Climate change curriculum skirts close to taxpayer-funded propaganda
The Government’s new climate change educational material for year 7 and 8 students skirts close to taxpayer-funded
propaganda, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.
Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “The new taxpayer-funded curriculum promotes the campaigns of Greta
Thunberg, School Strike for Climate, and even Greenpeace. Students are encouraged to reduce their feelings of climate
guilt by participating in this kind of political activism.”
“Left-wing campaign groups would be spewing if the national curriculum ever promoted the Taxpayers’ Union vision of a
prosperous low-tax New Zealand. The national curriculum should not be used to promote particular political groups or
agendas.”
“A sensible climate change policy would focus on the science and policy options. But even on these points, the course is
weak: it promotes a tax on carbon while failing to mention that we already have an Emissions Trading Scheme.”
“A major portion of the material is fluffy, condescending rubbish. Students will have to sit through five different
sessions focused on their feelings about climate change, with activities including a ‘feelings splash’ and a ‘feelings
thermometer’.”
The teacher resources even include a 15-page ‘wellbeing guide’ for teachers and parents, which warns: Children may
respond to the climate change scientific material in a number of ways. They may experience a whole host of difficult
emotions, including fear, helplessness, frustration, anger, guilt, grief, and confusion. When discussing the material,
teachers may encounter students who cope through avoidance, denial, diversionary tactics, wishful thinking and a range
of other coping mechanisms.
“This isn’t teaching kids how to think – it’s telling them how to feel.”
ENDS