While many observers driving by Lincoln Centennial Public School have expressed shock and dismay at the massacre of about a dozen trees, some nearly 100 years old, along Scott Street, we are happy to report that this is in fact an element in a new curriculum unit designed to help students better understand the effects of climate change.
A spokesperson for the District School Board of Niagara (DSBN) explained that the idea is consistent with the pedagogical practice of “experiential learning.”
“We are in the midst of a global climate crisis,” Weldon Chute observed. “Did you know that just in the last 25 years we’ve lost 1.3 million square kilometers of the world’s forest?”
When a reporter for the SubStandard admitted he did not but that making this point by cutting down more trees seemed counterintuitive, Chute smiled slyly.
“Exactly! You see, we don’t just want kids to learn about deforestation, we want them to feel it. To feel the sun and UV rays burning their skin, we want them to feel the bleakness and devastation of a clear cut forest. We want them to sweat in the blazing heat where there used to be shade. Isn’t that cool?”
Chute went on to proudly explain how their decision to slaughter century trees is based on recent research in experiential learning. “Experiential education is a philosophy that informs many methodologies,” Chute enthused. “Educators purposefully engage with learners in direct experience and focused reflection in order to increase knowledge, develop skills, clarify values.”
When asked what values were being clarified if, as reported, the trees were cut to expand the faculty parking lot, Chute said Niagara schools are committed to preparing students for the real world. Kids, he said, need to learn how to cope with disappointment and economic realities. “And ultimately,” Chute said, “one of those realities is what good are trees if you can’t park on them?”
Meanwhile, SubStandard would like to inform its loyal readers that it is investigating rumours that the trees were actually cut for lumber to help offset the 2.4 million dollars embezzled by DSBN senior financial officers.
Niagara's Most Distrusted News Source 