What is Digg?322 Comments
- isaactwito, on 05/25/2008, -8/+99This is disgusting. A lack of education is the foundation of most of the problems we see in this world. If you're a Texan and you don't want to see these children flounder and sink in the world then fight this!
- gordonj, on 05/25/2008, -8/+83It'll be interesting to see how this situation evolves.
- jogleby, on 05/25/2008, -20/+87Texas is like a whole other country. Or at least it should be.
- inactive, on 05/25/2008, -7/+74Good article, and I live in Texas.
- MasterTroll, on 05/25/2008, -9/+63I've lived in Texas my whole life and I believe in evolution over creationism. In fact, I was never even taught creationism. I don't personally know anyone who truly believes in creationism. Sorry to disappoint you guys though.
- duke, on 05/25/2008, -8/+55Rick Perry exemplifies idiocy. He followed in W's footsteps.
- zephyr42, on 05/25/2008, -3/+46If you're not from Texas you say what you want but everyone IN texas *knows* our public school system sucks more than anything. In short = not surprised.
- zspeed78, on 05/25/2008, -2/+41Woah, I was wrong about texas test scores.. check out these SAT scores by state. http://sde.state.ok.us/test/SAT/SATstateSCORES.pdf
- Spytap, on 05/25/2008, -3/+32Bush is from Connecticut dude.
- zephyr42, on 05/25/2008, -4/+26Why? it's a good state otherwise....
If you haven't been to Austin you wouldn't be saying that. - DukeMojo, on 05/25/2008, -8/+28Not everyone from Texas is an ignorant, foolish, cowboy-wannabe. Just most of them.
I'm tired, truly truly tired, of this "all or none" foolishness people give to any place where the stupid are in the majority. Well guess what ya'll, it's called planet Earth.
No one is "doomed" until the last human gives up on science. And that will NEVER happen. Science and math are the universal culture of humanity. - inactive, on 05/25/2008, -1/+21it's not necessarily bad to teach about it as long as it is taught in a secular manner, and i am an atheist. at my school, they made people read it in ap english because you can't understand half the stuff in old literature without knowing about the themes from the bible. the book is completely fake, but it is unfortunately the single most influential book ever.
- funkywood, on 05/25/2008, -3/+21Lol "A war on reality". That sums up the thinking of creationists. They probably think they can win that one too.
- 22catches, on 05/25/2008, -6/+25I'm assuming the Texas School Board is against situtations evolving. Situations are created, and then follow God's path.
- Jebra, on 05/25/2008, -1/+19Texas schools usually lie on two extreme ends. Incredibly good and competitive with students achieving much better than the national average (my school district in Plano routinely left private schools in the dust), or extremely run down with dropouts, pregnancies, and classes formed exclusively around passing the state TAKS test. I grew up in this state, went through the entire education system
(pre-K through 10, attended the Texas Academy of Math and Science, now a senior at the University of Texas @ Austin). We were actually taught evolution beginning in middle school, all the biology teachers would just say "Creationism is another theory floating around, but if you are interested in learning more, attend a bible class outside of school. This course is based on biological systems and science". And that was the extent of it.
So I wouldn't say we're totally 'doomed'. But agreed, there are parts of the education system that need serious work. Problem is it takes more than the govt. At the end of the day, it comes down to parenting and vested interest in their children to succeed. Most kids don't care as much as they should. - evi1, on 05/25/2008, -3/+21When I was in high school they never even touched on creationism and just taught evolution.
- relic120, on 05/25/2008, -5/+23They only come out so "good" because that's all they focus on all year. They don't teach anything except how to pass the tests. The schools are too focused on those tests that the kids are missing out on a real education.
- DeFex, on 05/25/2008, -4/+21-----average-----
-----retarded-----
-------peter-------
---creationists-- - thepretext, on 05/26/2008, -4/+21I really do hate folks like you, and I won't waste time trying to explain why you're a bigoted *****. It's a great, unique and beautiful state filled with people from all walks of life, and to condemn it based on the actions of a few makes you no better than those few who run things around here. Do we have idiots like Rick Perry? Yes. But we also have great men like Ron Paul-- and assuming you're not just thick, that alone should give you a small spectrum of the people who live here. Visit Austin some time. Heck, visit Dallas. Once you see that we're not horse riding, cow wrangling sons of bitches you might just change your opinion.
