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Texas schools board rewrites US history

4 points by helwr 16y ago

jacquesm 16y ago
These people are actively bringing about the downfall of the education of a large number of children, you really wonder what is on their minds. If the United States does not get its priorities straight in this respect they'll pay the price in having a badly educated batch of people 20 years down the line in positions of trust and influence. They should make 'The daemon haunted world' a must read in school instead.
- amock 16y ago
  I don't think that one state having a conservative bias instead of a liberal bias in it's public schools is going to cause the downfall of anyone's education. The changes mentioned in the article aren't even that extreme, particularly when compared to the socialist propaganda that was present in the high schools and college I attended.
  - thaumaturgy 16y ago
    Heh. The greatest trick the republicans ever pulled was convincing people that everything has a liberal bias.
- thaumaturgy 16y ago
  What's on their minds is that they live in a country that has strayed from the principles that they know to be right and true, and that the odds are against them, but they must band together and fight for the salvation of their children and country. Psychologically, this is an extremely powerful way of thinking. There are no gray areas, no moral ambiguities, no questions for which there aren't clear answers. Everything is sharp and crystal clear to them, which is why nobody will ever, ever be able to change their minds about all this. And those badly educated batch of people? Like you said, they are our future politicians, lawmakers, officers, engineers, and even scientists. They aren't going to pay any price; we will.
Dove 16y ago
A fantastic demonstration of why the state shouldn't control the cirriculum. Even if those who share your ideas and ideals are in power now, it's short-sighted to assume things will stay that way. It ought to be a fundamental right to educate your children in whatever ideological tradition you please.
- lotharbot 16y ago
  Fundamentally, the problem is so much bigger than just Texas' school board and this particular rewrite. Fundamentally, the problem is that any state can end up with wrong, objectionable, or offensive curriculum simply due to enough nuts getting elected to the school board (or enough people who are nuts on one particular issue), and if that happens, there's very little parents can do about it in the short term aside from leaving the state or paying for private school. As long as the average person is stuck sending their kid to the nearest public school, we're also stuck with the possibility that the school board will choose to educate our children inappropriately (along with a whole host of other problems, like that the nearest school will simply be terrible.)

4 points by helwr 16y ago

These people are actively bringing about the downfall of the education of a large number of children, you really wonder what is on their minds. If the United States does not get its priorities straight in this respect they'll pay the price in having a badly educated batch of people 20 years down the line in positions of trust and influence. They should make 'The daemon haunted world' a must read in school instead.

amock 16y ago
I don't think that one state having a conservative bias instead of a liberal bias in it's public schools is going to cause the downfall of anyone's education. The changes mentioned in the article aren't even that extreme, particularly when compared to the socialist propaganda that was present in the high schools and college I attended.
- thaumaturgy 16y ago
  Heh. The greatest trick the republicans ever pulled was convincing people that everything has a liberal bias.
thaumaturgy 16y ago
What's on their minds is that they live in a country that has strayed from the principles that they know to be right and true, and that the odds are against them, but they must band together and fight for the salvation of their children and country. Psychologically, this is an extremely powerful way of thinking. There are no gray areas, no moral ambiguities, no questions for which there aren't clear answers. Everything is sharp and crystal clear to them, which is why nobody will ever, ever be able to change their minds about all this. And those badly educated batch of people? Like you said, they are our future politicians, lawmakers, officers, engineers, and even scientists. They aren't going to pay any price; we will.

Dove 16y ago

A fantastic demonstration of why the state shouldn't control the cirriculum. Even if those who share your ideas and ideals are in power now, it's short-sighted to assume things will stay that way. It ought to be a fundamental right to educate your children in whatever ideological tradition you please.

lotharbot 16y ago
Fundamentally, the problem is so much bigger than just Texas' school board and this particular rewrite. Fundamentally, the problem is that any state can end up with wrong, objectionable, or offensive curriculum simply due to enough nuts getting elected to the school board (or enough people who are nuts on one particular issue), and if that happens, there's very little parents can do about it in the short term aside from leaving the state or paying for private school. As long as the average person is stuck sending their kid to the nearest public school, we're also stuck with the possibility that the school board will choose to educate our children inappropriately (along with a whole host of other problems, like that the nearest school will simply be terrible.)