Reps. Santos & Greene endorse federal censorship of school books

I'm all for Constitutional rights. BUT:
Though my list might not match theirs, I'm open-minded about keeping public school libraries appropriate to their education level.
"No right is absolute. Conversely, no government authority is absolute." lawyer, law Professor and former ACLU head Nadine Strossen
 
I'm all for Constitutional rights. BUT:
Though my list might not match theirs, I'm open-minded about keeping public school libraries appropriate to their education level.
Education level? You mean like not including books on Algebraic Topology in a grade school library?

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Education level? You mean like not including books on Algebraic Topology in a grade school library?
That isn't what I meant, but it identifies two different perils.

Regarding replacement parts my motorcycle salesman explained to me "universal" means it doesn't fit anything.
Public school has to dumb down the syllabus enough so the dumbest kid in the class can keep up.

I know of no harm to a student struggling with arithmetic if s/he stumbles across a library book on differential calculus.
Disgusting pornography is a different story.

I know it's a slippery slope.
And I realize there may be regional variations. For example, details of how "mountain oysters" are harvested might be considered inappropriate in New "Live Free Or Die" Hampshire, but be welcome in Texas.

I'm not the one to coin the term "age appropriate". I'm not enough of a lay expert to offer constructive detail. But as a matter of principle I would not absolutize "free speech" where young impressionable children are involved. Particularly considering "public" is a euphemism for "government" school.

Am I out of line on that?

Most Republicans now think colleges are bad for America


Most Republicans are incomes pooh.

It's spectacular how self-defeating they are. No telling how many Republicans got rubbed out by Republican anti-vaxers.
 
On that topic (from 2012)

Texas GOP rejects ‘critical thinking’ skills. Really.

Valerie Strauss

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.”

 
"... 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." S2 #6
I have in the past thought of Republicans as advocates for ignorance. I'll bump that up a notch here.
In Texas they're champions of ignorance.

So what is there left to teach? Or would they like to update the antiquated and lavishly excessive U.S. standard of "K - 12" standard with a more refined, more economical K - 8?

Incidentally:
I've long suspected, due to the exponentially complicating world, K - 12 is no longer adequate, and that "free", or perhaps mandatory K - 14 would better prepare our young citizens for the labor market.
I've read numerous sources reporting many job openings in the U.S. go unfilled because there are no qualified applicants. Would K - 14 help?
 
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