Schools Incorporated?: Texas GOP Opposes Critical Thinking, Duh

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Texas GOP Opposes Critical Thinking, Duh

The 2012 Republican Party of Texas Report of Platform Committee supports much of what you would expect a GOP platform to: anti-immigration legislation, a disdain for marriage equality, the denial of scientifically proven global warming, and a disregard for people who are not members of a Judeo-Christian religion.
Considering there are over 4 million students in the Texas public school system and that the Texas School Board has influence that goes beyond the state of Texas, the sections dealing with education should be of great concern. In 2010, the conservative board won a battle that would essentially rewrite history by replacing Thomas Jefferson with the likes of John Calvin, downplaying the positive effects of the Great Society, minimizing the Japanese internment camps of WWII, and refusing to acknowledge Latino leaders and role models. One of the board members did not even know who Father Oscar Romero was because there has never been a movie made about him!

So when the Texas GOP espouses an education system that does not develop critical thinking skills and downplays the inequalities created by American capitalism, it is clear they are in concert with their conservative controlled school board. It appears that like many of the corporate school reform advocates, they are engaging in a social engineering project that will produce a society full of citizens who are unable to make informed political and consumer choices. This of course, only serves to maintain economic and educational disparities.

Here are a few gems from the 2012 Republican Party of Texas Report on Platform:

"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."
"Corporal punishment is effective and legal in Texas" (not surprising coming from the state with the highest execution rate).
"We urge Congress to repeal government sponsored programs that deal with early childhood development."
"We encourage legislation that prohibits enrollment in free public schools of noncitizens unlawfully present in the United States. "
"We oppose any sex education other than abstinence until marriage."
"We support school subjects with emphasis on the Judeo-Christian principles upon which America was founded and which form the basis of America’s legal, political and economic systems. "
"Since education is not an enumerated power of the federal government, we believe the Department of Education (DOE) should be abolished."

To be fair, there is one element of their platform that is actually healthy for Democracy in that they support an elected school board. The rest is just downright dangerous in regards to civil rights, public health, and the common good. It is also only fair to mention that many Democrats are pushing for corporate education reform that also seeks to eliminate critical thinking through drilling and testing. In fact, Obama's DOE is adamantly pushing for privatizing public education, high-stakes testing, and other "reforms" that have been refuted by research, teachers, and parents. You'd think the Texas GOP would be all for that.

The bottom line is that politicians from both parties are bought and paid for by the same corporate interests, so both are perpetuating an idiocracy that only serves to maintain the current economic system that has made a few people very wealthy while millions continue to suffer without adequate food, shelter, heath care, and other basic human rights. At least the Texas GOP is honest about it.

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About Schools Inc.?

Description

Schools Incorporated? is a blog about how corporate interests are taking over our public education system at the expense of democracy, critical thinking, creativity, parents, teachers, and especially children. Schools Inc.? also provides strategies and resources, so people can join the growing resistance movement to corporate school reform.

Why This Is Important and Urgent

Our public education system is where the battle for a better future will be won or lost. Corporate school reformers know this and are spending millions of dollars lobbying and marketing to ensure they control the discourse now and for future generations.

Corporate interests are rapidly destroying our public education system. Lobbyist organizations like ALEC and Stand for Children (misnomer) are well-funded by corporations who are creating and controlling a new educational marketplace. This not only makes them profitable for generations, but also results in a society that is unable to recognize injustice.

The enforcement of research-refuted, high-stakes testing mandates eliminates what was left of critical thinking in public education. It makes sense that the foundations of corporations like Wal-Mart, Microsoft, and others would not want people making critical consumer and political choices. The last thing they want is for a bunch of consumers to consider the manner in which products are made and their global impact.

Unfortunately, this is one of the ways the private prison industry is involved. ALEC lobbies on their behalf for high-stakes testing and zero-tolerance discipline policies that create a school-to-prison pipeline. Why? Its because ALEC also lobbies on behalf of corporate interests that want to use cheap prison labor. Chinese sweatshop workers are expensive compared to slaves. The companies involved with ALEC certainly don't want consumers thinking about that sort of thing.

Despite the fact that there is an obvious relationship between the arts, creativity, and the type of ingenuity and innovation that makes companies grow, those who are controlling education policy are driving the arts out of schools. Basically, if its not on the test, its not in the schools. This ensures their children who attend private schools that do not have testing mandates and therefore have a well-rounded curriculum, will have an advantage over everyone else. Eliminating the arts for a vast majority of students also means the creation of a deskilled workforce that can only complete tasks similar to the rote memorization and bubble filling required for a standardized test. They're lovin' it!

Corporate school reforms create a self-feeding cycle as they turn parents into consumers. Millions of dollars are spent on misleading marketing materials promoting charter schools (of course they don't tell you about the students who get kicked out). Similar to the way Wal-Mart wipes out local businesses, charter school conglomerates will wipe out neighborhood schools, smaller charter organizations, and probably a lot of private schools. Once the homogenization of the marketplace occurs, a very small handful of people will be controlling pretty much everything that is taught in schools.

The presence of charter schools that draw students from across the city as opposed to schools that only serve children from the neighborhood is disproportionately destabilization low-income communities of color. Social capital is accumulated when generations of family members have attended the same school and when parents and students are from the same community. Destroying this makes it all the more difficult for people to come together when faced with injustices.

Unfortunately, it also means children being exposed to more violence as they travel farther and farther to and from school. Of course, that's assuming their parents can afford the transportation costs, which is one of the ways charters serve as a socio-economic filter (they also have the ability to expel students without the due process required of regular public schools).

With the media and politicians being owned by some of the same corporate interests that are driving education reform (Gates, Murdoch), public opinion is being influenced by a false narrative. Teachers and schools are being measured with faulty metrics while high level administrators continue to be unaccountable for massive failures. Considering the damage this is doing to communities, schools, and students and what is at stake in terms of the bigger picture, the time to fight back is now!

A Better Future

Fortunately, there is an alternative. In his book, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Paulo Freire outlines a different vision of what a public education system can be - empowering and equalizing through critical thinking. In order to reach this Freirian vision of education and society, we must understand how corporate school reforms are taking us in the opposite direction and how to fight back.

Fighting Back

Schools Inc.? also provides information, tips, and strategies for spreading the word about the corporate takeover of our public school system and how people can join the growing resistance movement.

A Look at Chicago

Because U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan launched a public school privatization plan (Renaissance 2010) while CEO of the school district eight years ago, Schools Inc.? will often examine what has happened and continues to happen in Chicago. Duncan has now taken Renaissance 2010 national with Race to the Top and School Improvement Grants that make the receipt of federal funding contingent upon privatization and high-stakes testing.

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Sunday, July 1, 2012

Texas GOP Opposes Critical Thinking, Duh

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