A Texas Republican Party official says the party never meant to include an attack on teaching critical thinking skills in the platform it adopted this month. Talking Points Memo quotes state GOP Communications Director Chris Elam as claiming that plank got into the platform by mistake:
“[The chairman of the Education Subcommittee] indicated that it was an oversight of the committee, that the plank should not have included ‘critical thinking skills’ after ‘values clarification,’” Elam said. “And it was not the intent of the subcommittee to present a plank that would have indicated that the RPT [Republican Party of Texas] in any way opposed the development of critical thinking skills.”
Elam said the members of the subcommittee “regret” the oversight, but because the mistake was part of the platform approved by the convention, “it cannot be corrected until the next state convention in 2014.”
TPM asked Elam what the intent of subcommittee had been in including the “Knowledge-Based Education” plank.
“I think the intent is that the Republican Party is opposed to the values clarification method that serves the purpose of challenging students beliefs and undermine parental authority,” he said.
So if that plank has to stay in the platform for the next two years, does that make any Republican who engages in critical thinking a RINO?
