Seriously, Doesn't the Texas State Senate Have Anything Better to Do?

Spotts1701 wrote:

Talk About A "Slanted View"

Quote :

Texas high school students would learn about such significant individuals and milestones of conservative politics as Newt Gingrich and the rise of the Moral Majority — but nothing about liberals — under the first draft of new standards for public school history textbooks...

[Board Member Ken Mercer] would add James Dobson's Focus on the Family, conservative talk show host Sean Hannity and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee to the list of conservatives. Others have proposed adding talk show host Rush Limbaugh and the National Rifle Association.

Are they trying to create a little brainwashing movement down there?

This is nuts, and it doesn't even make sense==even if you agree with conservative ideology.

I mean to be a conservative, you're naturally going to encounter resistance from liberals, and to effectively promote the conservative agenda, you have to know who the liberals are, what they believe, why you think it's wrong, and who is important/influential within the liberal movement. To blackout even learning about 'the other side' (as if public schools should be taking sides) then you're creating a bunch of thoughtless zombies whose world view is going to utterly collapse when they get to college and meet professors and students with opposing viewpoints.

This is dumb on so many levels.

karmyn31 wrote:

Extreme anything political is dangerous, whether it be extreme right conservative or extreme left liberal. All sides have plenty of loonies. Just look at the radical feminists. Or PETA.

This. I am definitely a liberal, but I'm capable of seeing the other side's POV (even if I disagree with it). However, there are some really batshit people on either side of the political spectrum--like the crazy atheists on AlterNet who want to kill or "re-educate" all the religious people, and their conservative equivalent, the crazy religious people who want to kill or convert everyone who isn't of their particular faith. Then there's the batshit feminists who think women don't have control of their own bodies because they aren't required to get abortions, and their batshit equivalent, the people who think women are good only for breeding and if something goes wrong with a pregnancy the woman should be imprisoned or killed because God would never allow such things to happen naturally. Then there's groups that are their own special brand of crazy, like PETA, teabaggers, the Phelps clan, and the local Chicano group that thinks California needs to be returned to Mexico and all of Mexico's problems are America's fault.

theweirdkind wrote:

karmyn31 wrote:

Not to defend Melissa, but the TAAS test was the standard before the TAKS. They changed it sometime in the mid-90s after I graduated.

I know it was the TAAS, but now it's the TAKS. The fact that Melissa doesn't know shit like that when it's in the local news, shows how naive she is about about the Texas state education system which means she really shouldn't be commenting on it at all.

You know, when you catch someone in error, there is a way to point it out without resorting to childish insults and name calling. I know, I've done it. And you never did get around to telling me how to teach a child how to school.

Okay, I know I'm really necroposting, but...

It passed.

Quote :

Decisions by the board—long led by social conservatives who have advocated ideas such as teaching more about the weaknesses of evolutionary theory—affects textbook content nationwide because Texas is one of publishers’ biggest clients.

That's right, guys. Not only will the Texas education system be effected by this, but plenty of other states as well.

Quote :

But, the board agreed to strengthen nods to Christianity by adding references to "laws of nature and nature’s God" to a section in U.S. history that requires students to explain major political ideas.

Hm... I seem to recall this thing about separation of Church and State.

Quote :

Conservatives beat back multiple attempts to include hip-hop as an example of a significant cultural movement.

Because there are only white kids in Texas, amirite?

Quote :

Numerous attempts to add the names or references to important Hispanics throughout history also were denied, inducing one amendment that would specify that Tejanos died at the Alamo alongside Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie.

Yeah, screw all of those other insignificant people that died at the Alamo. We only care about the white ones. Seriously, as somebody who's a descendant from a veteran of the Texas Revolution, I find this offensive.

Quote :

Berlanga also bristled when the board approved an amendment that deletes a requirement that sociology students "explain how institutional racism is evident in American society."

Just... there are no words.

Also, also...

They cut out Thomas Jefferson among other things.

