From EdWeek, a “mistake” that only confirms the worst biases against Texas, known by many for their highly politicized State Board of Education’s battles over textbook content.
The 2012 Texas Republican Party Platform, adopted June 9 at the state convention in Forth Worth, seems to take a stand against, well, the teaching of critical thinking skills. Read it for yourself:
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 is in addition to devaluing mandatory kindergarten and urging greater use of corporal punishment in the schools.
However, in an update to news outlets once the questionable assertions were pointed out to them, the Texas State Republican Party said
the “critical thinking skills” language should not have been included in the document after the words “values clarification,” reports Talking Points Memo. The members of the subcommittee “regret” the mistake, he told TPM—however, since the platform was approved, “it cannot be corrected until the next state convention in 2014.”
