executioner wrote: We are all unperfect and I agree the No Child Left Behind has alot of items that really do not help, but before Bush came along Texas was just down right horrible in education. We have made great strides and are on our way up; This is something that will take a long time to get right.
Also your quote of "Educators of all political stripes" seems to be somewhat overblown , because this past summer the State Board of Education(which is made up entirely of educators) voted 14-1 to continue this, and also the Teachers Union voted by a margin of 61% in favor of keeping the current system.
The State Board of Education does not consist of educators. It consists of popularly elected officials and political appointees. The qualifications consist solely of being at least 26 years old and a resident of the district you hope to represent (as well as not being a lobbyist or already an elected official and some other conflict-of-interesty things). I'm not sure what you're citing with the teachers union thing, but the Texas Federation of Teachers called for an overhaul of the state's standardized-testing system. The Legislature voted to do away with the TAKS test as a result of massive bipartisan opposition to it. And when I say "educators of all political stripes," I mean teachers I personally have talked to, who are very conservative politically yet hate the testing system that was put in place under the two George W. Bush administrations.
On another note about the Texas state Board of Educations curriculum decisions; What did you find so dismal about it? I will show you what I find great about it as a conservative Christian that is putting my kids through the Texas Public Schools System as we speak.
1. Creation as a viable option- Unlike most other states they have demanded that this not only be in the books but be taught by the educators. All other states have Evolution as fact and most don't even teach Creation at all. Evolution is now taught as THEORY only in the State of Texas.
No problems with this. Evolution is a scientific theory, not a law; it should be taught that way. Creation, on the other hand, is a religious belief, and should be taught along with other religious beliefs about how the world began, with evidences for and against all of them. I doubt that's how the board ultimately ruled on it though.
2. Omitting items in our nations history showing that the U.S.A. was formed and built on Biblical Principle's- The left wing Democrats wanted this to become the case but the Conservative Christian Base fought to have these items included and are still in the books as of today.
I think I've discussed ad nauseum the reason why this country's founders mistrusted religion and based the government on the secular principles of the Enlightenment. James Madison, Father of the Constitution, was an atheist; George Washington refused to kneel in church, Thomas Jefferson created his own Bible by cutting out all the passages referring to Christ's divinity, John Adams signed a treaty with the Barbary States stating that America was in no way a "Christian country," etc. We can throw quotes at each other all day long, but the founders were very careful about their legacy and knew they couldn't afford to be seen as blasphemous or areligious, so they were very political in their obeisance to the idea of faith while generally rejecting the Christian faith as we know it. As proof, I'd count the number of times the word "God" -- or any of the other deistic euphemisms they used (Creator," Architect," "Watch-Maker", all of which imply a God who made things and then sat back to let it run independently from Him) -- is used in the Constitution.
3. Keeping the Gettysburg Address in text books- ACLU has cried foul on this stating that some portions of The Gettysburg Address violates everyone's Civil Rights. I know at one time MLK tried everything in his power to get the State of Georgia to omit this from text books. Too be honest with you I'm not sure why they believe it violates someone's Civil rights.
This is ridiculous. What the board did was elevate Jefferson Davis' inaugural address as president of the Confederacy to a level with Lincoln's first inaugural (not Gettysburg), requiring students to compare and contrast the two. Maybe this was good, maybe it wasn't, but if anything the board watered down the importance of a Lincoln speech by equating it with Davis'. Do you have a link showing where the ACLU has criticized the Gettysburg Address? Because I can't find any evidence of that.
4. Keeping Abstinence as the most viable option- This was something that everyone fought hard over and it was keep in the system as is. Most states now say the only way is protection and only a few even have abstinence as a option.
I can't find anywhere saying the board actually did anything like this, but it's worth noting that most districts in Texas do not merely have abstinence as part of their education, but teach "abstinence-only" education, which is problematic because teenagers are simply not going to have a 100 percent abstinence rate, sad though that is. If the schools are not teaching contraception as a way to prevent disease and unwanted pregnancy in the event someone does decide not to be abstinent, then the rates of unwanted pregnancy, STDs and abortions go up. Which probably explains why Texas was third in teen pregnancies in 2008. CDC data show that teens in Texas have unprotected s3x "far more often" than the national average, and that states that have an "abstinence-plus" curriculum have rates below the national average.
Because of such terrible results, school districts on their own in the past two years have begun reversing their abstinence-only policies and turning them into abstinence-plus policies. I don't see any problem with teaching that abstinence is the only sure-fire way to prevent disease and pregnancy, but if you're going to do the deed, then you need to use protection. That's simply acknowledging reality.
5. Keeping the U.S. Constitution and The Bill of Rights in the text books- The liberals wanted both of these omitted from the text books, but it was kept in and also each student during middle school are required to memorize both and also most school districts require high school students to write thesis on these.
There is also no evidence that I can find that this is true. The major disagreement that I can find is over the Second Amendment, but not over the actual Constitution and Bill of Rights. It fits a fun narrative that "liberals" hate the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, but it's simply not true.
As for what I found objectionable about the TBOE decisions, beyond what I mentioned above:
1. Apologizing for McCarthyism
2. Rejecting the inclusion of influential Hispanics/Latinos
3. Calling into question separation of church and state
4. Equalizing the Black Panthers with MLK in the civil rights movement
5. Numerous other changes that, while historically accurate, were clearly done to push a political viewpoint, to settle political scores or simply out of sheer pettiness, as opposed to any eye toward what was truly the most relevant historical information to include.
Nice being in the "Bellwether State"...