Now me? I voted for Kinky. - AzleGamer, on 05/25/2008, -5/+21Same here - I'm graduating this year and I've never been taught anything remotely related to creationism in the classroom.
- inactive, on 05/25/2008, -6/+21"Texas does have one of the highest rated education systems in the country"
No we don't, we're 32nd in elementary, 33rd in middle schools. Stop listening to Republicans.
http://www.psk12.com/rating/USthreeRsphp/STATE_US_ ... - lisaawesome, on 05/25/2008, -0/+14I want to know the justification for appointing someone with absolutely no background in education to be to head of the state board of education. It seems some government officials like to appoint people to positions for which the appointee has absolutely no qualifications. If this were the kind of job where you submitted a resume McLeroy would never have even been called for an interview let alone be given the job. And then we wonder why the unqualified appointee crashes and burns in their position.
- cranium, on 05/25/2008, -6/+20They haven't implemented the curriculum changes yet. They did teach you guys about future/present/past, right?
- PrintScrn12, on 05/25/2008, -0/+14The big issues is that it hasn't been given a proper chance to be reviewed. The fact it was created by non-professionals the night before in comparison with a 3 year long effort by experts just doesn't give a lot of confidence.
So sure it is possible the final document is gold. However the chances are against it and they didn't even review if it was a steaming pile of crap.
Here the process of production and review is the problem rather than just the end product. - WolverineBlue, on 05/26/2008, -3/+16I see an unexpectedly strong correlation between high test scores and proximity to corn...
- z0s01, on 05/25/2008, -5/+17I was trying to figure out how all the public districts are starting up Bible classes based on the book being literature. Now I know
- elnerdo, on 05/26/2008, -4/+16You mean: It'll be interesting to see how the situation is intelligently designed.
- IphtashuFitz, on 05/25/2008, -0/+11Wow, that's an interesting table. I never would expected that the top 5 would consist of North & South Dakota & Iowa. I also would have expected states like Massachusetts & Connecticut to have ranked higher than they did.
- massproductions, on 05/25/2008, -2/+13Texans, it would be wise to write to the State Board of Education member that represents your district and let them know how you feel.
http://www.tea.state.tx.us/sboe/members.html - MortalynFlux, on 05/25/2008, -3/+13That's why you have all these people with H1B visas. So Texas isn't doomed, you'll just have more people from India, Europe, Russia, Africa, and Mexico filling in those jobs. You think I'm exaggerating? I'm not. I've been in meetings with workers from all the nationalities I just listed. And they get paid the same as everyone else. Texas has plenty of trailer parks for all the high school graduates who think the earth was created in 7 days.
- Depthfunction, on 05/26/2008, -3/+13McLeroy is an idiot. He's a ***** dentist, for crying out loud, and yet he presumes to know more about teaching writing and English than do actual English teachers. What he wants to do with the teaching of grammar is separate it from the teaching of English--an idea that flies in the face of DECADES worth of research into how to teach children to read. McLeroy has consistently shown disdain for teachers and their opinions.
The problem with Texas is the same problem that you see throughout the country: politicians are running the school boards at the state and local levels, politicians who have never spent a single day of their lives teaching in a classroom. What we need to do to fix education in America is either divorce schools from politics or get more teachers onto school boards. Unfortunately, as long as tax dollars go to support education, politics will be involved, and as for the other option, running for elected office takes money, and most teachers barely earn enough to pay their own bills, never mind finance a political campaign. - beguiledfoil, on 05/25/2008, -2/+12Has a lot to do with who in those states take the tests. Colleges and Universities in the midwest generally don't look at the SAT, instead they use the ACT. So the only kids that take the SAT are those with the lofty goal of journeying to the coasts for school...
Essentially a classist filter (richer kids more likely to go far away to school). - inactive, on 05/25/2008, -0/+10I can't believe people still think bush has anything to do with Texas. The entire accent and ***** was just there to make him seem southern authentic to win votes from stupid people. It's a big part of how he rose to power over the years. Hillary Clinton tried it too, but then gave up. She once faked a southern accent too. I just wish I could find a reliable video of Bush before he started the fake Texan accent thing. There ought to be one out there somewhere.
