What's Wrong with American Education:
The list of problems is long, but one place to start is with the Texas Board of Education. Texas politicians love to pander to right-wing bigots, and the Board has tremendous influence over what appears in textbooks, not only in their state, but also around the country. Textbook publishers and educators have been attempting to fight back, but a recent vote by the Board is making things more difficult. (See today's New York Times.) The Board wants American textbooks to reflect the majority of Texans' belief in white supremacy, Christian fundamentalism, and a "free market" based on "the Chicago School of Economics" that would promote the complete deregulation of business.
Tea Party Rallies Its Support from People Terrified by Debt:
Kate Zernike reports on the Tea Party leadership and its avoidance of all things social in today's New York Times. Unlike the Texas School Board whose conservative majority focus all of their attention on a highly glossed version of history as "the white man's burden," the Tea Party leadership hopes to garner power by appealing to white fears, and ignorance, about the economy.
Political leaders of all stripes make hay out of the fact that almost no one understands how the economy functions. Consider for a moment how many schools of thought are devoted to the subject and how diverse the directions they come from are. Most can be reduced to enhancing the biased views of their proponents, regardless of the political spectrum they emanate from.
Worthy of Note:
Blaine Brownell reflects on the symbolic importance of architecture in today's New York Times. Brownell describes the world's new tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, in historic terms, remarking on the fact that unlike its predecessors, which were devoted to commerce and icons of religiosity, the building in Dubai is primarily a residentual center, and made of reinforced concrete, not steel and glass or stone. Brownell thinks, "If one society worshiped God in stone, and another venerated enterprise in steel, it must say something that we have now been able to reach so high with our most common building material: concrete."
The Conservative Movement's Triumvirate:
Newt (Nuke Getrich) Gingrich, Sarah (I only run in order to quit) Palin, Glenn (I haven't got a clue) Beck. If wooden headed Ronny Rayguns could be prez …. Okay, they may be floating for the moment, but just keep flushing.
The list of problems is long, but one place to start is with the Texas Board of Education. Texas politicians love to pander to right-wing bigots, and the Board has tremendous influence over what appears in textbooks, not only in their state, but also around the country. Textbook publishers and educators have been attempting to fight back, but a recent vote by the Board is making things more difficult. (See today's New York Times.) The Board wants American textbooks to reflect the majority of Texans' belief in white supremacy, Christian fundamentalism, and a "free market" based on "the Chicago School of Economics" that would promote the complete deregulation of business.
Tea Party Rallies Its Support from People Terrified by Debt:
Kate Zernike reports on the Tea Party leadership and its avoidance of all things social in today's New York Times. Unlike the Texas School Board whose conservative majority focus all of their attention on a highly glossed version of history as "the white man's burden," the Tea Party leadership hopes to garner power by appealing to white fears, and ignorance, about the economy.
Political leaders of all stripes make hay out of the fact that almost no one understands how the economy functions. Consider for a moment how many schools of thought are devoted to the subject and how diverse the directions they come from are. Most can be reduced to enhancing the biased views of their proponents, regardless of the political spectrum they emanate from.
Worthy of Note:
Blaine Brownell reflects on the symbolic importance of architecture in today's New York Times. Brownell describes the world's new tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, in historic terms, remarking on the fact that unlike its predecessors, which were devoted to commerce and icons of religiosity, the building in Dubai is primarily a residentual center, and made of reinforced concrete, not steel and glass or stone. Brownell thinks, "If one society worshiped God in stone, and another venerated enterprise in steel, it must say something that we have now been able to reach so high with our most common building material: concrete."
The Conservative Movement's Triumvirate:
Newt (Nuke Getrich) Gingrich, Sarah (I only run in order to quit) Palin, Glenn (I haven't got a clue) Beck. If wooden headed Ronny Rayguns could be prez …. Okay, they may be floating for the moment, but just keep flushing.
posted by Jim | 10:44 AM
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