Personal Journal Entry #20 - What is Education For by David Orr

April 14, 2011

GR # 10: What is Education For by David Orr

Paradigms

This section is talking about Aldo Leopold and his quote the problem of conservation education is "how to bring about a striving for harmony with land among a people many of whom have forgotten there is such a thing as land". Those words were written over a half century ago, and the problem is even more complex and difficult than Leopold believed.

First, can the harmony that Leopold proposed be realized within the modern paradigm, which emphasizes human dominance over the natural world, consumption, economic growth, science and technology, and is organized around nation-states and corporations? It is difficult to say because of diverse views on the proper human role in nature.

Values

Values are important. We should strive to teach values appropriate to sustainability. We should try to expand our understanding of the conditions for prosperity. Knowledge has never been regarded as an end in itself, but rather as a means to human well-being. By the same logic, environmental studies ought to have a clear direction for favoring harmony between human and natural systems while preserving objectivity in the handling of facts, data, and logic. Just something to think about.

Scope and Definition of Education

The aim of education is often described of teaching people how to think. But think about what exactly? What about character, intuition, feeling, practical abilities, and instincts? These traits affect what people think about and how well they think. If harmony with nature is important, how is this taught? Questions to ask yourself.

Definition of Knowledge

From the perspective of human survival, what is worth knowing? How do we distinguish between the trivial and the important? These are important things to consider. Knowledge is biased by the way in which we determine social and economic priorities. But how does a society determine priorities in creating and preserving knowledge that accords somehow with ecological realities? Sometimes reasons cannot be found but they are left for you to ponder.

Structure

This section talks about the structure of the learning environment. Questions are asked like: should environmental education be woven throughout the entire curriculum? Sometimes these are questions based on broad issues of education. But, the field of education can no longer afford challenges arising from the environmental perspective. Environmental education has become a political matter: “who gets what, when, and how?” There is the issue of the total demand humans make on the biosphere and the way we organize the flows of energy, water, material, food, and wastes. I think there needs to be education for sustainability.