On Sat, 07 Jul 2012 11:00:41 -0700, Jim Clark wrote: >Hi >Some of discussion on PESTs of this issue follows below. [snip]
First, thanks to Jim for providing some info about the nature of the discussion about the Texas GOP platform that took place on PESTS. Second, is it really the case that the discussion on PESTS is just based on the following brief summary: http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2012/06/29/texas-gop-vs-critical-thinking Given that there was a link to the platform document in the article but there doesn't appear to be any discussion of the document as a whole in what you provided, did anyone on PESTS admit to having read the document? As pointed out in the articles that I linked to here on TiPS there is a fair amount of crazy stuff in the document, as pointed out in the Forbes article, and, as pointed out in the Chronicle article, contradicts earlier positions, and so on. Did anyone raise these issues? Third, did anyone bother to locate the Texas DEMOCRATIC platform and discuss it? Here's where one can get a copy: http://www.jcdemocrats.com/party/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/platform.pdf Notice their position on critical thinking: |Texas Democrats believe all children should have access |to an exemplary educational program that values and encourages |critical thinking and creativity, not the "drill and kill" |teach-to-the-test policy Republicans have forced on students |and teachers. To fulfill this commitment, Texas Democrats must |fight to improve student achievement, lower dropout rates, |and attract and retain well-qualified teachers, and must redouble |our efforts against those waging an ideological war to privatize and |destroy public education. I understand that some people feel the need to point out that there are people on the left who may be as nutty as those on the right but these same people fail to comprehend that those nutty beliefs do not become part of, say, a major political party platform. There still are people who claim the 9/11 was an "inside job" planned by the "Bush Gang" but these folks have always been repudiated by the Democrat party. "False equivalence" is an easy game to play but a hard one to win. If people are "talked out" about this issue, then we're in bigger trouble than we can imagine. -Mike Palij New York University [email protected] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=18884 or send a blank email to leave-18884-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
