Building brainpower
Does Northeast Ohio have a vision for education? Certainly there has been a lot of hand wringing in recent years about the region's low level of educational attainment. But, beyond fragmented programs and schools, what is happening to pull the region out of its brainpower deficit? And what is our strategy to teach the right things — the knowledge and skills that will be needed to create a sustainable society?
One skill we need to learn is to be more "cosmopolitan"—thinking in ways that are more inclusive of other cultures (and species). We need to learn how to live in and truly appreciate the beauty of urban, not only suburban and exurban, environments. And to challenge the easy habits of consumption. To paraphrase David Orr, we need to confront the flaws in our education that train us to be more effective exploiters of the planet.
How do we teach the next generation that they can design products and services for the future sustainability of the planet?
Ecological design competence means maximizing resource and energy efficiency, taking advantage of the free services of nature, recycling wastes, making ecologically smarter things, and educating ecologically smarter people, Orr writes in Earth in Mind, his 1994 book about improving Western education. It means incorporating intelligence about how nature works, what David Wann (1990) called “biologic,” into the way we think, design, build and live.
Design focuses on the structure of problems as opposed to their coefficients. For example, the Clean Air Act of 1970 required car manufacturers to install catalytic converters to remove air pollutants. (Today) emissions per vehicle are down substantially, but with more cars on the road, carbon dioxide emissions and global warming are on the rise.
A design approach to transportation would lead us to think more about creating access between housing, schools, jobs and recreation that eliminate the need to move lots of people and materials over long distances. Orr continues:
A design approach would lead us to reduce dependence on automobiles by building better public transit systems, restoring railroads, and creating bike trails and walkways. A design approach would also lead us to rethink the use of urban land and to reintegrate agriculture and wilderness into urban areas.
We can foster ecological design intelligence at schools by making the actual facilities and how they use energy, water, food and materials a laboratory for study. At college, we can create institutes that offer ecological design projects, such as “Design a building with no outside energy sources, using locally available environmentally benign materials, that recycles all waste generated by occupants.”
The function of ecological design institutes is (1) to equip young people with a basic understanding of systems and to develop habits of mind that seek out “patterns that connect” human and natural systems; (2) to teach young people the analytical skills necessary for thinking accurately about cause and effect; (3) to give students the practical competence necessary to solve local problems; and (4) to teach young people the habit of rolling up their sleeves and getting down to work.
Instill the values
"We need to provide people with basic knowledge about ecological principles," says Deb Yandala, former head of the Cuyahoga Valley Environmental Education Center. "I continue to be amazed that, when you ask adults where their drinking water comes from and where water goes when they flush the toilet, they don’t know. Ecological literacy needs to be a goal of all education programs. Understanding the world around us should be as basic as learning to read."
Education that gives people, particularly children, the sense of wonder and awe with the natural environment will encourage them to make wise decisions on its behalf, adds Yandala, who is currently CEO of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park Association. "Let it begin with developing an intrinsic value about the world being a good place that is worthy of sustaining. Develop on top of that value the knowledge necessary to understand sustainability and utilize design principles to take action."
"We really have to think about young people who are just surviving, barely hanging on in school or even dropping out," writes Piet Van Lier, Deputy Editor at Catalyst-Cleveland, a publication covering the Cleveland Public Schools. "Or perhaps less extreme, kids who just need to learn solid skills we take for granted and move on to college or some other meaningful work opportunity. Much of what's being said seems so far removed from reality in our cities. Certainly environmental education is a must, but it has to be part of basic education that teaches children to read, write, understand math and science, and think critically. Otherwise environmental education is going to be superfluous."
Learning by participating in projects
Project-based learning is another item that we may want to include on an education regional agenda, Van Lier says. Examples include Metro School in Columbus where they did a "garbology" project across disciplines that looked at what's in the waste stream. And The Christopher Program, a school in Franklin County that's "implementing a project-based, integrated humanities curriculum that challenges students to become analytic thinkers, effective communicators, successful collaborators, and responsible citizens."
Teach them well and let them lead the way
In his new book, Enriching Children, Enriching the Nation: Public Investment in High-Quality Prekindergarten, Robert Lynch reports that the benefits—on the economy, crime statistics, and future government revenues—of investing in early childhood programs far outweigh the costs of implementing such programs. Policy Matters Ohio partnered with the Economic Policy Institute and Voices for Ohio's Children to condense this national study into a concise summary of how Ohio wins with better pre-K investments. Find the report and the Policy Matters Ohio Fact Sheet here.
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