The Lone Star GOP may stand alone in its education views
So where do Texas Republicans stand on education and family issues? After reading their new 2012 platform, some folks might argue that Texans stand alone in many of their views on schooling.
While there are many elements of the newly adopted Texas GOP platform that the Georgia GOP would applaud, I am not sure that many Peach State Republicans would take a stand against the teaching of “higher order thinking skills” and “critical thinking skills.” In fact, our Legislature often talks about the need to teach critical thinking and higher order skills.
Here are relevant excerpts from the platform adopted earlier this month at the state GOP convention:
Education Spending – Since data is clear that additional money does not translate into educational achievement, and higher education costs are out of control, we support reducing taxpayer funding to all levels of education institutions.
Knowledge-Based Education – 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.
Controversial Theories – We support objective teaching and equal treatment of all sides of scientific theories. We believe theories such as life origins and environmental change should be taught as challengeable scientific theories subject to change as new data is produced. Teachers and students should be able to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of these theories openly and without fear of retribution or discrimination of any kind.
Early Childhood Development – We believe that parents are best suited to train their children in their early development and oppose mandatory pre-school and Kindergarten. We urge Congress to repeal government-sponsored programs that deal with early childhood development.
Parental Rights in Education – We believe the right of parents to raise and educate their children is fundamental. Parents have the right to withdraw their child from any specialized program. We urge the Legislature to enact penalties for violation of parental rights.
Sex Education – We recognize parental responsibility and authority regarding sex education. We believe that parents must be given an opportunity to review the material prior to giving their consent. We oppose any sex education other than abstinence until marriage.
Parental School Choice – We encourage the Governor and the Texas Legislature to enact child-centered school funding options which fund the student, not schools or districts, to allow maximum freedom of choice in public, private, or parochial education for all children.
Private Education – We believe that parents and legal guardians may choose to educate their children in private schools to include, but not limited to, home schools and parochial schools without government interference, through definition, regulation, accreditation, licensing, or testing.
Religious Freedom in Public Schools – We urge school administrators and officials to inform Texas school students specifically of their First Amendment rights to pray and engage in religious speech, individually or in groups, on school property without government interference. We urge the Legislature to end censorship of discussion of religion in our founding documents and encourage discussing those documents.
School Surveys and Testing – Public schools should be required to obtain written parental consent for student participation in any test or questionnaire that surveys beliefs, feelings, or opinions. Parental rights, including viewing course materials prior to giving consent, should not be infringed.
Textbook Review – 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. Also the ISD board must hold a public hearing on such materials, protect citizen’s right of petition and require compliance with TEC and legislative intent. Local ISD boards must maintain the same standards as the SBOE.
School Health Care – We urge legislators to prohibit reproductive health care services, including counseling, referrals, and distribution of condoms and contraception through public schools. We support the parents’ right to choose, without penalty, which medications are administered to their minor children. We oppose medical clinics on school property except higher education and health care for students without parental consent.
U.S. Department of Education – Since education is not an enumerated power of the federal government, we believe the Department of Education (DOE) should be abolished.
Zero Tolerance – We believe that zero tolerance policies in schools should specify those items that will not be tolerated at schools. The policy should be posted on ISD websites.
Foreign Culture Charter Schools in Texas – We oppose public funding of charter schools which receive money from foreign entities. We demand that these Charter Schools have accountability and transparency to local parents, taxpayers, the State of Texas, as do current public schools, including U.S. citizenship of public school trustees.
Supporting Motherhood ― We strongly support women who choose to devote their lives to their families and raising their children. We recognize their sacrifice and deplore the liberal assault on the family.
Child Abuse – We recognize the family as a sovereign authority over which the state has no right to intervene, unless a parent or legal guardian has committed criminal abuse. Child abusers should be severely prosecuted. We oppose actions of social agencies to classify traditional methods of discipline, including corporal punishment, as child abuse. As a condition of funding, publicly funded agencies are to report all instances of abuse.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
84 comments Add your comment
William Casey
July 2nd, 2012
5:16 pm
“Remember the Alamo!” LOL
GwinnettParentz
July 2nd, 2012
5:18 pm
And yet, liberals are united in protecting the K-12 education monopoly and denying choices to parents. So which faction is actually more harmful?
