Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Texas Republicans are Against Higher-Order Thinking

Don't think for Yourself.
From the party platform:
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.
Because nobody wants you to challenge your fixed beliefs and because everybody knows that parental authority is sacrosanct. New state motto: "Don't Think For Yourself."

Oh, and make sure you use the right books:
We believe that the SBOE ... responsibilities must include maintaining sole authority over all curricula content and the state adoption of all educational materials. This process must include public hearings.

Until such time as all texts are required to be approved by the SBOE, each ISD that uses non-SBOE approved instructional materials must verify them as factually and historically correct.
 Whose definitions of "facts" and "historically correct" are to be used is carefully not specified.
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.
Yup, like the math of the Three-Fifths Compromise? Of course, if we only look at the original writings and the original founding documents, we'd have to ignore the amendments like the 1st and 2nd ones, wouldn't we?

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