Some students attending military schools in Europe said the topic of global warming has come up in class, but few classes dig deep into the issue as much as they would like and it really has not been addressed in textbooks.
Ashley Olds, 18, a senior at Kaiserslautern High School in Germany, said climate change and the debate over the causes has been mentioned only in passing. The subject of global warming came up last week — but it was in her English class.
“It’s kind of thrown in, but it’s not like it’s a whole discussion on it,” she said.
C.J. McKenzie, 18, a senior at Kaiserslautern, said he learned about global warming in his ninth- and 10th-grade years, but the issue had been largely ignored the last two years.
“We should teach it a lot more in schools,” he said.
He believes global warming is both man-made and natural.
“I think it’s natural, but we have helped it along the way [to] develop more,” he said.
A pair of students at Lakenheath High School in England said they have discussed global warming in several classes at school, though it has not been addressed much in their textbooks.
“It’s never been a main element of any class I’ve taken,” said Greg Billington, whose father is a science teacher at the school. “But it’s something that comes up.”
Billington said he thinks mankind has contributed to a change in the climate.
“There’s a lot of evidence, I think, that it’s because of something we’ve done and not something natural,” he said.
Brie Glasmyer, a junior, said the topic didn’t really come up while she was attending public school in New Mexico. But it’s come up several times in her two years at Lakenheath.
“And not just science classes,” she said.
She said she’s convinced that global warming exists and is a problem.
Her solutions? More recycling and more fuel-efficient cars would be a good start, she said.