Let parents take education dollars to the schools they have the most confidence in!
crankee-yankee
July 2nd, 2012
5:22 pm
Remember, this is the state where NCLB was hatched & we see how well that turned out.
The inmates have taken over the asylum.
Once Again
July 2nd, 2012
5:27 pm
I suspect that more stand with them than against them but the media will never publish such facts.
It also sounds like they support educational freedom, but tragically fall short of condemning all government involvement in education. You cannot realistically steal money from everyone in the population and not expect that everyone will want to have a say. If you got government completely out of the education business entirely, most of the conflicts/problems they are pointing out would disappear.
That sadly is the major failing of the republicans (and the democrats too). There is plenty they hate about government actions but there is so much they love about big government that they cannot make the critically needed leap to realize that all of society’s major problems are directly tied to government intervention in the economy and the personal lives of the citizenry. They both just love telling people how to live their lives and how better to spend their money that they cannot give up either to bring about a better society.
GwinnettParentz
July 2nd, 2012
5:28 pm
@crankee: The photo of the NCLB signing ceremony features a BEAMING Teddy Kennedy in the background. HE was the bill’s true father—or do you choose to remember differently?
photo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:No_Child_Left_Behind_Act.jpg
Cosby
July 2nd, 2012
5:36 pm
Love it…Parental rights…totally correct to put education back on the parents. Make sure your off springs are fed clothed, have their homework done prior to entering school Taking babysitting out of the schools and putting them back on the parents..if you cannot afford the off springs, then it is your duty not to have them. These guys are correct, throwing money at it has been proven to be a dismal failure!
Metro Coach
July 2nd, 2012
5:45 pm
As Gwinnett Parentz correctly pointed out, NCLB was Ted Kennedy’s wet dream. George W. Bush just signed the stupid thing.
Abbie
July 2nd, 2012
5:47 pm
Love it! Less academic competition for Georgia students.
But seriously, “We urge legislators to prohibit reproductive health care services, including counseling, referrals, and distribution of condoms and contraception through public schools.” I guess they have some strange things going on in Texas. I’ve been in 3 Georgia school systems and, of course, non of this would be tolerated in our schools.
crankee-yankee
July 2nd, 2012
5:52 pm
GwinnettParentz
July 2nd, 2012
5:28 pm
The initial development of NCLB was in Texas under W’s watch as governor. That was the model he drew from when his administration put it together back when legislators still worked TOGETHER on legislation.
Kennedy probably thought he was dealing with an administration that would present research-backed proposals. Shame on him for not digging deeper & finding out it was rotten at the core. But I guess we will never know what he was thinking at the time since he isn’t around anymore.
gray dog
July 2nd, 2012
5:54 pm
abolish all public supported education, police departments, fire departments and any other government supported entity and let’s all go back to the 1880″s
abaccowboy
July 2nd, 2012
5:57 pm
Education is protected under the 10th Amendment to the US Constitution. This means the powers are reserved to the states and the people not the federal govt. The Texas Republican Party is simply reasserting those rights under the 10th whether you agree with them or not. NCLB is another form of federal control over education. GW Bush was a big govt. Republican. Gov. Perry believes in small govt. and states rights.
Maureen Downey
July 2nd, 2012
5:59 pm
@Metro and Gwinnett, Not sure where you are getting your information, but President Bush clearly takes credit for No Child Left Behind, which was based on his reform plan in Texas. While Kennedy signed on to the law, there was never any confusion as to Bush’s hand in the law. I heard President Bush speak twice in person and he celebrated this law and cited its impact in Texas and its potential to change education nationwide. He considered the bill his legacy legislation and never backed away from it.
