At times, I have a strong desire to occupy the brain of a conservative Republican just to understand what he’s thinking. This urge passes rather quickly when I realize that the GOP party leans on the side of batshit crazy and it looks like there’s not much critical thinking going on anyway. Especially for Republicans in Texas.
For those of you who haven’t been following the Lone Star State’s public education system, things happen to look exceedingly dismal right about now. Texas happens to have one of the lowest per-student education spending rates in the entire nation. And the state’s high school graduation rates? Well, let’s just bless their hearts and call it a day.
A reasonable person might believe that with all of the flack Texas has been getting about its failure to properly educate children, lawmakers would be working to ease the issue. Alas, the Texas Republican solution is to whip kids into shape (literally), end pre-school and kindergarten classes, and refuse to teach kids about safer sex. It’s worth mentioning that Texas holds a rare spot at the top with the fourth highest teen pregnancy rate in the country. Just saying.
But perhaps the most troubling are two key pieces of this year’s Republican education platform, which the Huffington Post pointed out so we can lament the possible demise of education in Texas.
First, one position involves banning “higher order thinking skills” from the classrooms of public schools. So, teachers could be prohibited from covering anything that might challenge a “student’s fixed beliefs.” Goodbye, evolution! It was nice knowing you for all of five seconds.
Second, Republicans support legislation that would bar “non-citizens unlawfully present in the United States” from entering the public school system. Goodbye, undocumented children! I can twist around a Bible verse to support this insanity, but our brain cells have been through enough already.
Let’s review this again: as a state with one of the lowest high school graduation rates and one of the highest immigrant populations, Republicans believe it’d be a splendid idea to discourage critical thinking and prevent undocumented kids from obtaining an education altogether.
Methinks these Texans are products of a failed system working to perpetuate a failed system that prepares children for jobs as field hands or waiters. I’d suggest that you take a look at this document of horrors for yourself, because God knows that the kids in Texas won’t be able to.
Image courtesy of Texas Tribune
