Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today” – Malcolm X     

This statement carries an extremely powerful meaning, one that I could never stress on enough, because education really is the main tool used to shape individuals. It is the ideal preparation for the rest of your life and teaches you how to be a good citizen.  

As an education major myself, I got the chance to witness school life from a teacher’s perspective which has helped me shape my mindset regarding various aspects of the educational sector. As a matter of fact, it has a lot of material in store for its students and aims to provide them with everything they need, but I have noticed that they are falling short in a very important subject that is essential in today’s world: sustainability and its importance in being able to live a decent and healthy life. Sustainability should be a major part of our lives today more than ever, as environmental crises keep happening all over the world, one after the other.

The situation is so dire that two artists, Gan Golan and Andrew Boyd, decided to transform Metronome’s digital clock in Manhattan from one that tells time to one that tells how much time we have left. In fact, on September 19th, 2020, the following numbers showed up on the clock: 7:103:15:40:07 , representing the years, days, hours, minutes and seconds left until the “Earth’s Deadline”. The two artists declared that this was the “critical window for action to prevent the effects of global warming from becoming irreversible”.

What is worrisome in this scenario is that we are all unknowingly contributing to global warming , whether we like it or not. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, sustaining our planet has become the least of our concerns, as our priorities have centred around fighting this deadly virus. Even before the pandemic, pollution and a number of other environmental problems have been prevailing around the world for quite some time, and educational sectors have continually failed in integrating sustainability in their curriculums, as well failing to implement sustainable practices within their premises. Back in 2013, England’s education secretary Michael Gove stated that he was determined to “restructure education on a more factual basis, without giving students the opportunity to explore wider issues like sustainability.” This statement is a cause for concern because if students don’t learn about sustainability, how are they supposed to practice it well in their everyday life?

Now, when I came across this piece of information, the first thought that popped into my head was: “how aware are students of their surroundings and how involved do they wish to be?” Young individuals are very curious by nature, as they wish to remain up to date with topics and events that are overflowing their media outlets. Therefore, it’s a shame that a lot of people tend to underestimate the amount of information these children can process and understand reprimanding themselves from sharing it with them, since they think that young people wouldn’t be interested.

Now, here’s the thing: we shouldn’t be deciding this on their behalf, and they have every right to know what is going on in our world for it is the only way for them to shape their own mindset on global matters and issues. A very important example that comes to mind here is the countless number of protests that students have conducted to raise awareness about climate change and global warming. Nobody was forcing them to do so; they were simply speaking up about a topic that matters to them, and this is everything that we should hope for, our students not being afraid to speak up and stand up for what they believe in.

Not only is this a problem in schools, but in universities as well. After all these years, students are still fighting to receive the proper education regarding climate change and sustainability, an education they so deeply desire and need to function as proper members of society. “It isn’t about making musicians into climate scientists. This is responding to what our students want and this generation is looking for. Employers will want students who understand global challenges”, said sustainability manager James Merrychlough of the University of Sheffield, in England. I, for one, would have loved to be able to take courses that would make me more knowledgeable on a topic that affects each and every last one of us. It isn’t only the job of environmentalists and health experts to be aware of the critical state that our environment is, it is everyone’s job as well.

It is important that we start taking action before it is too late. The world is on a tight deadline, and each and every one of us is responsible in trying to extend it, by amending our ways of life. Later on, in my own classroom, I would emphasize on the importance of sustainability as much as I can, because it is a concept that I believe in. After all, we cannot teach our students about certain topics and issues if we do not believe in them ourselves. Even though it is not stressed upon within the national curriculum and I personally haven’t even been taught about these topics, I do know that I will do whatever it takes to make sure that my students do realize that sustainability is not just a concept that they learn about, but it should be a part of their daily life. There are endless ways to promote sustainable development and a sustainable way of life and it all starts with education, since each and every person should be taught to do what is right, for the sake of their planet and for their own sake.

Copy edited by Lana Salloum