You can see for yourself in this video where he pushed Congress to reauthorize it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=invKzk3vaRI&feature=related
mumm
July 2nd, 2012
6:03 pm
The beauty of this country has always been the feeling that this was a place where one was free to think and create. The question is who determines what is higher thinking? Do they want the State and the Party to direct education now? 1984….a little late, but it sounds like it is finally coming.
Sparky
July 2nd, 2012
6:15 pm
‘ I am not sure that many Peach State Republicans would take a stand against the teaching of “higher order thinking skills” and “critical thinking skills”.’
Not sure if you are being naive or generous.
another comment
July 2nd, 2012
6:30 pm
The reason housing values have remained so low in Texas, is so that people still have enough money to send their kids to private schools. That is why you can buy a $300K house for $150K and a $500K house for 250K. My cousin had to send her son to a Catholic School in Houston and is now sending her daughter to a Houston Christin, despite that we are Catholic. My cousin is shocked when I tell her what the prices of our houses are here. She was even shocked at the price of my other cousin’s houses outside Durham and Charlotte, NC. The Texas Republican’s simply don’t want to pay for the education of Mexican’s and blacks.
Look at the facts both Houston and Dallas had the lowest home appreciation in the good times, of any large city except the rust belt cities like Detroit.
Road Scholar
July 2nd, 2012
6:35 pm
Do the prospective parents of a child have to pass a test that they are capable of performing their responsibilities?
GwinnettParentz
July 2nd, 2012
6:36 pm
Well, Maureen here’s what Ted Kennedy himself wrote in the Washington Post in defense of No Child Left Behind in 2007, when liberals and teachers’ unions howled for its repeal: http://goo.gl/0xAsR
Note that the Washington Post editor labels Kennedy “a lead author” of the act.
Interesting Observation
July 2nd, 2012
6:41 pm
“challenging the student’s fixed beliefs” A tenth grade student believes the earth is flat should be left to believe that fixed belief? These people hate the present and resist the future unless the distant pass is superimposed on it? Got it.
Maureen Downey
July 2nd, 2012
6:42 pm
@Gwinnett: Notice that he is described as “a lead author” rather than “the lead author,” who was George Bush. The odd thing about your position is that the president himself claims the credit for the bill. It is not being foisted on President Bush. He wants to be known as the force behind the bill. He wants it as his legacy.
And please note that in the very first paragraph, Sen. Kennedy gives President Bush his props, writing:
Maureen
DJ Sniper
July 2nd, 2012
6:48 pm
Texas is clearly determined to win the race to the bottom. They started with the complete whitewashing of the school’s history curriculum, and now this tomfoolery.
And I see they are still sticking with abstinence only when it comes to sex ed, despite plenty of research that shows that it doesn’t work. Stay classy, Texas.
bu2
July 2nd, 2012
7:34 pm
Fact is, NCLB was a joint effort. Whether it was based on what was done in Texas, it was jointly pushed in Congress. This is this ridiculous liberal effort to claim W. is the source of every single problem in the country.
What Texas is doing is getting education back to the parents instead of liberal groupthink that the alleged “higher thinking” programs are trying to do.
Now I would give Perry credit for wanting to gut higher education. He was a C student at Texas A&M back when it wasn’t as good a school as it is now and obviously doesn’t understand its importance to the economy. But he is getting a lot of pushback on that.
Ralph
July 2nd, 2012
7:34 pm
I agree with about half of this and think the other half is idiocy.
Attentive Parent
July 2nd, 2012
7:47 pm
Both “higher order thinking skills” and “critical thinking” are defined ed terms that are linked to Outcomes Based Education. When the Georgia legislators use them they seem to think higher order is a synonym for abstract reasoning and critical thinking is a synonym for analytical thinking.
Neither is true. Which is why we have an Attentive Parent/Invisible Serfs Collar Glossary.
And they are right about Common Core being Outcomes Based Education. When you add on the career pathways Ga adopted and the soft skills which Georgia also adopted and that Positive School Climate in the NCLB waiver you bring in both the vocational/future life roles and the social and emotional learning. That will make Georgia one of the first states to go full bore into the notorious Transformational Outcomes Based Education.
