Republican Assault on Public Education (1 Viewer)

[MT15]

This probably needs its own thread. It ties in with a lot of different R culture wars: Attacks on universities, attacks on CRT and “woke”. Classifying teachers and librarians as “groomers”. Pushing vouchers to send tax money to private, often religious, schools. Betsy DeVos was an advocate for all these policies that will weaken public education, and there are several billionaires who also want to dismantle public education. Public education may have its faults, but it is responsible for an amazing amount of upward mobility. Kids from poor areas can still get a college prep education in a public school.

Vouchers (sometimes disguised as “school choice”) are a particular peeve of mine. Public money is diverted from poor schools to wealthy private schools, which aren’t required to offer accommodations for special needs or challenged students. Families with special needs kids are left out. Rural areas often suffer disproportionately because there are no private schools to attend, but their public schools still see the reduction in funding. Often the families who take advantage of the voucher money are upper class and the private schools simply raise tuition knowing the families are getting taxpayer money now.

Greg Abbot is being particularly vile in this area. No surprise. Voters will have to make a statement about public education. If we want to halt the growing divide in this country between the “haves” and “have-nots”, we need to pay attention to public education.

 

[bird]

Posters of the 10 commandments for Louisiana

"They have MLK, RBG and Hamilton on them! Try to criticize that libs!"

Um, no. Having that other list doesn’t make it constitutional.

 

[coldseat]

Cringe?

Weird?

 

[coldseat]

Somebody should do a parody poster with the Ten Commandments next to Biggie Smalls "Ten Crack Commandments", since that what Lin Manuel Miranda's "Ten Duel Commandments" was based off of.

NSFW!

 

[Optimus Prime]

Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry offered some advice to parents unhappy about the Ten Commandments being displayed in their child’s school - “Tell the child not to look at it.”

During a press conference on Monday, Landry dismissed any potential criticisms about the state requiring public schools to display the religious directives in every classroom.

“I don’t see what the whole big fuss is about,” Landry said, calling Moses the “original lawgiver.”

When asked what he believes parents against the new law should do, Landry said if they “find them so [offensive],” then they should “tell the child not to look at it.”

Louisiana became the first state to require public schools to display the religious text in June after the Republican-dominated legislature passed the law with the help of a handful of Democrats.

But Landry lambasted those challenging the law, claiming the bill had bipartisan support from both sides and should therefore be respected.

“I think we’ve forgotten in this country that democracy actually means majority rules,” Landry said. “That does not mean when you don’t like something you have a right to impose that, which the majority likes.”

This year, Landry has vetoed 27 bills that passed in the Louisiana state legislature including one that would have prohibited the use of deepfake technology in political advertising...........

La. Gov instructs parents upset over Ten Commandments: ‘tell the child not to look’

Louisiana’s Governor suggested parents or students uncomfortable with the posters could just turn their eyes away

www.independent.co.uk

 

[bird]

Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry offered some advice to parents unhappy about the Ten Commandments being displayed in their child’s school - “Tell the child not to look at it.”

During a press conference on Monday, Landry dismissed any potential criticisms about the state requiring public schools to display the religious directives in every classroom.

“I don’t see what the whole big fuss is about,” Landry said, calling Moses the “original lawgiver.”

When asked what he believes parents against the new law should do, Landry said if they “find them so [offensive],” then they should “tell the child not to look at it.”

Louisiana became the first state to require public schools to display the religious text in June after the Republican-dominated legislature passed the law with the help of a handful of Democrats.

But Landry lambasted those challenging the law, claiming the bill had bipartisan support from both sides and should therefore be respected.

“I think we’ve forgotten in this country that democracy actually means majority rules,” Landry said. “That does not mean when you don’t like something you have a right to impose that, which the majority likes.”

This year, Landry has vetoed 27 bills that passed in the Louisiana state legislature including one that would have prohibited the use of deepfake technology in political advertising...........

