But you’d never expect these people to come right out and say that they don’t like critical thinking. Surprise! This was just articulated by the platform of the Texas State GOP in June 2012. The document is complete laundry list of pro-business, social conservative, and extremist right-wing talking points: abstinence-only sex education (which has been a miserable failure so far); corporal punishment of kids; trying juveniles as adults; opposing the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child (which forbids child slavery); faith-based drug rehab; ............. But the most shocking statement in the entire document was the following: “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.” Texas, to where text book companies look for (or used to) for trends and curriculum. (large market and all). Where is this country heading?
No we are not part of common core. That statement about critical thinking is really funny because they (Texas) spent 141 million dollars this year on a new standardized test that is supposed to test critical thinking more. My favorite 2 parts were "multicultural curriculum is devisive"-they want to stick with learning about America. And that Pre-K and Kinder are not necessary because families can teach their kids at home. Infuriating to read the whole platform.
And this thread will probably be flagged by the same individual who does not want to argue the facts.
I don't see anything to argue. It is what it is. I can think of quite a few adjectives for the authors of the whole thing but that might be construed as inflammatory. But it goes along with what I have commented before about how public education is perceived in some circles and under attack.
This is what struck me about the whole thing! Not to mention that many districts in Texas are using CSCOPE which is all about higher level thinking skills and critical thinking. This is NOT coming from the teachers of this state, but from the legislators down in Austin!
Just don't speak negatively of a particular party or politician and I think the thread will remain open. Not that I'm a moderator, but I just figure. This is shocking. I think a lot of people fear children learning to think differently and to think for themselves. It is scary to them, and even though I disagree, I can understand their fears. Change is hard. And changing the WAY you learn without even necessarily WHAT you learn can be the starting point for further exploration (into social issues, for example).
These are direct quotes from the platform: "We believe that parents are best suited to train their children in their early development and oppose mandatory pre-school and Kindergarten. We urge Congress to repeal government sponsored programs that deal with early childhood development." "We believe the current teaching of a multicultural curriculum is divisive. We favor strengthening our common American identity and loyalty instead of political correctness that nurtures alienation among racial and ethnic groups." "Public schools should be required to obtain written parental consent for student participation in any test or questionnaire that surveys beliefs, feelings, or opinions. " "We support school subjects with emphasis on the Judeo-Christian principles upon which America was founded and which form the basis of America’s legal, political and economic systems. We support curricula that are heavily weighted on original founding documents, including the Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution, and Founders’ writings." "We urge school administrators and officials to inform Texas school students specifically of their First Amendment rights to pray and engage in religious speech, individually or in groups, on school property without government interference. We urge the Legislature to end censorship of discussion of religion in our founding documents and encourage discussing those documents." "We support objective teaching and equal treatment of all sides of scientific theories. We believe theories such as life origins and environmental change should be taught as challengeable scientific theories subject to change as new data is produced. Teachers and students should be able to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of these theories openly and without fear of retribution or discrimination of any kind." "We support a return to the traditional basics of reading, writing, arithmetic, and citizenship with sufficient discipline to ensure learning and quality educational assessment"
From those quotes above, it seems like one group intentionally wants to dumb down Americans for political purposes.
Yes, let's go back to the basics...that seemed to work! So get rid of all this standardized testing!! Sounds like this platform needs to be time traveled back in time!
When I went back to complete my teacher training, I was instructed that, while my content is important, the greater good was to teach how to learn. Instilling lifelong curiosity is an important part of mentoring the younger generations. Otherwise, we're a giant assembly line factory.
http://s3.amazonaws.com/texasgop_pre/assets/original/2012Platform_Final.pdf Education is a few pages in.
Perfect thread title. This is where stereotypes come from. We should support Israel so God will not curse us.
Living and teaching in Texas can be exceedingly difficult sometimes... Please understand that this does NOT represent the thoughts and ideas of most Texans (even though we are a "red" state, and the vast majority of people vote along those party lines in every election.) I think a lot of people have no idea what the GOP state party platform really says. This has been making the rounds in the media since it came out a month ago. Hopefully it will be a wake up call for some.
