Scholastic pushing coal industry talking points in schools.

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http://www.pri.org/arts-entertainment/books/scholastic-distributed-coal-propaganda-in-schools3880.html

"If you went to public school in the United States, you might remember the Scholastic company's book clubs. Scholastic, Inc. is the world's largest publisher of children's books. "Clifford the Big Red Dog," "The Magic School Bus" series are just two of the company's vast offerings made possible because of its partnerships with authors and artists. But now Scholastic is drawing criticism for another partnership - one with the coal industry.

The American Coal Foundation paid Scholastic to help produce and place in classrooms maps and worksheets called the "United States of Energy." At first glance, it looks like an exploration of all sources of electricity. But much of the information comes from the National Mining Association, a coal-lobbying group. And these exercises for children subtly emphasize coal's benefits.

For example, this chart does not mention damage from mining or pollution. The pictured miner doesn't have a smudge of coal dust. The power plant has no smokestack. An attractive map highlights top coal producing states. Solar power shows up only once - in the desert.

These materials strike some education watchdogs and environmental educators as one-sided and not in keeping with criteria for fairness or balance. "You know, they're not really education - they're propaganda," according to Faith Boninger, a research analyst with Arizona State University's Commercialism in Education Research Unit."


Our family stopped buying Scholastic products during the whole "Path to 9/11" debacle.