I can't afford to send both my kids to private school. I could afford one, but not both, and I'm desperately trying to figure out some way to swing it.
Because my oldest is in public school (the youngest will start next year), I pay close attention to what she's learning. At this point, it's primarily the basics - reading, math, etc. She's in gifted so they really work hard with her on those types of things. But yesterday, as usual, I asked her how her day went and what she learned. Guess what they spent all day talking about? Recycling. Not driving cars. How to use very little electricity. Planting trees.
Oh, it was 'Earth Day'.
Look, nothing would make me happier than my daughter coming home and saying "Daddy, you know we could save a lot of money by turning off lights we don't need and really cut down on fuel costs if we'd plan our outings so that we could maximize our fuel usage". I have no problems with her learning about conservation and how pollution is a bad thing. I'm even ok with the concept of recycling (although it's pretty much bunk. Don't believe me? Then try this trick. Take all your plastic & newspapers and try to find someone willing to pay you for it). In fact, for all my joking about baby seal club sandwiches and Ford Earthfuckers, I'm really interested in conservation.
The problem is the kids are being taught this stuff sans any form of context. Protect the Earth at All Costs is a great looking bumper sticker, but it fails to instill any sense of reasoning behind it and is dangerous in the end. It becomes a tautology rather than a comprehension of basic economics. Then again, the ability to think for yourself is a danger to statists, and best to stamp out that ability from day one.
Be a good parent, pay close attention to your children's education.
In this state, we have these things called "recycling businesses" and they actually pay you for your newspapers, plastic, and anything else that can be recycled.
You can't go into a grocery store and get an empty cardboard box because the grocery stores all bale their boxes and recycle them.
a) how heavily the state subsidizes the recyclers so they don't go under; and