La. Gov instructs parents upset over Ten Commandments: ‘tell the child not to look’

Louisiana’s Governor suggested parents or students uncomfortable with the posters could just turn their eyes away

www.independent.co.uk

Interesting comment re: majority rule. Republicans do not care about majority rule when it comes to gerrymandering. They do not care about majority rule when it comes to guns. They do not care about majority rule when it comes to the filibuster. The do not care about majority rule when it comes to the electoral college.

Levitsky and Ziblatt cover this. The constitution has established a system which originally had less democratic processes. This changed over time with the direct election of senators. But even the senate is not democratic in and of itself.

 

[SFIDC3]

Cringe?

I would say it's just weird.....

 

[LA - L.A.]

Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry offered some advice to parents unhappy about the Ten Commandments being displayed in their child’s school - “Tell the child not to look at it.”

During a press conference on Monday, Landry dismissed any potential criticisms about the state requiring public schools to display the religious directives in every classroom.

“I don’t see what the whole big fuss is about,” Landry said, calling Moses the “original lawgiver.”

Hammurabi would like to have a word with Landry. Some scholars think that Moses and the Hebrews adapted some of their laws directly from The Code of Hammurabi.

 

[Optimus Prime]

With former teacher Gov. Tim Walz rounding out the Democratic ticket, education could become a talking point in this election.

Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump has laid out his education policy plans in Agenda47. Separate from the oft-mentioned Project 2025, Agenda47 covers Trump's official policy platform on issues including crime, healthcare and immigration. Agenda47 on education proposes 10 ideas for "great schools leading to great jobs" that range from curriculum requirements to preferential funding for schools with internship programs.

This election comes at a pivotal time for educators, says Jon Valant, director at the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution. Between the pandemic and the culture wars, teachers have had a rough few years and he says Trump's proposals are unlikely to alleviate the core of those issues..........

Here are some of Trump's proposed education policies that impact teachers and school systems:

Give preference to schools that abolish teacher tenure​

"To reward good teachers, President Trump will implement funding preferences and favorable treatment for states and school districts that abolish teacher tenure for grades K-12, adopt Merit Pay to reward good teachers, and give parents the right to vote for the principals who direct their children’s education.

• How we got here: Valant called this proposal "an oldie but a goodie for conservative education reform," as it tends to be popular among conservatives. About a decade ago, several states sought to reform teacher tenure by extending the probationary period, but in recent years the push has been more muted as other education battles took the forefront.
• In today's context: Valant said union politics come into play here, as teachers unions want to protect tenure as a way to defend against unfounded firings. "This one is primarily the...direct shot at teachers unions," Valant said. He also said teacher recruitment and retention after the last few years is already under stress, and he worries taking away tenure could exacerbate that.

Universal school choice​

"President Trump supports universal school choice so that parents can send their children to the public, private, or religious school that best suits their needs, their goals, and their values...President Trump commends Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Ohio, Oklahoma, Utah, and West Virginia for leading the American school choice revolution—and he looks forward to working with other states, as well as the U.S. Congress, to provide for universal school choice for every American family."

• How we got here: School choice can include a range of policies that give parents the ability to use public money for private school tuition or homeschooling. Valant said there was once bipartisan agreement on limited school choice policies that allowed for charter schools. But more expansive school choice policies, like providing vouchers that give money to parents for their kids to attend private school, dramatically expanded in the last few years. According to Education Week, proponents of school choice say it helps provide another option for kids in underperforming school.
• In today's context: Many outcomes of expanding school choice policies have yet to be seen. But Valant said vouchers are often not enough to cover tuition costs for private school, and as a result they mostly end up helping relatively wealthy families, many of whom already have kids in private school. He said it could also change the landscape of school enrollment if wealthy kids end up in private school and low-income kids end up in public schools. "To me...it feels like incredible risk for the damage they may do to their public education systems."

