A recent edition of the Oxford University Press children’s dictionary caused an uproar by editing out some of these older terms about nature (and some words specific to Christianity) in part because kids are going outside less and attending church less, according to a story in the London Telegraph. The blogosphere has been ablaze, with greens claiming the redactions are a nail in the coffin of children learning about nature and therefore caring about environmental issues. We may have a new kind of endangered species: words about nature. In a new children’s dictionary, terms like moss, fern, magpie, otter, acorn, and clover, are being crowded out by technology-based words such as blog, Blackberry, MP3 player, voicemail and broadband.
“If you can't name things, how can you love them?” conservationist Robert Bateman said on the Children and Nature Network web site. “And if you don't love them, then you're not going to care a hoot about protecting them or voting for issues that would protect them."
Certainly, the English language evolves. It’s right to add new terms to dictionaries as technology advances, and children’s dictionaries only have so much space in them.
But Bay Daily believes the anger over this issue touches on a deeper subject. As our culture becomes more suburbanized, it’s important that environmental education be emphasized in homes and schools. Kids need to know their connection to the natural world – so they can better understand everything from public policy to biology.
This is one reason Congress should pass the No Child Left Inside Act, which would boost environmental education in schools across the U.S. To learn more, visit the NCLI website by clicking here.
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