Note to Georgia legislature: You might want to check with Minnesota legislators from about 20 years ago on why they balked when they recognized the nature of Transformational OBE.
But I have spent a good bit of time examining Texas education and they have outcomes based education already. I guess they can thank those federally funded RESAS and the Dana Center in Austin and districts participating in Power on Texas to get Transformational OBE in place there anyway.
I read what Mike Myers was pushing in Dallas and what he brought from Colorado. Which is why I would classify him and Hinojosa both as Gypsy Supers.
So the Texas GOP needs to appreciate that they are embroiled anyway in ideas they had hoped to avoid.
Attack Dog
July 2nd, 2012
7:49 pm
If you can read this and write on this blog, thank the liberal public education. If you think the intellectual elite such as teachers and B-students are morons, then thank a Dixiecrat.
oldtimer
July 2nd, 2012
7:49 pm
TN can join Texas with abstenance based sex-ed……and the rural areas of TN have huge out of wedlock teen mother rates. I had one 10th grader with 3 kids….she sure missed a lot of school.
Homeschool Mom
July 2nd, 2012
7:50 pm
I think TX is to be applauded! They appear to believe that in Parental Rights, in that it does NOT take a village to raise a family, it takes a family! Homeschooling is the last best option to create a critical thinking populace! More power to the family and NONE to the government when it comes to education.
Attack Dog
July 2nd, 2012
7:52 pm
If you have Dixicrats help design a policy but leave up to them to fund it, it is doomed to fail. Dixiecrats always whine for accountability, but don’t want to be held accountable.
oldtimer
July 2nd, 2012
7:52 pm
I would like to read a good discussion of Louisana’s educational changes.
Attack Dog
July 2nd, 2012
7:56 pm
Parents have always had the rights, but many should not have children, but pro-lifers and non-sex-eds say they must. Dixiecrats are playing musical chairs and are getting really dizzy.
yellowdog
July 2nd, 2012
7:59 pm
passing a blll requires a legislator to put it forth into congress; and shepherd it thru both houses untl it is passed and comes across the desk of the president for signature, or not. sen kennedy was the one in the senate who did just that; forgetting who the house rep was, but thats how it works. prez says i want this bill; can you help me get it thru. period.
Jane Dubyya
July 2nd, 2012
8:22 pm
@”AttackDog”: If your mommy’s done cleaning the basement perhaps you can go back down to your living quarters and let grown-ups finish our conversation?
Attentive Parent
July 2nd, 2012
8:24 pm
oldtimer-everywhere in the world that has allowed vouchers it has ended up changing what the private schools could do. In fact for some vouchers are a Trojan Horse to successfully regulate private schools.
As long as accreditors like AdvancED, which owns SACS and most of the other regional accreditors of both K-12 and higher ed, have so much power to penalize any district or college not adhering to its policies, they can change the nature of what goes on in charter schools and private schools needing accreditation. Like for example to participate in a voucher program.
Did you know accreditation is actually an international process closely aligned with implementing UNESCO’s politicall and social goals via education? Most people don’t.
Most people assume the Quality Assurance process or Effective Schools or School Improvement are about an academic emphasis. No. No. No.
I already knew about accreditation but this weekend I was looking into something involving Australian education and where the US Common Core i headed. Came across ICSEI–Intl Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement. All these people I had been tracking in one place and getting together to consult regularly. At our expense I am sure.
Old Physics Teacher
July 2nd, 2012
8:31 pm
hahahahaha
One of demotivators posters is labeled: “Never underestimate stupid people in large groups.” It applies to Texas’s (and unfortunately Georgia’s too, in far too many cases) legislature here.
