Green Math

April 29, 2011 by jenni

By Jenni White

Today, as I was going through my daughter's school work (she is in 3rd grade at a local public elementary school), I realized there were two pieces of work entitled, "Green Math". Now these are simple math problems written on a white sheet of papers as answers. The questions, are apparently in a book she is not able to bring home. They look in the book for the questions and then write the answers down on a sheet of paper and hand them in as their completed assignment.

The math problems on one of these pages have absolutely nothing on it but answers. The other sheet has the following:

8X4= 32 liters of water

27x9 = 243 trees planted

7x4 = 28 hours of sun is (sic) 7 days

PROBLEM: Math isn't a color. Math is a specific set of steps one undertakes with numbers to arrive at specific answers. Marbles, money...these things and more can be counted. To call it GREEN MATH and then include references to how much water can be saved or trees can be planted is POLITICAL in nature and therefore could be seen as a form of indoctrination. It is not the job of government schools to teach a philosophy of life...

Now, she has several other papers that are copied pages. The only one that has a reference is; Ready Set Recycle! It is from the Education Center, Inc. April Monthly Reproducibles, Grades 2-3

Ready Set Recycle says: "Cut out the boxes below. Sort the boxes by recycling material. Glue each box onto the correct bin." "Paper and Cardboard", "Aluminum and Tin", Glass And Plastic". As the bonus it says, "Bonus Box: Look at the pictures on the leftover boxes. These can be used to make compost - an organic fertilizer. On the back of this page, draw your compost pile. Glue the pictures to the top of the pile."

PROBLEM: Apparently the task is to be able to sort objects. What? There aren't marbles or money or letters or anything else that can be used other than recyclables? Some recycling is excellent; aluminum and newspaper tend to save resources. Some isn't - glass costs more to recycle than it does to make. Why are we using RECYCLING as a way to sort objects. What does this tell kids subliminally..."Recycling is good", "Recycling is good for the environment". Earth worship for Christians is a form of idolatry. Recycling is a philosophy.

What's In The Trash says: "Look in the trash can below. You will find some amazing numbers about what's in our trash. Use the information to answer the questions." Then it gives a chart listing an item and the number of million tons it was found in the trash. 1. In 1986, Americans threw away 28 million tons of yard waste - grass, clippings, and so on. What was the only item they threw away more of? ___________ The kids are to fill in the blank from the 'chart'.

PROBLEM: First problem, the sentence isn't even correct grammar. It should say, "What was the item thrown away most frequently? Second problem: "amazing numbers". Using language to subconsciously tell kids something is wrong. The first question applies to yard waste (something earther's decry, because it is the most simple to composte). The last question says, "What information on the list surprised you most and why?" Well, let's see...the language says, "amazing", the first question directs you to yard waste and yard waste is the 2nd most highly disposed of in the garbage. What do you suppose your child would say? The worksheet literally subconsciously leads the kid to an answer- or at least to get them to think, "Hmmm, we shouldn't be throwing away our grass clippings..." Again, a philosophy.

There is nothing wrong with recycling. We do it in our home.

Here is the problem; at home it is an activity, at school it is a philosophy. There is no God in school anymore, but we do have the religion of the Earth and that is being taught at school. That is a problem. If you are Christian, the school is setting aside YOUR God and replacing it with Gia - the God of the Earth.

There is nothing wrong with learning to care for your surroundings and the Earth, but our children are far behind even developing nations in their ability to do math and read.

This 'garbage' is taking time away from doing more substantive work all the while promoting a social philosophy.

It may seem innocuous - maybe even petty - to you, but I hope after you have some time to read this and digest it, it won't - and suddenly the reason for our poor progress in American education will become crystal clear.