Oh Texas - Not Much for Thinking, eh?
From The Answer Sheet at the Washington Post, Valerie Strauss says it best: "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." And there you have it. No smarty-pants thinking for Texas kids. They obviously do not get that critical thinking - and thinking broadly - brings the kind of entrepreneurial ideas and innovations that built this country. They also oppose: "..early childhood education, sex education, and multicultural education, but supports “school subjects ...