Quote :

To avoid exposing students to “transvestites, transsexuals and who knows what else,” the Board struck the curriculum’s reference to “sex and gender as social constructs.”

Of course, because if they take them out of the curriculum, the students will never know about transvestites and transsexuals.

Quote :

The Board removed Thomas Jefferson from the Texas curriculum, “replacing him with religious right icon John Calvin.”

Well, I guess the third President of the United States and the man who wrote the Declaration of Independence isn't as important as somebody who has to do with religion. You know, that thing that's supposed to be separated from State.

I need liquor.

Edit: Another article.

UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH WHAT

BRB, preparing to request a student visa for Canada.

Well, I guess Kel's going to be happy that her people won, at least. I can hear the gloating already.

Quote :

I seem to recall this thing about separation of Church and State.

Don't you know anything? It just means "keeping the government and their 'rules' out of our religion while we do whatever we please" [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Nihilist wrote:

This reads as very 1984ish to me

Bitches don't know that 1984 is bullshit and that we already live in a different nightmare by a different author-

Nihilist wrote:

gotta groom the next generation for a new era of plugged-in brainlessness and bipartisanship WHAT ARE THE CELEBRITIES DOING LETS GET LIPOSUCTIONS.

-namely, Brave New World. Maybe I'll pick up both books, if I have the time.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Nihilist wrote:

But my point remains, what they're doing to the curriculum is Orwellian. But when it comes to consumerist culture as a whole, point to Huxley.

Really? That sounds like censorship to you? Because to me the addition of religion and creationism sounds like drowning out of the truth with irrelevance. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

And Phyllis Schafly gets a place in the curriculum, even though the guy who was pushing her addition (as part of a unit on "the resurgence of conservatism") lost his primary.

Suddenly I'm glad that school districts can't afford new books - it means they can tell the textbook folks to go screw themselves.

I don't remember actually using the textbook a lot when I was in school. They were so outdated that a lot of my teachers made lesson plans that excluded them entirely, except for math and foreign language.

Social studies? Websites put on a projector.

English? Assigned novels or if studying grammer, projections.

Science? Websites on a projector/experimenting. Did a lot of classes outside, since the teachers figured it would keep us awake.

I can't see a lot of teachers using the textbooks that Texas wants to make. ("Whoops, new textbooks aren't in the budget again, so sorry Texas.")

KGarrett wrote:

Well, I guess Kel's going to be happy that her people won, at least. I can hear the gloating already.

If there were things I wanted to say in this thread, I would say them. If I really bother you so damn much, foe me already and shut up about it.

I agree with Kel - let's not generalize what this group of conservative individuals did with all who may share some of the same ideology. Painting with that broad a brush is never a good idea.

Good thing the U.S. is working toward nationwide standards!

I was about to say that I thought Kel pretty much only had the anti-abortion line--I didn't remember her saying anything about having Christianity in our schools. And I never recall her 'gloating'.

But whatev. I officially hate Texas even more now, and I didn't think that was possible since I already view it as the pit of hell.

To answer the topic question... no. They're Texas. This is their thing, like geeks in their parents basements building lego recreations of every Star Trek character. What else do they have to do?

Edit thats not to say I don't like Texans. But come on. Individual people does not a state make. Plus my crazy aunt that no one likes talkingh to but me lives there. Supposedly she keeps forgetting to take her medication.

Ah, to be Canadian. As far removed as possible from these Texan hackjobs.

........though the downside is we're closer to Palin :/

theweirdkind wrote:

Quote :

The Board removed Thomas Jefferson from the Texas curriculum, “replacing him with religious right icon John Calvin.”

Well, I guess the third President of the United States and the man who wrote the Declaration of Independence isn't as important as somebody who has to do with religion. You know, that thing that's supposed to be separated from State.

