New Education Standards in Texas

[Shangri-laschild]

I'm confused as to how this keeps getting pushed back to Republican vs Democrat. I haven't seen any arguments here that this should be instead put in the hands of the Democrats, or that it is the Republicans as a whole that are the problem. There are various shades of both political parties, none of the shades represent the whole party. I would agree that this shade of extreme religious conservative (that falls on the side of Republican) shouldn't be in charge of school books. They can't seem to keep their religion out of it and I think they should be replaced with people who can stick with actual history and I don't really care what political party the new people are with. And when it comes down to "both sides" why does that keep getting pushed to mean Democrats and Republicans? I'm not even sure how that applies to this, the sides consist of those who want to change history and those who want to teach factual history. To that extent, yes it's definitely one side that's wrong, because deciding to teach history as you'd like it to be isn't ok. Which again has nothing to do with political parties other than the fact that some of the involved people fall in with certain parties.

[Gravekeeper]

Thank you. -.-

[s_stabeler]

I actually think that me and Gravekeeper may have been trying to make the same point- that the issue is that education standards are being twisted deliberately. there is always going to be SOME bias in education standards- you aren't going to get a creationist to draw up standards endorsing evolution ( I'm talking about the kind of creationist who wants it taught in science lessons) but the point is that such twisting should a) be minimized as far as possible and b) should never be deliberate.

[Gravekeeper]

I actually think that me and Gravekeeper may have been trying to make the same point

I think we're ultimately all in agreement that when dealing with a factual subject like history or science, whomever is in charge of it should be concerned utmost with presenting said facts. Not their political, religious or ideological version of "facts". I think we can all agree that a board of education should be staffed by educators. Not politicians, religious fundamentalists or a fucking dentist.

But this is a long standing problem with some of these systems in America. Positions to them are elected or appointed instead of based on qualifications and there is this awful habit of making everything political ( Look at the complete embarrassment that is the senate committee on science and tech ). Thanks to an overly adversarial political climate that feels like it was really kicked off during the Bush years with the "you're either with us or against us" thing.

Education should be an apolitical issue. But you have these groups who, in essence, want to brainwash children into their "vision" of the what the country should be and what the world is. And they get elected because there's enough like minded crazies around them and no filtering system preventing them from taking positions of power they shouldn't be anywhere near.

Unfortunately, this happens much more on the right of the spectrum than the left. As Talon said, sure, there are far left crazies, but they are fewer and far between. And more importantly, they don't get elected to positions of power specifically because of their lunacy. Thats the key difference here. A left wing nutjob is considered just that, some random nutjob that can be dismissed. A ring wing nutjob on the other hand enjoys popular support amongst the general public in their region. Especially, or even specifically, because they're a religious nutjob.

Which I think is really the ultimate problem behind most of this bullshit. Religious fundamentalism and social conservatism based on religious reasons. When you legitimately believe an invisible sky wizard supports all of the terrible things you are doing you tend to dismiss any and all criticism and self reflection. -.-

A good chunk of the problem is also, ironically, states rights. There are many issues, such as public education, which should legitimately be completely under the realm of the federal government. But are in the hands of the states and it turns into a mess like this one.

[Andara Bledin]

Thanks to an overly adversarial political climate that feels like it was really kicked off during the Bush years with the "you're either with us or against us" thing.

This is actually a legacy of the Reagan years. The Republican party has a policy of not breaking ranks or speaking out against fellow party members, and because they're not supposed to be critical of their own members, the most vocal and zealous members get to set policy, because the sane ones won't call them out publicly no matter how insance their rhetoric because it's considered a greater malfeasance to break ranks than to be batshit insane, apparently.

[s_stabeler]

actually, in the case of Texas, the primary issue is that because they are one of the biggest markets for textbooks, textbooks tend to be written to conform to texan education standards- which makes the Texas Board of Education one that PARTICULARLY should be as apolitical as possible, and staffed by people that actually have teaching experience.

[Gravekeeper]

This is actually a legacy of the Reagan years. The Republican party has a policy of not breaking ranks or speaking out against fellow party members, and because they're not supposed to be critical of their own members, the most vocal and zealous members get to set policy, because the sane ones won't call them out publicly no matter how insance their rhetoric because it's considered a greater malfeasance to break ranks than to be batshit insane, apparently.

That long, eh? ><

Wasn't Reagan the one that really brought in Christian social conservatives to the Republican mix as well?

[Andara Bledin]

Yup. His administration is responsible for that, too.

[s_stabeler]

that actually makes me wonder if part of the problem with the Republican party is your bog-standard persecution complex. After all, the fact that they present a united front in public, no matter any private disagreements is a hallmark of those. (as for what they believe they are beign persecuted over, it's likely your standard religious extremist "we're being persecuted because we can't impose our rules on everyone, regardless of their religion, or absence of it" persecution complex)

And YES, I know I am simplifying, and it isn't meant to be a statement about all social conservatives- christian or not. Just that the Republican Party seems to be dominated by the batshit ones at the moment.

[Gravekeeper]

that actually makes me wonder if part of the problem with the Republican party is your bog-standard persecution complex.

There's a hell of a persecution complex running through the right, yes. Its almost become comical as of late.

[Kheldarson]

As a follow up:

http://www.wdbj7.com/life/mcgrawhill...laint/35648324

[Greenday]

As a follow up:

http://www.wdbj7.com/life/mcgrawhill...laint/35648324

But if they refer to them as slaves, it'll make white people look bad.

/sarcasm