Texas GOP Platform: Don’t Teach Kids Critical Thinking Skills!

Remember when Texas State Board of Education member David Bradley criticized teachers and scholars who were crafting new language arts and reading curriculum standards for Texas schools back in 2008? Having students actually think about what they were reading didn’t seem like a good idea to Bradley: “I’m sorry. This critical thinking stuff is gobbledygook.” Well, […]

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Defeated Lawmaker Promotes Creationist for Texas Education Commissioner

It’s bad enough that the State Board of Education has become a heavily politicized, dysfunctional embarrassment for Texas. Now religious-righters want control of the Texas Education Agency as well. State Rep. Wayne Christian, R-Center, wants Gov. Rick Perry to appoint SBOE member Charlie Garza, R-El Paso, as the state’s education commissioner and head of TEA. […]

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Textbooks, Sex and How Texas Has Hijacked Public Policy in America

New York Times columnist Gail Collins has a new book coming, As Texas Goes…, which looks at how right-wing politics and other shenanigans in Texas have hijacked public policy across the country. You can read two extended excerpts from Collins book (due out this month): one on the textbook wars here and another on sex […]

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David Barton’s Problem with Hispanic Civil Rights Leaders

During the Texas State Board of Education‘s revision of social studies curriculum standards in 2009-10, David Barton insisted that the board delete labor and civil rights icon César Chávez from a section on citizenship in the Grade 5 standards: “(H)e certainly lacks the stature, impact, and overall contributions of so many others; and his open […]

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