In any case, it’s a nice little book and I’m glad to have the link. I’ll never understand why a semester of of Critical Thinking isn’t required at both the high school and college levels.

demand that schools end the practice of teaching “higher order thinking skills” because these challenge “student’s fixed beliefs” and undermine “parental authority.”

For the love of gawd, we have got to get these republican idiots out of office before they do any more damage to our society.  The democrats are far, far from perfect, but at least we got something to work with there.

Just, wow…

I’m just happy that they’re so incredibly dense that they show their hand like this on occasion.

We should have a bake sale to relocate them to Minnesota!

factbased, in his second paragraph, got what I meant (even though I wasn’t particularly clear).

The hilarious part is, apparently due to rules, that platform is now set in stone for the next couple of years. They can’t make any changes to it.

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/06/texas_gops_2012_platform_accidentally_opposes_teaching_of_critical_thinking_skills.php

Contacted by TPM on Thursday, Republican Party of Texas (RPT) Communications Director Chris Elam said the “critical thinking skills” language made it into the platform by mistake.

“[The chairman of the Education Subcommittee] indicated that it was an oversight of the committee, that the plank should not have included ‘critical thinking skills’ after ‘values clarification,’” Elam said. “And it was not the intent of the subcommittee to present a plank that would have indicated that the RPT in any way opposed the development of critical thinking skills.”

Elam said the members of the subcommittee “regret” the oversight, but because the mistake was part of the platform approved by the convention, “it cannot be corrected until the next state convention in 2014.”

I absolutely agree with making kindergarten optional. I have the highest respect for the profession of a teacher- it’s one of the most important jobs out there. Which is why it’s so tragic that most of our teachers are mediocre. Well-meaning, perhaps, but incredibly mediocre. If a parent has a better method, they should have every right to take it. No one should be penalized because we want some kind of blanket catch-all policy that protects kids from “bad parents”. I know how backwards and inefficient our current school system is- I’m not sure I have the ability to implement a better option, but if I come up with one, I’m not interested in big brother telling me I need to fall in line.

And this was two points above in the original.   Totally contradictory.  boneheads

Seriously…

My experience is not with Fort Worth schools, but we hae seen plenty of problems with the schools in our city.  My wife taught second grade and has subbed some since then.  We also know may elementary school teachers. 

There are may discipline issues in the schools and the teachers hands are pretty much tied in what they can and can’t do to control their classrooms.  Something needs to be done, I am not sure that corporal punishment is the answer. 

When I was in 5th grade I go paddled on the time, including the 3rd day by my science teacher.  After the first month, I was going to the principal once to twice a week.  This did not change my behavior (I liked to talk to my friends) but I did get used to taking the paddle.

Another problem I see is very little parental involvement.  Because of this, I believe more students would get less of a foundation if pre-K and K were eliminated.

We have had better success with my oldest son when we moved him to a charter school.  In some ways I feel bad that we are giving up on the traditional public school, but we had to do something that would make my son successful.

I think free daycare is an excellent idea, immensely beneficial to the economy, allowing many parents who can’t afford commercial childcare to earn a living – I just think it should be acknowledged as such, its schedules arranged to be actually helpful to working parents, and the pretence of an academic curriculum dropped.  It also shouldn’t be mandatory – there’s no point forcing free childcare on those for whom it’s just a nuisance.

“Dallas ISD’s police department, for instance, issued criminal citations to 92 10-year-olds in the 2006-07 school year, the latest year for which such data is available.”

http://www.texastribune.org/texas-education/public-education/school-district-cops-ticket-thousands-of-students/ 

But while painful was a bonus, the technology was mostly intended to help prevent severe bruising or injury which could lead to trouble with even parents that approve of corporal punishment. 

The faster swats using less force were more sting, less crush because children had been injured, a lot, by over zealous teachers and administrators.