Alabama’s motto is, “Thank God, we’re not Mississippi!” Now Mississippi can say, “THANK GOD WE’RE NOT TEXAS!!”
hahahahahaha
Atlanta Mom
July 2nd, 2012
8:36 pm
” Since data is clear that additional money does not translate into educational achievement,”
Again, I am concerned about those children attending Pace, Lovett, etc. Their education costs $22,000 a year. What is wrong with them?
Mary Elizabeth
July 2nd, 2012
8:50 pm
From the consistency of anti-intellectualism which pervades all of the above tenets, it appears that the Texas Legislature owes its allegiance to those powerful and wealthy few in our nation who have a radical libertarian agenda to change our nation to one that serves their self-interests instead of a nation “of, by, and for” the people. They have been stealthily moving forward in their agenda for over three decades, and that agenda has included pitting parents against public education and public educators.
As an example of their ideological agenda, let me highlight the erroneous thinking in one of the tenets, above. It is stated, as follows:
“Knowledge-Based Education – 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.”
I was taught by an expert in Mastery Learning – my principal for almost a decade who had been an Associate Superintendent for Instruction – that Mastery Learning means that each student is taught on his or her functioning level (regardless of grade level) and that he/she is tested on a given skill to ensure that he/she has achieved mastery of that skill before moving on to a higher level skill on a given curriculum’s continuum. I heard nothing about ” . . . challenging the student’s fixed beliefs, and undermining parental authority,” relative to mastery learning, from my principal when he was instructing teachers regarding “mastery learning.”
Parents, can you not see that the words in this tenet are a blatant attempt to divide parents from public school teachers? Private schools should not be using public funds to enrich corporate profits through vouchers.
Something devious appears to be going on here and it is coming out of Texas – the same place that organized the Swift Boat propaganda machine against John Kerry. There is much money and political power in Texas. George H. W. Bush moved to Texas from New England for definite reasons.
The following comments were written by investigative journalist Russ Baker in his book, “Family of Secrets: The Bush Dynasty, The Powerful Forces That put It In The White House, And What Their Influence Means For America,” published by Bloomsbury Press in 2009 (page 493):
“As this book demonstrates, the deck has long been, and continues to be, stacked on behalf of big-money players, especially those in commodities and natural resources – from gold to oil – and those who finance the extraction of these materials. The defense industry, and the aligned growth business of ‘intelligence,’ provide muscle. On a lower level is an army of enablers – the campaign functionaries, the PR people, the lawyers. This was the Bush enterprise. The Bushes embodied it as a dynasty, but it is larger than them, and will prove more enduring.
Deception resides at the very center of our national psyche. It affects us in incalcuable ways, from decisions in the voting booth to our own life choices.
The solution, clearly is to pull away the veil.
Now the good news. Telling stories that need to be told is less dependent on the good graces of those whith a vested interest in concealment. This book would not have been possible ten years ago, before the Internet’s tremendous search and storage capabilities, and the new ways it offers to exchange information and ideas with others. Much has been made of the havoc the Internet has wrought with old business models, from publishing to recorded music. Less has been said about emerging opportunities to crack the wall of secrecy and disinformation – not just in authoritarian regimes abroad, but right here at home as well.”
——————————————————————
The author, Russ Baker, an award-winning investigative journalist, has written for the New Yorker, Vanity Fair, the New York Times, the Nation, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, and Equire. “Family of Secrets” is well documented with a myriad of footnotes.
Please check out the website, below, and listen to the full 5 minutes of the video clip with Russ Baker discussing his book.
http://www.familyofsecrets.com/
Steven Reid Harbin
July 2nd, 2012
9:08 pm
Interesting how some posters are trying to re-write history. NCLB was definitely “birthed” in Texas.
fitzgerald
July 2nd, 2012
9:31 pm
I will first admit that there are some very bad schools in Texas and now I will get out of the way of myself and tell you about the school from which my grandson was fortunate to graduate in June of this year. It is in the Waco, Texas area. My grandson graduated in a class of approximately 500. Of this total, 99 percent will be going to college in the fall. The remaining students have committed to the military. All got an ovation. However, with my body experiencing chills, the students committed to the military received a standing ovation. My grandson graduated from a good public school and he is a lucky duck.
