Students 'Going Green'

Many colleges and universities are now instituting sustainability standards for students.

Curricular innovation has been a hot topic on the Green Schools List the past week or two. And no wonder -- getting colleges and universities to operate sustainably is hard, but not nearly as hard as getting them to teach sustainability in all its variety and complexity.

The standards aren’t only being developed at the college/university level. Here is what Washington state high schools are now required to do in creating sustainability. The standards are pretty detailed.

Create realistic models with feedback loops, and recognize that all models are
limited in their predictive power.
Analyze relationships between national
interests and international issues; evaluate impacts of international agreements
on contemporary global issues.
Analyze how economic choices by groups and
individuals impose costs and provide benefits.
Analyze and evaluate
(dis)advantages of different economic systems, and the effects of specialization
on global trade.
Analyze and evaluate effects of distribution of resources
on sustainability.
Evaluate the ethics of technology use based on historic
patterns.
Understand and analyze the causal factors that have shaped major
events in history.
Evaluate how human interaction with the environment has
affected economic growth and sustainability.

Read the complete list.