Opportunity, ambivalence, and the purpose of schooling in Pennsylvania’s

Marcellus Shale Region

Dr. Kai A. Schafft

Associate Professor of Education and Director of the Penn State Center for Rural Education and

Communities

Catharine Biddle

Ph.D. Candidate in Education Policy Studies

By June, 2013: Over 6,000 wells were drilled Total projected: 60,000-100,000.

Schools as a lens for understanding Marcellus development

• Schools are one of a handful of key social institutions in rural areas

• Schools serve broad swathes of the community giving educators and youth a unique vantage point on community change

• Educators are in a position to influence youth educational, occupational and residential aspirations

Research questions

• How do educators and youth in affected areas perceive social and economic change associated with the development of the Marcellus Shale?

• For educators, how have those perceptions shaped their curricular responses, particularly with regard to STEM education?

• For youth, how are they evaluating their future life, employment and educational prospects in Pennsylvania’s new shale economy?

Data and methods

Spring/Summer of 2011

• 8 out of 10 school districts in north-central Pennsylvania

• 6 interviews

• 7 focus groups

• 41 participating educators

Winter/Spring of 2012-3

• 4 case study counties– 2 in SW PA, 2 in NE of PA

• 7 educator focus groups– 2 Intermediate Unit

– 4 district level

– 1 Career and Technical Center

• 5 youth focus groups

• 36 youth, 47 educators

Findings:

Educators and youth are weighing new economic opportunity (jobs, growth, income) against…

1. Uncertainty about long-term effect on social and environmental health

2. Concerns about distribution of economic benefits of development in community

3. Concerns about the longevity, mobility and desirability of gas industry jobs

4. Feelings of constraint around ability to adapt curricula to address shale gas development

Uncertainty about long-term social and environmental effects

Student 1: I don’t think the country life will still be here if more people keep coming and more drilling keeps happening.

Student 2: It will turn it into a city.

Student 1: It’s definitely disappearing(Greene county)

“They come up here with different companies and they just do whatever they want, drive as fast as they want, however they want, wherever they want. They have no respect for the road or any of us out here.” (Student, Bradford County)

Concerns about distribution of economic opportunity

Not only did we lose housing, we also took what was limited there and blew up the rental cost on it, which was really beneficial for a very small group of people, but for folks that are already impoverished and needing a place to stay? Gone.(Educator, Greene County) Image courtesy of The Patriot News, November 10 2010

Desirability, Longevity, and Mobility of Industry opportunities

I’m close to a couple of the guys. They go all over the place. They’ll be here for a week, and then go down to Louisiana for a month, and they come back up here…they were telling me to stay out of the life because it’s terrible because you never know where you’re going, and you never know what you’re doing…

I’ve already had an offer when I turn 18. I can start out making $3,000 a week from just as an assistant, and you don’t even need a degree for that. I still want to go to college and everything, but I might do that over the summer. (Student, Bradford County)

Constraint of ability to adapt curriculum

I'd like to see us and other school districts be able to do a little bit more as far as some of the kids because I think it would be beneficial for them to gear them more towards that. But I feel like we're kinda hamstrung because it doesn't align with standards, and everything is so standards-driven anymore in the public educational system.(Educator, Bradford County)

Ambivalence and Value conflict

New jobs

Desire for local employment

Desire to give students information about work

Educating in response to local opportunity

destruction of environment and community structure

risk that employment is not actually local

risk of drop-out or diminished post-secondary educational attainment

risk of educating for an industry that may leave communities worse

off in the long-run

vs.

vs.

vs.

vs.

Purpose of STEM integration? Purpose of Education?

What does it mean to be scientifically literate?

How are the possibilities of what education can be limited by institutional blinders and the way we talk about education?

How can schooling contribute to the agency of educators and young people in being able to shape and define the long-term well-being of the places in which they live?