Friday, July 27, 2012

Blog Stage Seven

According to the 2012 Texas Republican 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.” (truth-out)

Am I the only person that read that statement and said, “Wait, what?!”

While some would say that it has always been known that the Republican Party has been against teaching critical thinking in public schools, it is now laid out in black in white in their Republican platform. No arguments there, it’s out and it’s causing plenty of uproar recently in Texas.

The Republican Party doesn’t promote the use of critical thinking in public schools because they don’t want to challenge the rooted beliefs of the students or undermine the parent’s that taught it to them. While this is all fine and dandy, we can’t realistically think that students are going to be able to learn and flourish as INDIVISUALS if we don’t teach them to think for themselves and challenge things they are told in life.

And in a country that’s already falling behind in public education, this pretty much guarantees the loss of any chance we have to compete in a constantly growing complex and technology-driven world. Texas alone doesn’t have a stellar education system as it is.

In an attempt to defend their stance, the Texas GOP says that their platform was not worded accurately and the language used should have been different. Spokesman Chris Elam claims it "was an oversight on the subcommittee's part."

How do you overlook something so outrageous? Was it actually just worded incorrectly and of bad language? Or is this just an excuse they’re pulling to save their own?

Either way, there’s no denying that the Texas Education system already needs help, and this is certainly not the help it needs.

3 comments:

  1. Veronica Barfield’s Blog, entitled “Government: Bigger in Texas,” touched on a very interesting and recent declaration from Texas’ Republican Party, her comments on which can be found here. In their defense of Knowledge-Based Education, the party has gone as far to say they oppose teachings of critical thinking: “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 (page 20, Republican Party of Texas, 2012).” In accordance with Ms. Barfield’s commentary, such a declaration is absolutely ridiculous.

    Although the party desires obedient children, preventing students from generating their own beliefs, or imagining an alternative, is extremely unproductive. Imagination fuels innovation, understanding, and allows obstacles to be overcome. By preventing students from acquiring such problem-solving skills, how will they achieve anything new? How will they adjust to the structure of collegiate-level coursework? Will they ever desire, or be able, to understand diverse cultures and people? Without such skills, I highly doubt it. With Texas dominated by Republicans, no wonder the state is renowned for being so closed minded. To them, ignorance is bliss and knowledge is set. Hell, maybe they still think the Earth is flat. However, as students of many backgrounds and beliefs populate the state, the many non-Republican supporters should not have to suffer. This is unfair and unrepresentative, but until minorities come out to vote in greater numbers, inevitable. Such policies would be another blow to an already broken education system.

    Source: “Texas GOP Declares: ‘No More Teaching of “Critical Thinking Skills” in Texas Public Schools.’” Truthout. http://truth-out.org/news/item/10144-texas-gop-declares-no-more-teaching-of-critical-thinking-skills-in-texas-public-schools

    ReplyDelete
  2. In response to the Blog “Government: Bigger in Texas,” I read an article about how Republicans would rather not teach critical thinking schools because it threatens the parents believes that were instilled into the child’s brain. I completely agree with Veronica when she was shocked by that thought.
    Personally I find no problem with teaching critical thinking in schools; it allows the student to think their own opinions regardless of their parent’s opinions.
    In my opinion there really is not that much to say other than, what the heck is wrong with you republicans!

    ReplyDelete
  3. In my colleague Veronica’s blog, “Government: Bigger in Texas”, she discusses how the Republican Party is against teaching students critical thinking skills in public schools in the blog she posted on August 10, 2012. I pretty much had the same reaction she did and went “wait, what?” when I read this quote she posted,

    “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.”

    This was posted by the Republican Party in its 2012 platform. I actually had to go back and read it again because I thought I had read it wrong.

    I agree with Veronica that it is pretty ridiculous that they tried to claim this was a ‘mistake’. I don’t see how a statement like that could be overlooked and I think they were just trying to save their butts when it became obvious that the general public did not agree with their statement. Critical thinking is a very important skill for students to possess, especially growing up in a country like the United States where we have so many options once we branch away from our parents and move out into the world as a ‘grown-up’. People need to able to think at a higher level and assess all sides in a situation not only in the work world, but also in day to day activities. They need to be able to form their own opinions and not just think they have to be stuck believing everything their told by others, like their parents. Taking such an important and effective skill away from students is setting them up for failure once they become adults, and with public education being in the shape it is in Texas, the last thing that needs to be done is to make things worse.

    In another blog I read called, “Texas GOP rejects ‘critical thinking’ skills. Really.”, Valerie Straus discusses the same issue and goes on to list out other things the Republican Party is also against, such as sex education, early childhood education, and multicultural education. Wow. Like Veronica said in her blog, Texas education is already in bad shape. With the Republicans having views like this towards education, it does not make me think things are going to get any better if they have control.

    ReplyDelete