TRENTON, NJ – In addition to a controversial new sexual education curriculum, state of New Jersey, urged by Governor Phil Murphy and his wife Tammy I’ll begin teaching climate change curriculum in all public schools this year.
New Jersey is the first state in the country to mandate that schools include climate change curriculum and their lesson plans.
One New Jersey assemblyman says the Murphys new curriculum doesn’t sit well with him.
Monmouth County Assemblyman Gerry Scharfenberger, a professional archeologist and adjunct professor at Monmouth University and teaches climate change there.
According to Scharfenberger, he discusses with his classes that climate change has been occurring for millions of years, for natural and manmade reasons.
“There are a lot of things about this that bother me. First, this mandate was pushed by politicians, educators, and activists with an agenda, the green kind. Second, when listening to them, you would think the climate science is settled. It’s not, but they go unchallenged,” Scharfenberger (R-Monmouth) said. “Third, our children are a captive audience. Will they have the freedom to learn all sides of the issue and ask honest, tough questions—in other words, do the diligent work of a scientist—or is this just indoctrination time?”
According to the new curriculum all K through 12 students will be taught that climate change is not a natural phenomenon, but caused by overuse of resources, unsustainable practices and policies, and human behaviors.
“Particular focus will be paid to the inequities of these catastrophes, with lessons focusing on “both the science of climate change and the environmental and social justice issues that result from the rapidly changing climate,” according to a February 2022 report for the New Jersey School Boards Association,” he added.
Scharfenberger reminds, “What was gospel truth over the decades has been memory holed, conveniently replaced by a new existential crisis: global cooling and a new ice age in the 1970s, acid rain and a hole in the ozone layer in the 1980s, or rising sea levels wiping countries off the map by 2000.”
“Students need to know what propaganda is. They must learn that many respected scientists and other professionals believe fossil fuels lead to human flourishing and better ecological outcomes. Nuclear power is the cleanest energy source ever harnessed. Will they learn carbon capture systems that will help mitigate the effects of carbon released into the atmosphere? Will they understand the connection politics, industry and science has? Who is profiting off the fearmongering?” Scharfenberger added. “No, it’s clear they are being taught what to think, not how to think, creating a generation of terrified followers and not stoking the minds of future scientists and innovators. It’s educational malpractice.”
Many studies, however have shown that human overconsumption of natural resources could be contributing to the slow warming of the earth’s atmosphere due to greenhouse gas emissions. It is not known definitively whether or not the earth is in a natural warming cycle or whether human intervention is to blame.
Scharfenberger is that in addition to being given the facts related to the theory of global warming being caused by humans, students should also be allowed to engage in critical thinking and to be exposed to other scientific theories regarding climate change.