Keep Your Kids Inside There's an Agenda Out There!

“Push is on for more nature in classroom
Some think it may help fight learning disorders

By Staci Hupp
The Indianapolis Star

INDIANAPOLIS -- The view from Keisha Clanton's home includes busy boulevards, not grass or trees. Much of the Howe Academy ninth-grader's understanding of the outdoors comes from the films she watches in her windowless science classroom.

As another Earth Day comes and goes, nature likely will remain low on the priority list for Keisha and other Hoosier students, who often prefer playing video games to digging around in the dirt.

"I don't want to get my hands dirty," said Keisha, 15.

That attitude might hamper a child's ability to learn, a mounting body of research suggests, creating a "nature deficit disorder."

Now nature experts both in Indiana and across the nation are building a campaign around a theory that exposure to fresh air, plants and animals can reduce a child's attention-deficit and behavioral problems. As more kids are identified with those kinds of problems, the country is seeing a growing dependence on Ritalin and other prescription drugs.

The idea that nature could prove to be an ally against learning disorders has fueled efforts to inject more of it into schools, many of which have cut recess, field trips and other outdoor activities to save money and time. Indiana environmentalists are devising a plan to get state officials to help combat "nature deficit."

No medical proof confirms the disorder, but studies from California to Illinois suggest more exposure to a natural environment translates to better concentration and grades at school.

"The parents of 5-year-olds are saying, 'When Timmy's in the backyard, the ADHD symptoms are better,' " said Frances Kuo, a University of Illinois researcher who surveyed parents of children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Kuo's study didn't try to explain the pattern, but other studies have suggested a physiological link to nature going back to early generations of farmers, hunters and gatherers. That way of life has given way to a world of iPods, video games and safety concerns that tend to keep children indoors.

The Hoosier Environmental Council has distributed about $60,000 in grants so schools can bring nature to the classroom -- the first step in a long-term effort.

Council members admit they hope to cultivate a love of the outdoors in children at a time when they see Indiana's environment on a downhill slide.

Environmental responsibility is "off the radar in our state," said attorney Michael Sutherlin, council president. "If kids can learn about what the consequences are and how related these things are to survival and our quality of life, maybe they'll take a more active role."

Some Indiana teachers have complained that state standards leave too little time for students to study the shapes of leaves or take water samples from creeks. Early in Les Caudill's 19-year teaching career, his students studied weather by lying in the grass and looking to the sky.

"It's hard to do that now," said Caudill, who teaches seventh grade in Pendleton. "I have to justify that it fits in with state standards."

State education officials are wary of adding more to the standards.

"In the end, we want good science, not necessarily an agenda," said Dorothy Winchester, who heads the state Department of Education's office of program development. "It involves what can the school enable teachers to do, and how much can the teacher count on the students' behavior?"

Keisha's science teacher at Howe Academy landed a grant from the state environmental council to clean up a polluted creek near the east-side Indianapolis school. But the outdoor part of the project hasn't started because the students are behind in their class work.

"At first everybody thought it would be cool," said Shawntae Cole, 15, Keisha's classmate. Once students saw the paperwork ahead, though, "I guess a lot of people aren't interested anymore."

Kathy Robbins, a teacher at Greenbriar Elementary, has used grant money to maintain a garden. The work has grown on some of her Washington Township students.

"I've never been in mud before, so it's fun," said Jazmyne Satterfield, 8, a third-grader who talked her mother into planting flowers outside their apartment complex. "When my relatives come over, they'll see I have a pretty garden out front."

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State education officials are wary of adding more to the standards.

"In the end, we want good science, not necessarily an agenda," said Dorothy Winchester, who heads the state Department of Education's office of program development.
This line makes me sick. So getting our kids outside and educating them about the environment is now an agenda??!! Why? Just because its being pushed by an environmentalist group. People get your heads out of your asses. Just because you're not in line with a particular group doesn't mean they can't have ANY good ideas.

Personally I think many "environmentalists" take things too far and are responsible for alienating a lot of people that could probably help them the most. That doesn't mean I don't care about the environment and won't listen to anything these people have to say.

"Good Science??" What in the hell is that anyway? Maybe we should call for the seperation of school and environment and the seperation of school and emotions. For god's sake, those things will get in the way of the science.

What "good scientist" is going to come up with alternative fuel sorces, find ways to protect animals, or stop #&%!$ing up the earth (excuse my French) if they have no passion for any of it? Of course there is an agenda...the environment we live in.

I'm not doing a very good job of articulating anything here, I'm just pissed. What a bunch of BS!”

“its all part of a vast anti-video-game-and-ipod conspiracy”

“I like cutting down trees in my new play station 2 game called lumberzac.”