I've told this story before but it was my first experience with this sort of thing so I'm going to repeat it. In high school, I did some wheeling and dealing and managed to have PE requirements waved for more science classes and the class I had scored was biology which was what I intended to be my major. My teacher was fresh out of college, he was enthusiastic, a bit volatile, and challenging. I was shy and introverted but I loved to learn and I loved biology and had an edge because I had studied on my own for years. My teacher came into class, obviously angry. He told us to open our textbooks to the chapter on evolution and tear it from our book. One of my classmates was the daughter of the school superintendent and felt that evolution clashed with his beliefs of creationism. My faith, as well, but I'm not that stupid. I wish I'd have had the confidence to attend a school board meeting and demand my right to a full education, after all, he wouldn't be in charge of everything we learned later in life and had put us at a disadvantage. I have that courage now.
In a recent blog, I spoke again of my issues with the "tea parties". That they cheapen real historical events when they are nothing more that dissenting racists spouting hatred and lies. They are meetings for radical idiots with barely enough IQ points to be dangerous. They will be a black eye on the history of America.
Texas, in it's arrogance threatened to secede from the union and they are the only state with a clause in their state constitution to do so. I say do it. Hell, let's save them the trouble and sell the stupid state to Mexico. Why? Because they are literally rewriting history. They have changed the way that things will be taught as history. You know how freaked out all the birthers are about President Obama being born in Kenya, Iraq, the North Pole?? They ARE okay with taking the 3rd American President and primary author of the Declaration of Independence Thomas Jefferson and replacing him with John Calvin in the history of Enlightenment thinking because he was religious right. He was also NOT American. He was FRENCH!!! What happened to freedom fries? Boycotting Target? I mean that was STUPID but this is 'a few longhorns short of a herd' kind of stupid. This is one of a list of historic altering to suit the far right lunatic fringe. I mean, I'm all about keeping God in the Pledge of Allegiance, on our currency. I even think prayer in school should be a right for our children. Athiests can have a moment of silence to ponder where the spark that created the complex DNA from the primordial soup, because they will NEVER explain THAT crap. But you can't rewrite history.
I think that religious tolerance is way overdue. I think it's important to teach acceptance, and whether you worship Buddha, Allah, God, etc. Our country is changing. There's no stopping progress nor should their be. Faith in a higher being is positive but tamper with history and we WILL lose our last tenuous hold on the things our founding fathers did in the name of God and religious freedom. Now why do I care if Texas choose to become even MORE stupid?? Because it doesn't just effect their children:
Decisions by the board -- made up of lawyers, a dentist and a weekly newspaper publisher among others -- can affect textbook content nationwide because Texas is one of publishers' biggest clients.Remember the intellectual giant that came up with "No Child Left Behind?" Yeah, the guy from Texas? The only progress I saw as a parent was from the volunteer work that I and other willing parents, did as a reading mom in my children's classes. How are people going to undo the tangle of lies that is being taught at school when we have so few parents that could care less if their kids can even read????
Here are links for the rest of BS coming out of the Lone Brain Cell state:
Texas Textbook MASSACRE
Open Letter by Jeff Schneider
NY Times Texas Conservatives win vote on textbook curriculum
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