Seismic Shift in School Names Towards Natural Features
by Kenny Luna, North Babylon, NY on 07. 5.07
In a recent study by the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas they’ve found that schools in the U.S. are becoming increasingly likely to be named after a natural feature like manatees in Florida or a cactus in Arizona than a current or former U.S. leader. In fact, of recent school names in Florida only five of them were named after George Washington while 11 were named after manatees. In Arizona, public schools built over the last 20 years were 50 times more likely to be named after a natural feature than a U.S. leader, a fact that might leave some of them turning in their graves. I guess the question is this… Is it a sign of growing environmental awareness or a sign of growing public polarization that our school names are taking on an environmental twist to them?
Now while I’d certainly like to think that it’s a result of a growing environmental awareness, I’d bet there’s also a significant argument to be made that naming it after a local feature has far less potential for controversy than any political leader, particularly with the current degree of political polarization in U.S. But regardless of the reasons for doing so, I’m wondering whether this trend is actually sending an interesting but subconsciously positive message to kids when they go to school each day, because it seems to me that by naming schools after local features we’ve actually been giving kids the message that protecting the environment is important. After all, we tend to name things after people, places, or things that we value, and that’s a concept kids definitely pick up on… Maybe a new study on the effects of school names on kids is in order?
What happened to naming schools after the towns they are in?
That only works for the first one(s).
Naming a school after the town makes sense if there's only one school in town... but for dense areas it just isn't practical. For example I learned after moving to NYC that a lot of the public schools here have numbers for the name, such as "P.S. 138", which strikes me as very bizarre.
it sure beats "Hamburger Helper High" or some of the other corporate-sounding names...
now if we could only have the athletic facilities at schools drop the corporate-sponsorship...
I was thinking (while reading the article) that the new names have less to do with the polarization of politics than the lack of real leaders to name schools after... who's a political leader we all admire? I can't think of one, to be honest.
Manatees don't start wars, cacti are self-sufficient in an extreme environment, and Seminoles as mascots are passe. Environmentalist children are going to be our greatest resource in the difficult times ahead.