Single Parent
July 2nd, 2012
9:43 pm
“The Texas Republican’s simply don’t want to pay for the education of Mexican’s and blacks. ” So, in other words, the Tx Repubs are still paying their racist, yes I said it, rascist games. Surprise, surprise?!
Out of Cobb
July 2nd, 2012
9:50 pm
@SingleParent: It’s spelled “racist,” and has been since at least the days when Democrats stood in southern schoolhouse doorways denying entrance to black children.
Mary Elizabeth
July 2nd, 2012
9:58 pm
Out of Cobb, 9:24 pm
Your total condescension in your post negates any credibility you might have had. You have not made a single substantive rebuttal to my post. You only insult. I have never been addressed as “Sweety” by anyone of substance. Obviously, my thoughts pose some kind of threat to you for you to engage in such classless tactics.
And, please notice the second chart, in the link below, which was posted on Jay Bookman’s blog on June 25th. You will see that employee wages and salaries rose as a share of the Gross Domestic Product during the Clinton years (which left the nation with a financial surplus), but fell sharply during the Bush II years, and of course continued to fall after the Great Recession, which occurred on George W. Bush’s watch. Notice, also, the steady increase in corporate profits, in the first chart, during especially the years of George W. Bush’s presidency.
http://blogs.ajc.com/jay-bookman-blog/2012/06/25/an-alarming-snapshot-of-economic-trends/
Outta Cobb
July 2nd, 2012
10:12 pm
Oh, dear. Now we’ve woken @MaryElizabeth!
Currently, the shelves at Barnes & Noble groan under the weight of books by experts testifying to the cluelessness of “Community-Organizer-in-Chief” Barack Obama, Sweety. (As if a look at the state of our economy and jobless rate isn’t evidence enough!)
So before you think of starting up about “Thomas Jefferson” just go back to those Wheel of Fortune re-runs and the rest of us will handle this.
(But who, by the way, is Jay Bookman?)
crankee-yankee
July 2nd, 2012
10:27 pm
Steven Reid Harbin
July 2nd, 2012
9:08 pm
If only it was the posters who are doing the re-writing.
I suspect they are only parroting a radio or website blowhard (who is really nothing more than an entertainer) and have never bothered to verify any of the history for themselves.
I have lived NCLB on a daily basis for its entire existence. I suspect they only know the talking points.
Educator
July 2nd, 2012
10:38 pm
If Texas chooses to opt out of the union, I doubt anyone would miss the Lone Star State.
Fled
July 2nd, 2012
10:50 pm
Republican stupidity is the only truly infinite force in the universe. That is all you need to know.
yuzeyurbrane
July 2nd, 2012
11:03 pm
are we that different?
Fairportfan
July 2nd, 2012
11:06 pm
@Educator: Nobody would miss it, all right – it’s a very big target.
Digger
July 3rd, 2012
12:04 am
Higher level thinking? When they can’t read, write, or do math? With double digit IQs? Education is so amusing these days.
janet
July 3rd, 2012
12:51 am
Most parents don’t want to send their kids to a different/better school… they want their neighborhood school to be a good school, so that they don’t have to send their kids anywhere else. All this talk of failure and punishment and leaving schools and closing schools just undermines everyone.
deblegs
July 3rd, 2012
1:53 am
Before NCLB was nationally signed into law, I met teachers from Texas who had been under the mandates from NCLB while President Bush was then Governor Bush. It was made very clear to me the statistic being praised were very misleading and the program had not worked well in the schools the above mentioned teachers were associated.
Jacob
July 3rd, 2012
2:42 am
Parents would be best suited to “train their children.” Problem is, someone needs to train the parents! I teach Kindergarten and in a class of 20, I’m lucky if 5 of them recognize the letters of the alphabet, numbers, and how to write their name! My 2 year old knows all of the letters and numbers, because I “train him.” Unfortunately, most parents don’t train their kids. They expect teachers to do it.