As an English Language Arts educator, I see one of my job

responsibilities as a guide and resource so students can

experience diferent points of view.
eachers have a tremendous in!uence on students, not only
as educators, but also as mentors and role models. "tudents
are observant# they watch our actions, and how we conduct
ourselves.
It$s important for students to learn about the natural world
and experience places where they can learn to be good
stewards of the earth and its inhabitants.
"ea%orld teaches little about conservation, and nothing of
the efects captivity has on its whales and dolphins. hese
sentient beings are deprived of everything that is natural to
them. &eople are starting to 'uestion this slanted point of
view, and its (education and conservation,) statements are
now being challenged.
han*s to documentaries such as Blackfsh and The Cove,
and literature li*e Death at SeaWorld, by +avid ,irby, the
veil is being lifted. -illions of people have since become
enlightened to another .point of view,$ the one in which the
harm and deprivation to the animals in "ea%orld$s care are
revealed.
-arine par*s in general are a perverse form of
entertainment that uses captive animals. As an educator, I
/nd it hard to reconcile that visiting a par* that *eeps
captive animals, is more educational than seeing them in
their natural habitat.
+olphins and whales when captive in tan*s, performing for
dead /sh and doing unnatural tric*s for an audience is not
education and is anything but .normal.$ "houldn0t we be
teaching our children that we need to visit these animals in
0their home,0 not a man1made replica not even a fraction of
the si2e of their natural habitat3
As teachers, our in!uence reaches far beyond the borders of
the classroom. As teachers, we are obligated to impart the
truth 4 that "ea%orld and other par*s, for the sa*e of the
animals that we allegedly love, are not an acceptable venue
to patroni2e.