Texas GOP rejects ‘critical thinking’ skills. Really.

[Dinner]

In the you-can’t-make-up-this-stuff department, here’s what the Republican Party of Texas wrote into its 2012 platform as part of the section on education:

Knowledge-Based Education – 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.

Yes, you read that right. The party opposes the teaching of “higher order thinking skills” because it believes the purpose is to challenge a student’s “fixed beliefs” and undermine “parental authority.”

It opposes, among other things, early childhood education, sex education, and multicultural education, but supports “school subjects with emphasis on the Judeo-Christian principles upon which America was founded.”

When taken with the other parts of the education platform(see below), it seems a fair conclusion that the GOP Party in Texas doesn’t think much of public education. Unfortunately, this notion isn’t limited to the GOP in Texas but is more commonly being seen across the country by some of the most strident of “school reformers.”

http://mobile.washingtonpost.com/rss.jsp;jsessionid=396CA0C7E2CA6D43BD6D928E9D90F480?rssid=693191&item=http%3a%2f%2fwww.washingtonpost.com%2fFragment%2fSysConfig%2fWebPortal%2ftwpweb%2frss%2fmobile%2fblog-entry.jpp%3fid%3d1001.4.3316258905&cid=-1&spf=1

[Dinner]

This is on the back of Louisiana's GOP governor and state legislature passing a law allowing public money to be used to send students to non-accredited religious "schools" which teach things like evolution is a hoax, the loch ness monster is real, people used to ride dinosaurs, Noah's ark was real, and other such dribble. To add stupidity to the :doh!: the state GOP is now shocked and appalled that Muslim groups also want state funding for their religious schools. It's like these dumb asses don't even understand the consequences of their actions... Like they're lacking critical thinking skills or something.

[giblets]

It looks like they're objecting to the teaching of "critical thinking skills" rather than critical thinking. And of course as was pointed out by the site you linked to, critical thinking can't really be taught.

[Wiglaf]

What is the difference between critical thinking and thinking?

[giblets]

"Thinking" could be "coming up with rationalizations for what you already believe instead of being willing to question it".

[Wiglaf]

I see - so critical thinking means you doubt the legitimacy of your thoughts as you think them, while thinking just means you are deluding yourself.

[Wiglaf]

Anyway, here's the in context portion of the platform, which you and liberal blogs did not bother to quote because it completely undermines your line of attack.

Controversial Theories – We support objective teaching and equal treatment of all sides of scientific theories. We believe theories such as life origins and environmental change should be taught as challengeable scientific theories subject to change as new data is produced. Teachers and students should be able to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of these theories openly and without fear of retribution or discrimination of any kind.
Early Childhood Development – We believe that parents are best suited to train their children in their early development and oppose mandatory pre-school and Kindergarten. We urge Congress to repeal government-sponsored programs that deal with early childhood development.
Knowledge-Based Education – 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.

It might help to know that "mastery learning" is a technical term for a controversial method of teaching that is often renamed "critical thinking" to appease critics.

Your second stupid post about the Louisiana GOP, which at least is not plagiarized like the OP, is presumably just as misleading since there is no sourcing at all for it.

[Dinner]

It looks like they're objecting to the teaching of "critical thinking skills" rather than critical thinking. And of course as was pointed out by the site you linked to, critical thinking can't really be taught.

No, they said one researcher wrote an article back in 2007 saying public schools have not been very successful teaching critical thinking skills and he there for postulated that critical thinking might not be a skill easily taught. Then again it could be they've been using the wrong approach or have not been emphasizing it enough. BTW the definition (also from the article) of critical thinking skills is also pretty good:

Critical thinking consists of seeing both sides of an issue, being open to new evidence that disconfirms your ideas, reasoning dispassionately, demanding that claims be backed by evidence, deducing and inferring conclusions from available facts, solving problems, and so forth. Then too, there are specific types of critical thinking that are characteristic of different subject matter: That’s what we mean when we refer to “thinking like a scientist” or “thinking like a historian.”

[Wiglaf]

The Texas GOP uses a different definition that clearly indicates they don't oppose thinking or questioning, but rather mastery learning techniques.

[Dinner]

Anyway, here's the in context portion of the platform, which you and liberal blogs did not bother to quote because it completely undermines your line of attack.



It might help to know that "mastery learning" is a technical term for a controversial method of teaching that is often renamed "critical thinking" to appease critics.

Your second stupid post about the Louisiana GOP, which at least is not plagiarized like the OP, is presumably just as misleading since there is no sourcing at all for it.

Suck it, DL used by Kuci and mini-Kuci:

[Wiglaf]

I could have expected you would link to that fat idiot Cenk Uygur, who once ranted that Anthony Weiner was "definitely" being framed and offered "excellent proof" of Andrew Breitbart's evil conspiracy.

Gets funnier every time I watch it:



Credibility

[Dinner]

What is the difference between critical thinking and thinking?

One thing is sure and that is both involve challenging "fixed beliefs" and "parental authority" if the parents are indoctrinating kids with nonsense. Critical thinking goes against indoctrination and refusing to challenge fixed beliefs with evidence. The state GOP is against both of those no matter how you spin it.

[Wiglaf]

Notice that you are picking out specific words to avoid quoting the whole line of the platform, which states that the GOP is against mastery learning techniques specifically, not everything that challenges fixed beliefs. They even specifically mention that they support teaching multiple scientific theories. They just do not want teachers going out of their way to take the role of the parent and engage in behavior modification. Get over it.

[Dinner]

Wow, really, Mini-Kuci? That is your line? I didn't quote a whole page of garbage (which BTW I already linked too) and instead just took out the germaine parts which deal directly with what we are talking about? That's just fail, dude. Go stick your head in one of the 14 toilets in your parents house.

[Wiglaf]

An example of such attempted behavior modification the Texas GOP does not support: