Posted on 05/11/2009 7:29:05 AM PDT by reaganaut1
The thick-lined drawings of the Earth, a factory and a house, meant to convey the cycle of human consumption, are straightforward and child-friendly. So are the pictures of dark puffs of factory smoke and an outlined skull and crossbones, representing polluting chemicals floating in the air.
Which is one reason “The Story of Stuff,” a 20-minute video about the effects of human consumption, has become a sleeper hit in classrooms across the nation.
The video is a cheerful but brutal assessment of how much Americans waste, and it has its detractors. But it has been embraced by teachers eager to supplement textbooks that lag behind scientific findings on climate change and pollution. And many children who watch it take it to heart: riding in the car one day with his parents in Tacoma, Wash., Rafael de la Torre Batker, 9, was worried about whether it would be bad for the planet if he got a new set of Legos.
“When driving by a big-box store, you could see he was struggling with it,” his father, David Batker, said. But then Rafael said, “It’s O.K. if I have Legos because I’m going to keep them for a very long time,” Mr. Batker recalled.
The video was created by Annie Leonard, a former Greenpeace employee and an independent lecturer who paints a picture of how American habits result in forests being felled, mountaintops being destroyed, water being polluted and people and animals being poisoned. Ms. Leonard, who describes herself as an “unapologetic activist,” is also critical of corporations and the federal government, which she says spends too much on the military.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
The YouTube link to video here .
What do you expect from public schools. This is an inane video that is total propaganda. Things like this make me glad we homeschool. When they start talking about applying sustainability to the biggest wasteful thing on the planet, the U.S. Government, then I’ll start taking these nuts seriously.
Well there it is: rationalization.
So easy, a 9 year old can do it.
Me?
I want my Legos *and* I want to eat 'em, too.
And so I shall.
They claim that property is theft but envy is not a positive trait.
Plastic people buying plastic stuff with a piece of plastic!
I can't park my ass my couch for 12 seconds before one of my kids wants some more stuff.
If young Rafael only knew how many jobs were involved in getting him his Legos, he’d reject the Greenie-Weenie message post haste.
I saw a gal purchase a $1 item at a Dollar store yesterday....on a credit card....
Whoa...
To be fair, some people do that because they are racking up frequent flyer miles and other bonuses by using the credit card instead of the cash they have in their wallet.
I forgot about that.
Ugh.
Another Reason to Homeschool.
Well...yeah...I do that....but NOT for a $1 purchase!!!
“total propaganda.”
You are correct. My wife has been in public education for years. She is a rarity - she is a conservative educator. I don’t mean this as a slam to teachers, as I have stated my lovely bride is one. But here is the thing, a lot of these people think they are more “enlightened” than the rest of us, and they feel it is their “duty” to enlighten the children so they can be “fulfilled” and have their “self-esteem”. I spent the day with my wife in her class a few years back. (She is an early childhood educator.) My first thought was “Dang Baby - You were awful tough on the chaps.” Then I got dressed down pretty good. She informed me that most of the children in her class were “disadvantaged”, and that the majority were from single parent households. She explained that you can’t really give a child self esteem, they have to earn it for themselves. The way they earn it is to master a task they think they cannot do. The way to master a difficult task is to learn to discipline yourself. A lot of these kids have no discipline anywhere except her class. (Parents are a lot of the problem.) So, along with the hugs, smiles and encouragement, she makes the child adhere to her standards for the class. A lot of these kids come up to her in Wal-Mart and speak or give her a hug, years after they were in her class. I like to think it is because she didn’t give them fake “self esteem”, but taught them they could earn it for themselves. Although she is severely limited in what she can say or do, she does encourage church to any of the parents who are open to it, she has had some success, but mostly the parents don’t give a rip. The very sad thing is this - if we had parents who raised their children according to the Good Book, and lived their lives as Christians - I believe 99.9% of our serious school problems would disappear. Sorry for the sermon, but if we continue to ignore the spiritual aspect of our public schools, I believe they will continue to decline.—JM
Thanks. I know one school teacher in the LA school district who is a Freeper and who does unthinkable things like have students discuss articles by Walter Williams. It is a tough job. She has described a similar situation there with the only exception that many of her students come from families of illegal immigrants. She related to me that there is a lot of pressure on kids that make the attempt to be good students from those other disadvantaged youths who claim they are being “too white” or other slurs which interestingly enough don’t end up causing a stir being the clearly racist sentiment it is. I had many wonderful teachers who were also public school teachers. It is unfortunate that the good and bad are trapped in a system that is really not good for anything. I don’t believe homeschooling is the answer for everyone but I do believe that school choice as well as homeschooling should be an option for everyone. My wife and I chose to home school because we want better for our children and don’t want their futures left to chance and the hope they won’t cross any of the little monsters and degenerate adults that are left to roam our public schools.
Yes there is pollution. Just as there is or was a period of ‘global warming’. However the left uses it to attack Capitalism and imply that our great prosperous country is the main culprit. The ultimate goal of those who espouse these ideas is a radical change in the economic and cultural institutions in the USA.
The USA is the most successful, most prosperous country in the history of the world. We have NOTHING to feel ashamed of for affording our citizens the greatest quality of life in the world. The left attempts to guilt us into believing that our consumption of goods somehow is evil or dangerous. And that, my friend, is ridiculous.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.