No Child Left Inside

"The ability to play is central to our capacity to take risks, to experiment, to think critically, to act rather than react, to differentiate ourselves from our environment, and to make life meaningful." - The Case for Make Believe, by Susan Linn (2008).

No, I haven't morphed into a political savant. Linn's wonderful book on the necessity of preserving and encouraging children to play creatively mentioned the idea of No Child Left Inside. (Clever!) Ever curious, I had to google it.

Among the google results was H.R. 3036: No Child Left Inside Act of 2008. This is legislation that is in the process of being voted upon! It has currently passed in the House of Representatives and is waiting for a vote in the Senate.

Here are some of the highlights of the proposed Act...

"The Congress makes the following findings:

(1) Environmental education is essential for--
(A) enhancing student learning and problem solving skills, especially in science;
(B) creating responsible and engaged citizens; and
(C) producing graduates who are prepared to address the challenges, adjustments, and opportunities that will be present in the life and the workforce of the 21st century due to threats to human health, economical development, biological diversity, and national security arising from environmental stresses.

(2) Studies documenting the increasing indicators of nature-deficit disorder show that time spent out of the classroom for learning during the school day is critical to the intellectual, emotional, and physical health of children and that providing students with quality opportunities to directly experience the natural world can improve students' overall academic performance, self-esteem, personal responsibility, community involvement, personal health (including child obesity issues), and understanding of nature."

(My emphasis. And I had to google "nature-deficit disorder".)

The bill proposes funding for the following...

"Purpose- The purpose of this part is to ensure the academic achievement of students in environmental learning by--

(1) encouraging institutions of higher education to promote the status and stature of the environmental education teaching profession by assuming greater responsibility for improving environmental education teacher training through the establishment of a comprehensive, integrated system of recruiting, training, and advising environmental education teachers; and

(2) encouraging State educational agencies, local educational agencies, elementary schools, and secondary schools to participate in programs that--
(A) improve the environmental content knowledge, skills in teaching about environmental issues, and field-based pedagogical skill base of all teachers;
(B) focus on the development of teacher's environmental knowledge and teaching skills as a career-long process that continuously stimulates teachers' intellectual growth and upgrades teachers' proficiency in teaching about the environment;
(C) develop more rigorous environmental education teacher training curricula that are aligned with challenging State and local academic content standards; or
(D) provide environmental education experiences that utilize outdoor activities and facilities for students to directly experience nature."

(My emphasis. Personally, I'd like to see less emphasis on teacher training, and more emphasis on program development utilizingly local environments and resources.)

Surprisingly, not everyone is in favor of this proposal. The main objections seem to be that time spent fulfilling these environment-oriented objectives would detract from time spent teaching the basics, like reading and math. Oh, and we would be imposing "the Al Gore type of green propaganda on our kids in our schools".

The next generation needs to have an environmental awareness that is rooted in experience, not rhetoric. Children should be encouraged to play outside for a variety of reasons, including the greater intellectual value of the types of creative play that be engaged in outdoors, the need for a healthy level of physical activity to stave off health problems such as obesity, and the benefits of actively exploring the real-world over the fantasy realms of TV or video games. The No Child Left Inside Act may also facilitate those objectives in addition to its stated objectives, which makes it that much more appealing to me.

Maybe it's time to email a couple of Senators...