Comparing environmental education level of private and public school students

Environmental problems that arouse because of various activities of mankind and were put into agenda especially in the second part of the 20th century have been faced intensively nowadays. Undoubtly enviromental problems will get more serious in the 21st century, if -starting from the individuals- enviromental education and getting concious about it are not taught to every aspect of the society, and if necessary precautions are not taken. The basic source of present environmental problems that mankind faces today is the relationship between mankind and nature. At the beginning, the mankind used to fight against the nature for his survival; however, he has started to control it for the last a few years and used up natural sources quickly. Now, the nature is under threat. Under this condition, the point that must be paid attention is improving the human sources, and this is possible by letting them to acquire necessary knowledge and skills. The most important tool to teach mankind knowledge and basic skills is education. This study aimed at comparing the environmental education levels of state secondary school students and private secondary school students. 200 students of state and private secondary schools in the city of Ankara took place in this study. Attitudes of the students towards the environment and their knowledge about environment were tried to be evaluated by measuring with improved scales. It is concluded that there is not a meaningful difference between the attitudes of state secondary school students and of private secondary school students; however, the success level of private secondary school students is better on the knowledge of environment. Moreover, the relation between their families' income levels, their fathers' educational level, occupations, number of family members with the attitudes of the students is also tried to be evaluated. Key Words: Environmental Education, Private School, Public School, Environmental Attitudes 111