Maryland High Schools Now Requiring 'Environmental Literacy'

Sure, we're routinely graduating kids in this country that can't read or do basic math -- but hey, let's lard up the curriculum with a bunch of politicized nonsense, shall we?:

Maryland is the first state in the country to impose a new requirement to graduate from high school -- something called environmental literacy. ...

The new rule is a regulation from the State Board of Education, not a law passed by the legislature, so it lays out no specifics. Governor Martin O'Malley offers no real details but praises it, saying it will "infuse core subjects with lessons about conservation and smart growth  and the health of our natural world."

O’Malley also said it'll serve as a "foundation for green jobs," though one analyst says training for those is just like it is for any other job.

In theory, there's nothing wrong with teaching kids to be respectful of the natural environment. But the moment Democratic leaders start throwing around loaded phrases such as "green jobs" in this context, you just know it's going to be an opportunity for political indoctrination.

The foundation for jobs is basic literacy -- not environmental literacy. You simply can't have the latter without the former, and having driven through Baltimore recently, it seems really hard to believe that state schools are succeeding at their core educational mission sufficiently to devote new energy and resources extraneous curricular matters such as this.