Scholastic pulls lesson on energy, due to it being funded by the coal industry.
Where is the line between advertising and education? In the education field, many times it seems that the best teaching materials are provided by companies who have a vested interest in teaching children while promoting their own products and services. Many just accept these as “the way things are done.” However, Scholastic, one of the leading publishers of educational materials, has taken a stand on the matter.
According to CNNMoney, the publishing company has pulled the plug on a curriculum about energy that was sponsored by the American Coal Foundation. The reason was that the course didn't cover any of the negative effects of coal mining and pollution caused by the burning of coal.
The lesson plan was titled “The United States of Energy” and dealt with teaching students about the different ways that energy can be created, what energy sources created the most electricity in different areas of the country. It taught students about how energy is generated and delivered to homes and businesses.
Even though the experts agree that the lessons meet the national education standards and cover the advantages and disadvantages of each source of energy, there were no discussions of the negative environmental impact of coal mining and burning of fossil fuels in the lesson plans.
The curriculum was scrapped after Scholastic came under attack from many organizations, one of which was the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood. The criticism was based on the belief that educational materials that are paid for by an industry are not much more than one sided propaganda.
When Scholastic decided to no longer distribute the material, their spokesperson offered this statement:
"We acknowledge that the mere fact of sponsorship may call into question the authenticity of the information, and therefore conclude that we were not vigilant enough as to the effect of sponsorship in this instance,"
Although using coal to generate electricity is cheap and the resource is readily available, the lesson didn't mention any of the negative impacts. For example, when coal is burned it emits considerably more air pollution and greenhouse gases than any other energy source. In addition, the process for mining coal involves removing the tops of mountains, cutting into the earth, polluting streams and water tables and can have a huge environmental impact.
It's interesting to see such a large company like Scholastic, who distributes materials to classrooms across the country, take this type of stand against biased information paid for by special interests groups. I, for one think that it would be great to be able to provide our nation's children with educational materials that don't contain advertisements, but unfortunately, it's an economic necessity.
What do you think about advertisements being mixed in with education? How do you feel about Scholastic's decision? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comment section.
By Melissa Kennedy- Melissa is a 9 year blog veteran and a freelance writer for EducationJobSiteBlog, along with helping others find the job of their dreams, she enjoys computer geekery, raising a teenager, supporting her local library, writing about herself in the third person and working on her next novel.
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