial literacy in schools. These are not instincts.
- Any day of the week I can go outside and try to reason with the boys who are attempting to kill some poor, unsuspecting creature.
- Any day of the week I can read about some professional in my own area, who is well-educated, but who bought a house he or she couldn't afford, with no money down, and who might lose that house shortly. When a deal sounds too good to be true, guess what?
This morning when I started reading "Pint-Size Eco-Police, Making Parents Proud and Sometimes Crazy," by Lisa W. Foderaro in The New York Times, I was delighted to be proven wrong. I thought: I owe the schools, at least in New York, an apology. It appears that many children are indeed learning about the moral dilemma that is eating animals, at least from the environment's point of view (rather than as a result of a discussion about what is humane or just).
Not so fast.
Let's deconstruct:
Elementary-school age children are protesting using bags that aren't reusable, taking baths, and driving SUVs. They recycle, they turn the lights off in empty rooms and they turn the water off while their parents are brushing their teeth. I think all of that is fantastic! More power to them.
Wait a minute. More expensive? Are they just learning how to be little green consumers? The only expensive thing I read about was solar panels. All the rest of the ideas save money. Oh, and the planet. And if you're wondering where the teeny detail about the relationship between climate change and eating animals fits into all this, a) join the club; and b) it doesn't.
The kids are getting their eco-messages from Nickelodeon, from the films they go to see (like "Wall-E"), from their scout programs, from Scholastic, and yes, even from school.
When I read that I was about to cheer: Yes! Finally! Plant-based . . . cleaners? Sure, okay, but what about plant-based diets? Hello?
'We’re trying to integrate it into anything where it naturally fits,' said Jackie Taylor, the district’s superintendent. 'It might be in a math lesson. How much water are you really using? How can you tell? Teachers look for avenues in almost everything they teach.'"
Call me crazy, but how about snack time or lunch time as naturally fitting to discuss the environmental impact of what you're doing?
Perhaps most disconcerting was a parent, one Paul Wyckoff, whose 15-year old son reprimands him for not doing enough to save energy.
“My philosophy is get the big stuff,” Mr. Wyckoff said. “I think he takes it too far. But I’m proud of him. I think he’ll moderate with age.”
He's proud of his son, yet it would be more convenient if his son's principles weren't quite so firm. He'd rather him not take them so seriously–oh, I mean, far.
I take that as a call for all vegans to have or adopt children ASAP.
We've reached the last half of the article and I just know that I'm about to be proven idiotic, as of course there will be an anecdote about a 15-year old girl who refused to eat her "pork-chop" dinner one evening because of what she learned about the lagoons, the transportation, the living conditions, or even because she read The Pig Who Sang to the Moon, by Jeffrey Masson.
Nothing.
Now, this doesn't mean the kids haven't been learning about omnivorism and the environment, but if they are, considering it's such a charged topic and journalists thrive on writing about controversy, I think it's fair to say that if children were boycotting dinners and urging their parents to eat more environmentally responsibly, we'd be hearing about it. They're certainly being educated about a number of important actions they can take at home that are more environmentally-friendly. But where's the big one? Where's the thoroughly life-changing, planet-changing one?
From 1950 to about 1980, mainstream society did not take environmental ethics seriously in the least. In fact, although I’m too young to have experienced it myself, I get the impression that environmentalists in the 1960s (and probably even most of the 1970s) were considered “kooks” (if you’re of normal mental health, you know you’re about 30 or more years ahead of your time if someone labels you a “kook” because of your progressive or nonviolent beliefs). It seems not until the 1990s that environmentalism started to “go mainstream”, and now even many Republicans give at least a nod or some lip service to the environment rather than uniformly blasting it as nonsense.
So here we are in 2008 and “eco-kids” are helping to further conservation but not saying anything about the unjust torture and killing of animals. I don’t think we should be surprised. Although the so-called “animal rights” movement started in the 1980s, it has since been watered down to an animal welfare “movement” (quotes here because it’s not moving anything other than money to pay corporate nonprofit salaries). The abolitionist movement really just started in 2006 and is obviously in its infancy, much like the environmental movement was around 1960. Until veganism is unequivocally and unapologetically promoted as a moral baseline by more and more people, we will not even begin the journey to the point where “vegan-kids” are telling their parents that they refuse to eat the formerly tortured “certified humane” carcass on their plate or drink the mammary fluid in their glass. If we start now, we might have such vegan-kids in 20-30 years. If we continue on the welfare-industry partnership path of big corporations like PETA and HSUS, there will never be any vegan-kids.
P.S. – As a CPA, I agree with you, Mary, on the desperate need for financial literacy in America and that it should be taught, just like math and English, from K through 12. There’s an excellent chance that the sub-prime mortgage crisis could have been adverted, or at least mitigated, if people were wise to predatory lending practices and pie-in-the-sky deals to get them into homes out of their reach. And that’s not to mention all of the despair and frustration that is self-inflicted on people who are financially illiterate and where it has led to inadequate savings and too much debt. Whenever people think they’re getting the “deal of a lifetime”, they ought to remember that all such deals could also go by the more realistic name, “the no-free-lunch program”.
