and think that our progress is through
let your mind decay
just kneel down and pray:
"Today I will learn nothing new!"
This was going to be just a one-off limerick, something that has been buzzing around in my skull for a couple of days that I had to get out. The idea that "I will learn nothing new today" seems to be a motto of right-wing kooks, something that they adhere to but never actually say out loud.
Until now.
Yesterday, the platform of the Texas GOP was released (PDF), and it has some horribly regressive gems in it. The kicker has got to be this sparkling turd:
"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."
Yup. The official platform of the Republican Party of Texas decries critical thinking. because it might challenge what the student believes. And we can't have that, can we?
In all fairness, that's only one of about 100 statements from that document. There are a lot of clauses in the document that I think are well thought out. I'll admit though, it reads like a sound bite laundry list.
ReplyDeleteAs well thought out as "The sanctity of human life, created in the image of God, which should be protected from
Deletefertilization to natural death."?
If human life should be protected, why has Texas executed over 450 people, including mentally handicapped and at least one innocent man?