- elhaf, on 05/25/2008, -12/+20A bit hyperbolic and short on the facts. If one reads, using one's critical thinking skills, the other links linked from this article and the Houston Chronicle article, it seems that a sort of balance has been sought. Granted Mcelroy is a tool with no educational background, but I will withhold judgement until I see the final document, which simply hasn't been released yet.
- evi1, on 05/25/2008, -1/+9Still sour from that Rose Bowl uscfan?
- arch3r, on 05/26/2008, -2/+10Oh, I see what you did there.
- robharper, on 05/26/2008, -0/+8I have to question whether these scores really indicate the quality of education.
I live in New Mexico, and most people take the ACT instead of the SAT. Those that take the SAT are probably applying to out-of-state schools. Anyway, the education in New Mexico is probably worse than shown. - PopcornDave, on 05/25/2008, -0/+8So he's 13-14 years old, living at home, being taken care of by mommy and daddy and you don't know what to think? Just wait until this kid gets in to the real world and has to deal with not being mollycoddled and his thinking may very well change. If not, that's his loss, nobody else's. People wearing blinders eventually walk in to walls.
- SeaweedWater, on 05/25/2008, -4/+12Hold the phone.
Science isn't evil? - RandomGorilla, on 05/26/2008, -0/+7Dugg for voting for the Kinkster.
- Iztikeit, on 05/26/2008, -0/+7You'll notice that most of those higher ranking states don't have huge sprawling urban cities to greatly reduce the mean.
- massproductions, on 05/25/2008, -0/+7Sorry for the comment abuse (I posted the same link further down in the thread), but if you're interested in getting in contact with your SBoE member, this may prove useful.
http://www.tea.state.tx.us/sboe/members.html - bottlesandcans, on 05/25/2008, -1/+8I know plenty of English people who can't speak English.
- Infidelcastr0, on 05/26/2008, -1/+8LOL @ D.C.
- crownedgriffin, on 05/25/2008, -1/+8I was in Texas schools until I was 16. Every single thing you are taught is another lesson on how to game the year end tests. They're called the TAKS tests now by the way. It used to be just English and Math (TAAS). Now it's English, Math, Science, and Social Studies. Everyone student hates the tests with the utmost of passions. They're a lot of tedious work that prove nothing.
- Frosty122, on 05/26/2008, -2/+8me, I live in Austin.....
- PrintScrn12, on 05/25/2008, -0/+6You are referring to Pascal's wager. It is restricted to a set of beliefs within a set of religions as you are making a lot of assumptions on God and the afterlife not shared by most theists. You might be worshipping the wrong God/s. God may not reward faith. God may not be anthropomorphic, where we can attribute such decisions. The afterlife might not be a variation of eternal heaven and hell.
There is the variant of the atheist's wager which loses the "right/wrong God assumption" and changes the "God rewards faith" assumption to "God rewards benevolence". Having less assumptions it more likely to be true under Occam's razor:
"You should live your life and try to make the world a better place for your being in it, whether or not you believe in God. If there is no God, you have lost nothing and will be remembered fondly by those you left behind. If there is a benevolent God, he may judge you on your merits coupled with your commitments, and not just on whether or not you believed in him."
Though teaching subjects are done from a secular viewpoint. So ultimately using Pascal's wager as a guideline makes as much sense as using a Buddhist or Hindu guideline. Not much within the state education context. - LeeSoong, on 05/26/2008, -1/+7JeeBus lifts the space shuttle on Angels wings,
and the Azstronaughts kiss Almahta Geods cheek
when they fly high above the flat Earth.
- Texas Science Textbook update. - grungemusic3001, on 05/26/2008, -0/+6"I want to know the justification for appointing someone with absolutely no background in education to be to head of the state board of education."
Probably the same justification that one might give for allowing the former head of the International Arabian Horse Association to run FEMA. - sjbdallas, on 05/25/2008, -3/+9Texas is different in so many ways. Some ways are good and some are bad. Religion is such a huge player in most things here in Texas that I hardly notice it most times but two things you'll find more of here than anywhere else:
1 - The local news channels cover church related things very heavily on Saturday and Sunday. That's when you'll see stories about new pastors, choirs, and similar church related activities.
2 - Most school events begin with a prayer. -
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