John Calvin? John Frakking Calvin!?
The guy who founded Calvinism? The guy who believed that God predestines some people to eternal damnation and others to eternal life with no actual regard for the choices they've made? The John Calvin that lived and died more than two-hundred years before the United States of America was founded? What the hell, Texas?

There's something not quite right about Texas. It twists people, makes them stupid and evil. I'm glad I got out after a relatively short stay. Six months was too long.

Nihilist wrote:

Or, keeping the truth from today's students to keep them ignorant, weak, and in line. Makes them easy to control and manipulate around for whatever the government's whims may be. Orwellian. Could go into it further, but I'm not seeing the worth here. Thanks for the jpeg, though. Too bad both are equally as valid even though we disagree to the application.

Next.

You're arguing against a burn. Your argument is invalid.

Lapin wrote:

I don't remember actually using the textbook a lot when I was in school. They were so outdated that a lot of my teachers made lesson plans that excluded them entirely, except for math and foreign language.

Social studies? Websites put on a projector.

English? Assigned novels or if studying grammer, projections.

Science? Websites on a projector/experimenting. Did a lot of classes outside, since the teachers figured it would keep us awake.

I can't see a lot of teachers using the textbooks that Texas wants to make. ("Whoops, new textbooks aren't in the budget again, so sorry Texas.")

I know no one else noticed, but I did

Lapin wrote:

grammer

I noticed so hard. That was ironic, right?

the asylum wrote:

Ah, to be Canadian. As far removed as possible from these Texan hackjobs.

High five, my fellow Canadafag.

the asylum wrote:

........though the downside is we're closer to Palin :/

There is an advert on a side of a bus stop near where I live that says "Palin is a best-selling author", and "Unexplained mysteries" right under that.

Psy-4 wrote:

the asylum wrote:

........though the downside is we're closer to Palin :/

There is an advert on a side of a bus stop near where I live that says "Palin is a best-selling author", and "Unexplained mysteries" right under that.

You gotta take a pic of it

Melissa wrote:

theweirdkind wrote:

karmyn31 wrote:

Not to defend Melissa, but the TAAS test was the standard before the TAKS. They changed it sometime in the mid-90s after I graduated.

I know it was the TAAS, but now it's the TAKS. The fact that Melissa doesn't know shit like that when it's in the local news, shows how naive she is about about the Texas state education system which means she really shouldn't be commenting on it at all.

You know, when you catch someone in error, there is a way to point it out without resorting to childish insults and name calling.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I seem to remember a certain person "baking an internet penis cake", and than "giving a slice" to everybody but Cyberwulf and me because we were being all mean. What with us disagreeing with you and all. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

[quote="theweirdkind]

Quote :

To avoid exposing students to “transvestites, transsexuals and who knows what else,” the Board struck the curriculum’s reference to “sex and gender as social constructs.”

Of course, because if they take them out of the curriculum, the students will never know about transvestites and transsexuals.
[/quote]

Oh, they'll know they exist. They'll just believe that they're abberations and freaks. Something to be laughed at. Like midgets in a Medevil Court.

Chaltab wrote:

theweirdkind wrote:

Quote :

The Board removed Thomas Jefferson from the Texas curriculum, “replacing him with religious right icon John Calvin.”

Well, I guess the third President of the United States and the man who wrote the Declaration of Independence isn't as important as somebody who has to do with religion. You know, that thing that's supposed to be separated from State.

John Calvin? John Frakking Calvin!?
The guy who founded Calvinism? The guy who believed that God predestines some people to eternal damnation and others to eternal life with no actual regard for the choices they've made? The John Calvin that lived and died more than two-hundred years before the United States of America was founded? What the hell, Texas?

I can actually understand John Calvin to a degree, didn't he have ideas of political theory that were influential to the American Constitution?

Dude did you just rip on Melissa.

did you just

did

what

Mr.Doobie wrote:

I can actually understand John Calvin to a degree, didn't he have ideas of political theory that were influential to the American Constitution?

Soon: More "America was founded as a Christian nation" bull.