Create a credentialing body to certify patriotic teachers​

"President Trump will reinstate the 1776 Commission, which he originally created but was disbanded by Joe Biden on his first day in office, to ensure America’s children learn the truth about their country’s history and the timeless principles of liberty and equality...President Trump will veto any effort to weaponize or nationalize civics education. And he will create a credentialing body to certify teachers who embrace patriotic values and support the American Way of Life."

• How we got here: Trump created the 1776 Commission in November of 2020 as part of the backlash to the New York Times' 1619 Project, which examines the history of slavery in the U.S. That backlash also included conservatives passing "critical race theory" curriculum bans, as key part of the erupting culture wars. The report the commission produced days before Trump left office excused America's history of slavery and undercut the legacy of the civil rights movement.
• In today's context: Political messaging on critical race theory and history curriculums seems to have waned in the last year. Valant said creating a new credentialing body would be politically driven, yet derails from traditional conservative values of stripping down government regulation..............

Trump's Agenda47 on education: Abolish teacher tenure, universal school choice, patriotism

Donald Trump has put forward promises for his potential second term in Agenda47, no Project 2025. Here are some plans for teachers and education.

www.usatoday.com

 

[MT15]

Poor Oklahoma, to be saddled with this guy. He’s a right wing nut job.

 

[MT15]

Looks like even some GOP lawmakers in OK are getting tired of their guy:

 

[Optimus Prime]

posted this in the celebrity thread also

 

[LA - L.A.]

posted this in the celebrity thread also

He's never gotten over this:

Growing Pains (1985)

Leonardo DiCaprio and Kirk Cameron in Growing Pains (1985)

www.imdb.com

 

[MT15]

posted this in the celebrity thread also

He’s a moron.

 

[Optimus Prime]

(The Center Square) — The Sunshine State may soon reach crisis levels as a teacher shortage looms.

Florida TaxWatch has released a new report showing that Florida's teacher salaries rank 50th in the nation and school districts are struggling to fill vacancies.

"The well-being of Florida's K-12 education system should be a concern for all taxpayers. Comprising 43.9 percent of general revenue spending for Florida's FY 2023-24 state budget, education is one of the biggest consumers of taxpayer dollars," the report says.

the available vacancies were still more than double those during the 2016-2017 school year.

The Florida Department of Education says in the report that many teachers needing to be certified in the appropriate fields are being hired to fill teaching positions. It also notes that postsecondary institutions need to produce more graduates to meet K-12 needs.

Around 15% of courses offered in F-ranked and D-ranked schools are taught by out-of-field teachers, compared to only 6.4% of courses in A-ranked schools.

The report notes the subject area with the most out-of-field teachers is English for speakers of other languages, often these teachers are instructing lessons in different subject areas. Science-Earth and Space and Science have the most significant demand, equating to two courses per certified teacher...........

MSN

 

[Optimus Prime]

Wasn’t sure where to put this, here or SCOTUS thread
======================


Aug 21 (Reuters) - The Massachusetts Institute of Technology's incoming freshman class this year dropped to just 16% Black, Hispanic, Native American or Pacific Islander students compared to 31% in previous years after the U.S. Supreme Court banned colleges from using race as a factor in admissions in 2023, the elite engineering school said.

The proportion of Asian American students in the incoming class rose from 41% to 47%, while white students made up about the same share of the class as in recent years.

MIT administrators said the statistics are the result of the Supreme Court's decision last year to ban affirmative action, a practice that many selective U.S. colleges and universities used for decades to boost enrollment of underrepresented minority groups.

Harvard and the University of North Carolina, the defendants in the Supreme Court case, argued that they wanted to promote diversity to offer educational opportunities broadly and bring a range of perspectives to their campuses.

The conservative-leaning Court ruled that their race-conscious admissions practices violated the U.S. Constitution's promise of equal protection under the law……

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/mits-enrollment-black-latino-students-drops-after-supreme-court-affirmative-2024-08-21/

 

[Optimus Prime]

School board candidates backed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) fell short in a number of key races Tuesday, a blow to the governor’s efforts to reshape Florida’s education system.

