Louisiana Points the Way In Education
The way straight to the end of any hope that the American people will be capable of maintaining a place in the industrialized world, other than at the bottom, with Indonesia, El Salvador, et. al.
This story, from Mother Jones, has gotten a lot of attention, but it is so down Green Eagle's alley that I cannot resist commenting on it. Louisiana, under that great American Patriot and former exorcist, Republican governor Bobby Jindal, has pretty well decided to abandon the foolish notion that it is the responsibility of citizens in a democracy to provide an adequate public education to all children, and has decided that it is a far better idea to collect money from the taxpayers and pretty much give it away to anyone far right enough or "Christian" enough that comes along with their hands out, claiming they are starting a "school."
Deanna Pan, at Mother Jones, has kindly compiled a list of fourteen things that are taught in the textbooks used by many of these so-called schools. I'm going to reprint the list, but I want to encourage you to click on the link above and read some of the explanations of these claims that Ms. Pan has assembled. It will give you a good laugh, and make you cringe at the same time:
The authorization for this is contained in a State law. According to the State of Louisiana, the law:
New opportunities for students to spend thirteen years being force-fed as big a pack of lies as the world has ever seen.
It is hard to even imagine how unprepared to compete with workers in other countries our children will be if they are brought up on this tripe. This is one more step in the deliberate plan of the Republican party to reduce the American working populace to the lowest common denominator, in order to further the abject servitude to the hyper-rich which is the Republican party's only real governing principal. The rest of us can rot, and if good Republicans like potential vice-presidential candidate Bobby Jindal have their way, we can rot as fast as possible.
This story, from Mother Jones, has gotten a lot of attention, but it is so down Green Eagle's alley that I cannot resist commenting on it. Louisiana, under that great American Patriot and former exorcist, Republican governor Bobby Jindal, has pretty well decided to abandon the foolish notion that it is the responsibility of citizens in a democracy to provide an adequate public education to all children, and has decided that it is a far better idea to collect money from the taxpayers and pretty much give it away to anyone far right enough or "Christian" enough that comes along with their hands out, claiming they are starting a "school."
Deanna Pan, at Mother Jones, has kindly compiled a list of fourteen things that are taught in the textbooks used by many of these so-called schools. I'm going to reprint the list, but I want to encourage you to click on the link above and read some of the explanations of these claims that Ms. Pan has assembled. It will give you a good laugh, and make you cringe at the same time:
"1. Dinosaurs and humans probably hung out
2. Dragons were totally real
3. God used the Trail of Tears to bring many Indians to Christ
4. Africa needs religion
5. Slave masters were nice guys
6. The KKK was A-OK
7. The Great Depression wasn't as bad as the liberals made it sound
8. SCOTUS enslaved fetuses
9. The Red Scare isn't over yet
10. Mark Twain and Emily Dickinson were a couple of hacks
11. Abstract algebra is too dang complicated
12. Gay people "have no more claims to special rights than child molesters or rapists."
13. "Global environmentalists have said and written enough to leave no doubt that their goal is to destroy the prosperous economies of the world's richest nations."
14. Globalization is a precursor to rapture"
2. Dragons were totally real
3. God used the Trail of Tears to bring many Indians to Christ
4. Africa needs religion
5. Slave masters were nice guys
6. The KKK was A-OK
7. The Great Depression wasn't as bad as the liberals made it sound
8. SCOTUS enslaved fetuses
9. The Red Scare isn't over yet
10. Mark Twain and Emily Dickinson were a couple of hacks
11. Abstract algebra is too dang complicated
12. Gay people "have no more claims to special rights than child molesters or rapists."
13. "Global environmentalists have said and written enough to leave no doubt that their goal is to destroy the prosperous economies of the world's richest nations."
14. Globalization is a precursor to rapture"
The authorization for this is contained in a State law. According to the State of Louisiana, the law:
"gives Louisiana’s students and families the option of enrolling in state-funded courses via approved course providers.
Course Choice: Creates new opportunities for students in grades K-12 to take courses from an array of providers and across a full range of disciplines"
Course Choice: Creates new opportunities for students in grades K-12 to take courses from an array of providers and across a full range of disciplines"
New opportunities for students to spend thirteen years being force-fed as big a pack of lies as the world has ever seen.
It is hard to even imagine how unprepared to compete with workers in other countries our children will be if they are brought up on this tripe. This is one more step in the deliberate plan of the Republican party to reduce the American working populace to the lowest common denominator, in order to further the abject servitude to the hyper-rich which is the Republican party's only real governing principal. The rest of us can rot, and if good Republicans like potential vice-presidential candidate Bobby Jindal have their way, we can rot as fast as possible.
Comments