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Show Chaffer 18 Conservation Education MAKING WISE USE of water resources today demands a wider understanding of conservation problems than ever before in the history of the United States. The wisdom of public decisions affecting the life and industry of whole regions depends in part upon the planning studies of scientists and engineers, but it also hinges upon the balance and vision of citizens in choosing among the proposals which are made. Sound basin programs take root and are nour- ished in the soil of informed public debate and action. The major improvements in water policy which are proposed by this Commission assume that vigorous steps will be taken to widen and deepen public understanding of the issues in- volved in harnessing our streams and husband- ing our soils and forests. These improvements would strengthen and decentralize the role played by citizen groups. The Commission accordingly calls for a broad expansion and a new emphasis in conservation education. This expansion should center on river basin programs and on the social changes which they involve. It should build on the long tradition of concern for basic resources, and should use the experience of many ventures in conservation education during recent decades. It should mobilize adult and service groups as well as schools and colleges. Present day concepts as to the field and func- tion of education at its various levels suggest that one of its purposes is to equip citizens with the knowledge required for intelligent judgments concerning public affairs, and further, to influ- ence the most widespread participation in the democratic process of reaching decisions. As our society becomes more closely inter- woven, responsibility for the individual to become an activating cog in the managing mechanism of government increases. This may mean that well-informed and socially-minded individuals exert a day-to-day influence on their environ- ment. Voting at elections has come to be recognized as only one aspect of that type of citi- zenship which makes the Nation strong. Conservation education to be worth its salt should leave far behind the phase when on Arbor Day each adult planted a tree and conservation cliches covered the school blackboards. Ade- quate solutions for conservation's deep-seated problems require that every citizen make a con- tribution to public as contrasted with private thinking. The highly skilled-doctors, engineers, scientists, and others-should take part because of their special responsibility to give society tne fullest possible use of their ability. To develop adequate and far-sighted conserva- tion policies and to make sure that they become a part of our governmental system implies getting everybody into the play. This is the task of con- servation education. Without presuming to propose specific changes in school curricula or in service programs, time Commission calls attention to a few methods that seem fruitful, and it recommends that the appro- priate educational groups appraise their present activities with a view to making a new and fox- ward-looking approach to conservation education. 267 |
