Saturday, November 11, 2006

How low can you go?


Young minds are a challenge to get through across the board. Often we feel as if we are pulling teeth from them regardless of the fact that they are smart as you can imagine. Teaching middle school age kids pose so much obstacles. My favorite of all is figuring out a lingo that they use as I impart propositions on environmental issues. Are they ready for such vicissitude? Must this be a matter of importance when it derelicts material possession and want? So you reflect and spend a few days on how to inform squirming rug rats on conservation, recycling, preservation, reusing and the big one of all, global warming.

How young must we teach our children about our only home? John Locke in his empirical view of the human mind that pre-exists as a tabula rasa or a blank slate still holds water for most. Yet the world of obstetrics theorized that as early as the first trimester of child bearing, the young inside the womb; absorbs the world outside. The bucket yields on us no matter what. We teach our kids a million and one things everytime and we wonder, will they be okay at the end of the day? And you see them, choosing to dunk a ball of scrap paper where the can reads "PAPER" and empty juice bottles to dispose of on bins marked "PLASTIC or GLASS". And you smile, and you thank your lucky stars you must be doing something right. It will take a few more of sharing, learning and probably debating before they could relate climate change to fossil fuel addiction. It might feel ages knowing if you are getting through their hyper-passive mode. So, how young should we let them know? May I suggest...as early as we can.

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