My sister told me my nephew said he thought meat-eaters were serial killers. She asked him, "Did you get that from your aunt?"
"No" He said proudly, "I made it up myself." He went on to explain that even though lots of people "don't know where meat comes from" eating meat is wrong and meat-eaters "murder."
We have an influence on the children around us. But they make up their own minds.
Kids, particularly the little ones, LOVE animals and don't want to hurt them. If they're exposed to vegetarianism and veganism at a young age, many will choose the lifestyle themselves.
I think we should be doing vegan outreach at elementary schools. Do presentations about vegan food, field trips to animal sanctuaries, getting involved…
PS – Bea made a good point:
Why not toss in a vegan leaflet in the Halloween goodie-bag? If you get any trick-or-treaters at all, giving them a little pro-vegan card or leaflet along with the candy is an easy way to get to the kids.
Yes, it does seem like the educators are missing the mark in presenting kids with the full spectrum of ecological concerns. I see it too on "the other side" – in rural grade-school classes that have animal agriculture lessons & 4H activities. Even those kids are not shown the full range of issues. The focus is on animal "use" as in what non-food cow parts are used for what, and what diseases can pigs help man to cure… Kids aren't exposed to the factory farms, the lagoons, the pharmacuticals, the cruelty… let alone the murder of the animals. It seems that adults, whether promote farming agendas or ecological ones are only willing to teach the uncontroversial – like solar panels…
Dan, you're right about us "kooks" in the 60's. We were reading Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" and Eric Toffler's "Future Shock". We were "fringe" and they called us "flower children". There was absolutely no network of support for "hippies" except your own immediate circle of friends. Now, kids (of all ages) have access to discovery. The online Animal Rights Movement is so young… there's so much promise in changing people and getting the word out. I'm 53… and an online site found me. And changed me. I'm proof that education (especially on the internet) – is effective. We just have to continue getting the message out.:)
Elaine, your nephew sounds so cool! My nephew and I had a conversation about "the shame" (his words, not mine) of eating meat. He gets some of it. But his mother is an immobile omni – so who knows?
I don't know though, that vegan outreach in elementary schools would be accepted yet. I don't think that administration officials would condone it. Even in the mildest of presentations, the discussion of "meat & animals" is still an "adult" subject, and met with censure and hostility. The old naked emperor routine.
The nice thing about the Halloween goodie bag though, is you're annonomous. Parents usually screen the items before allowing their kids at it. And maybe some might get curious about "why vegan?". There's also the older tweens who might be reached. I've had them "trick or treat" as old as 17! So, it's worth the effort and there's nothing to loose in trying…
New York State has a humane education law on the books and it has been there since 1947. The law has a number of provisions about the care and use of animals in a classroom but also requires schools to teach "…the humane treatment and protection of animals and the importance of the part they play in the economy of nature as well as the necessity of controlling the proliferation of animals which are subsequently abandoned and caused to suffer extreme cruelty." Article 17 section 809 of the NY State Consolidated laws under education.
Sadly this is an unenforced law, but there is a resolution (resolution 497) to force the New York City Department of Education to comply with this law. This would be a tremendous step forward in terms of humane education in the classroom, since NYC is the largest school district in the United States.
As an elementary school science teacher I have written letters and emails in order to make sure this important law is passed.
Rich,
Thanks. If you don't mind, is there something NYers can do (specifically) to help out? (Do they write their legislators? Is this a city thing only? Any desire to write a guest post on it? You're always welcome.
I'd love to see some type of education that would teach children compassion. It would make a much better world for all.
Maybe resources from teachkind.org or humaneeducation.org could be introduced into the cirriculum? There's an excellent video "The Power and Promise of Humane Education" by Zoe Weil:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5827514280158113375&ei=nkTzSIm9LZPuqAKP47zsDg&q=Zoe+Weil+video
And if there's already a law – it seems that administrators and officials should want to enforce and fund the program. I'm sure many parents and teachers would agree… it would help kids become better people all around.
If the answer to compassionate and eco-friendly kids is education – we'd better step up to the plate – It appears that the cattle industry is supporting a first-time ever effort to sponser "certain" books to classes that participate in their program. The (animal agriculture) program is being presented on their behalf by "Alpharma".
"The Book of the Year program was developed to dispel misconceptions about traditional farming practices and to prevent these misconceptions from being ingrained in the young consumer's mind," said Elizabeth Wolanyk, director of education and research at the American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture. "Without these current methods, America's farmers would not be able to sustain the demand for food."
The Book of the Year program selects a book suitable for classroom use and then develops a corresponding curriculum based on the book's main principles. The selected books focus on the importance of conventional agriculture practices. Students in participating classrooms are required to read the book, participate in a lesson and then write an essay that applies the basic principles to present life."
There's more:
http://www.cattlenetwork.com:80/Content.asp?ContentID=260836
It's also that dreaded time of year with bustling activities for 4H Livestock shows and fairs… I don't think these kids are being given an "eco-friendly" message at all.