In some cases, our students rank well below those of such nations as the Slovak Republic. Yet only 24 percent of the poll's respondents could identify the most common source of water pollution, only 28 percent knew the primary source of energy in the U.S., and just one in nine received a grade-inflated passing score of 60 percent. Without a lifeline or help from the audience, self-esteem alone couldn't save these sorry performers. Described by some critics as vocational education for political activists, environmental education programs across the country have come under fire for being more interested in persuading kids the planet is imperiled than in actually teaching them much about the trees, plants, and animals that are part of the environment. But environmental science is supposed to be distinctly different than environmental education, a point professionals in both fields are quick to point out.
Environmental science strives to be credited with the same rigor as the other hard sciences.
Especially in high school, it competes for students with physics, chemistry, and biology. The AP Environmental Science course has been developed to be most like the former. The answer is that there is a struggle going on for the soul of environmental science, and it is not yet clear which direction this field will take. The Environmental Literacy Council, a group of professional scientists, economists, and educators aimed at fostering hard science and rigorous economics in the study of the environment, recently reviewed five of the most widely used environmental science texts. His academic credentials are listed nowhere in the book, although most texts provide detailed biographies of the authors.