My buddy, Mark the Physicist sent me an article about NCSU the other day that made me sad. It seems NCSU wants to ram a hard left wing environmental agenda down the throats of their students. NCSU has its challenges with political correctness that I have documented in a limited way on this blog, but by and large, our kids got an excellent education there. If this kind of nonsense continues to be adopted the kind of education our kids received will disappear quickly. Here is a quote from the article:
Currently, incoming NC State freshmen are required to attend sustainability “orientation.” The university offers a B.S. in environmental sciences, which has a strong sustainability emphasis and teaches students to “recognize the economic and sociopolitical ramifications of the environment.” Numerous courses, as well as workshops and continuing education programs, incorporate sustainability themes. And student support appears to be strong; recently, under the aegis of the administration, student groups were able to ban the use of plastic bags at campus stores. If last week’s town hall meeting was any indication, however, there is a contingent of university leaders, professors, administrators, and students that wants to ratchet up sustainability even more.
There were calls to: create a first-year general education course based solely on sustainability; “train” faculty, staff, and students to be more aware of social and environmental justice issues; and require incoming freshmen to read sustainability books (that’s already happening; last year, incoming students read Jay Erskine Leutze’s environmental justice-themed Stand Up That Mountain). There also was a suggestion to add a sustainability statement to all course syllabi to indicate NCSU’s commitment to the cause. Other proposals were more radical: one person wants to “re-brand NC State as a less conservative and more activist-minded school” and another wants to have sustainability advocates visit local K-12 schools to “plant the seed” of sustainability.
There is hope in North Carolina in spite of this kind of nonsense. A recent article over at Town Hall written by Mike Adams explains how some of the shameful behavior practiced by one North Carolina University has started to be rolled back by the new, more enlightened leadership. Maybe they could now turn their attention to North Carolina State University before it is too late. If they are not careful, they could go the way of the State of Oregon.
Betty Blonde #476 – 06/02/2010
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