If funding for "The Magic School Bus" had come from the oil and gas industry, Ms. Frizzle might look a little bit like Petro Pete. Pete and his friend Sandy Shale are the stars of “Petro Pete's Big Bad Dream,” put out by the Oklahoma Energy Resources Board as part of a pro-industry curriculum that promotes sympathy for fossil fuels to first graders. All but a few of Oklahoma school districts use the board's programs, which have also been adopted in Kansas.
From the Center for Public Integrity:
The board has spent upwards of $40 million over the past two decades on K-12 education with a pro-industry bent, including hundreds of pages of curricula, a speaker series and an afterschool program — all at no cost to educators.
A similar program in Ohio shows teachers how to “frack” Twinkies using straws to pump for cream and advises on the curriculum for a charter school that revolves around shale drilling. A national program whose sponsors include BP and Shell claims it's too soon to tell if the earth is heating up, but “a little warming might be a good thing.”
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