Eleven of 23 school board candidates endorsed by DeSantis appeared to have lost their races Tuesday night, the Tampa Bay Times and Florida Politics reported, while another six races looked headed to November runoffs.

This year’s losses come after a majority of DeSantis’s endorsed candidates won their school board elections during the 2022 midterms, flipping some liberal-leaning school boards to conservative-leaning……

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4839192-ron-desantis-school-board-florida/

​

 

[Optimus Prime]

Scientific theory has had a rough time in America’s public schools.

Almost 100 years ago, science teacher John Scopes was convicted of violating a Tennessee law that prohibited teaching the theory of evolution. Although his conviction was overturned on a technicality in 1927, laws banning classes on Darwin’s theory stuck around for another 40 years. They were ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1968.

Over the past few decades, conservative or religious groups that object to including the theory of evolution in science classes have tried a different approach. Now, they argue, if the “scientific” theory of evolution is taught, other views, such as “intelligent design” – a stand-in for creationism – should also be taught.

The approach is not limited to evolution. Legislatures across the country are proposing or passing laws that purport to encourage scientific discussion, but instead encourage students to treat established, scientific theories as equivalent to ideas that lack scientific study.

In 2012, legislators in Tennessee – the same state where the Scopes trial took place nearly a century ago – approved a law that obligated teachers to present the “scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of existing scientific theories.” What constituted a scientific “strength” or “weakness” was not defined.

Similar bills were introduced in North Dakota in 2019 and Oklahoma in 2023. If the Oklahoma bill passes, teachers will be encouraged to explore scientific theories in class and to help students “analyze certain scientific strengths and weaknesses.”

And a new law in West Virginia allows teachers to discuss or answer “questions from students about scientific theories.” The bill’s author, state Sen. Amy Grady, said the law is about “encouraging students to think, encouraging students to ask questions and encouraging our teachers to be able to answer them.”

In my view, legislation dealing with the teaching of scientific theories is being used to influence what is taught in public schools. The law is likely to face a legal challenge. More than 20 years ago, in Kitzmiller v. Dover, a federal court ruled that intelligent design was not science; it lacked empirical evidence and testable hypotheses. Teaching it would violate the First Amendment’s prohibition against state support of religion.

As an educator – and as a scholar who studies the nature of science – I believe an understanding of scientific knowledge is critical; scientific theories are part of this knowledge.

Accepted scientific theories are the best explanations available so far for how the world works. They have been thoroughly tested and are supported by evidence, often pulled from different fields. For example, evidence supporting large-scale evolution comes from fossils, DNA analysis and comparing the anatomy of different organisms.............

MSN

 

[Optimus Prime]

BIXBY, Okla. (AP) — Oklahoma’s Bixby school district has lots to show off for a fast-growing Tulsa suburb: a state-of-the-art new high school set to open by 2025, a new ninth grade gymnasium and plans for a $12 million upgrade to a football complex that already rivals that of many small colleges.

But, what the district does not have as students returned this week is a Bible in every classroom — despite a statewide mandate from Oklahoma’s education chief to incorporate Bible lessons and promises of repercussions for those that don’t comply. Other large school districts have also publicly indicated they aren’t making changes either.

The resistance follows a summer order that propelled Oklahoma to the center of a growing push by conservatives to give religion a bigger role in public schools across the U.S. Still, the fight may be far from over while other states, including neighboring Texas, are seeing Republicans advance similar efforts to incorporate the Bible into classrooms.

“If there is no curricular standard that ties with that particular classroom, what would be the purpose of a Bible if not for pure indoctrination?” said Bixby Superintendent Rob Miller, a former Marine Corps artilleryman whose office walls are adorned with medals from some of the 18 marathons he’s run and a sign that reads: “Positive Vibes Only.”…….

Oklahoma teachers were told to use the Bible. There's resistance from schools as students return

Despite a statewide mandate from Oklahoma’s education chief to incorporate Bible lessons, some school districts have publicly indicated they aren’t making changes.

apnews.com