Knowledge-Based Education – We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) (values clarification), critical thinking skills and similar programs that are simply a relabeling of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) (mastery learning) which focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student’s fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority.And: "Education Spending – Since data is clear that additional money does not translate into educational achievement, and higher education costs are out of control, we support reducing taxpayer funding to all levels of education institutions."
And: "We pledge our influence toward a return to the original intent of the First Amendment and toward dispelling the myth of separation of church and state."
And: "We support the withdrawal of the United States from the United Nations and the removal of U.N. headquarters from U.S. soil."
And: "We oppose any sex education other than abstinence until marriage."
Via
Addendum (July 2012): The Republican Party of Texas now says that including the "critical thinking skills" phrase was "a mistake."
Further precis'd as "we oppose any form of education and we don't like to acknowledge foreigners even exist"
ReplyDeleteEnglish is my native language, but I cannot understand that first paragraph. Or as Samuel L. Jackson said: ENGLISH, MOTHER----, DO YOU SPEAK IT?
ReplyDeleteWe're the Texas Republicans. We want you ignorant, superstitious, dogmatic, xenophobic, and pregnant – but don't concern yourself over these big words. Check your brains at the door and God bless America!
ReplyDeleteWhere did those "fixed beliefs" come from? Are they inborn and part of the student's true nature? More often than not they are the beliefs of their parents and a hand me down of a hand me down. Anyone should be free to challenge anyone else's beliefs. It is really up to the individuals to draw the line to what beliefs they want to keep or change at any point in time during their lives.
ReplyDeleteIn short a very narrow minded point of view. Looks like one could make a fortune by selling tar and feather kits to the locals in the near future.
They could have saved a lot of paper by just coming out and saying what they really mean:
ReplyDeleteWe don’t need no education
We don’t need no thought control
In a related story. Texas 10th graders can now declare majors in courses titled "Do You Want Fries With That?" and "Welcome to Walmart"
Personally, I'm good with the idea of focusing education on the subjects to be learned instead of programming students with a liberal worldview. If you want your nanny state dictating what your children believe and teaching them to reject your culture and moral standards, that's your prerogative. There are many other options, and they should be available to those who live in a free country.
ReplyDeleteThe undue influence of teachers unions, the UN, and groups that push the feminist (& homosexual) agendas are a major reason that this country has lost its influence over the past 50 - 60 years. The typical bashing of "flyover America" by the liberals along the coasts usually fails to acknowledge that the concerns of conservatives (and Christians) are frequently valid.
"The undue influence of teachers unions, the UN, and groups that push the feminist (& homosexual) agendas are a major reason that this country has lost its influence over the past 50 - 60 years." [Citation needed]
DeleteDon't mess with Texas!
ReplyDeleteTo a liberal Canadian this is scarey stuff indeed.
"We want to restore America...to the 12th century."
ReplyDeleteThese guys should have lived in Afghanistan pre-war on terror. They'd have loved it!
ReplyDeleteAs a former teacher, I am disgusted. It's hard work to teach kids how to think critically, and worth every bit of it. I guess they want a bunch of head nodders who will vote to rubber stamp all their stupidity, until the state is left with people too ignorant to take care of their most basic personal needs. The uneducated and undereducated already vote contrary to their own best interests. And to Anonymous in Canada, aren't you glad that Texas is really far away from you?
ReplyDeleteThis is actually just returning to the common sense principles that made America great.
ReplyDeleteSo: not trying to stoke inquisitiveness and curiosity in children, removing support for education, tying religion to national affairs, and attempting to avoid contact with the rest of the world are not only common sense, but are also reminiscent of the principles that made America great? What.
DeleteI see from your blog that you are a Baptist and your father is a minister in the church. Blessed be.
DeleteThis sounds like direct dissemination from the annual "Bohemian camporee" thru the Bush family compound. To "dumnify" the next peasant generation. The easier to control the masses of the future. Just another way saying they want to start burning books and censoring thought. there is much to fear from these ______ .!!
ReplyDeleteAren't these the conditions that caused the Pilgrims to leave UK/Europe and establish independent thinking colonies in the "New World" in the first place?
ReplyDeleteIf Texas doesn't actually contribute vast amounts of taxes for the Feds to use as they wish in other states, perhaps it could be encouraged to secede and be its own nation, next to Mexico. It might be easier to fence it out of the union, and reduce illegal immigration. Those Republicans down there might go for the idea. They sound silly enough to be persuadeable.
ReplyDeleteI just can't believe that an educational charter would contain the words "We oppose the teaching of higher-order thinking skills..." As Stephen Fry so aptly put it: "THEN WHAT ARE YOU FOR?"
ReplyDeleteMichio Kaku's Secret Weapon:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK0Y9j_CGgM
I try really hard not to label all Republicans as mysogynistic, homophobic, and racist; however, this official platform makes it clear that at least some of the people in power would like that to be the Republican party stance.
ReplyDeleteThe Christian right is scaring me.
Here is a compromise I offer to the right....
ReplyDeleteLet's teach our children to think logically and independently. If, after achieving these skills, they decide that the Republicans/Christian right/faith over logic/ believers are correct, so be it. If they must cling to power by keeping people from using their god-given brains, (god-given used semi-sarcastically here), then they should have no control over education, which is by definition supposed to teach people how to think critically.
If they can only succeed by keeping people from using their thinking processes, what does that say about them?
It was an accident:
ReplyDeletehttp://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/06/texas_gops_2012_platform_accidentally_opposes_teaching_of_critical_thinking_skills.php
Appended to the post. Thank you, anon.
DeleteAnd this is what they are focused on for 2014...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.newsweek.com/texas-republican-party-adopts-discredited-reparative-therapy-gays-254168