"A child's learning is the function more of the characteristics of his classmates than those of the teacher." James Coleman, 1972

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Emboldened Mischief-Makers, Part Three

Part Three of "Emboldened Mischief-Makers"

Part One
Part Two

Concerning "the why" of Creationism and such.

The two primary "books" for Lincoln, nearly committed to memory, The Bible and Shakespeare.  So too, primarily, for Melville.

If one is to "suffer" the discipline of only a few books then they'd better be good ones!  They'd better foster imagination, creativity, and linguistic virtuosity.  I wonder if one gets that in the "informational text" heavy "common core"?

Concerning the spate of states proposing to legislate educators "to create an environment that encourages students to intelligently and respectfully explore scientific questions and learn about scientific evidence related to biological and chemical evolution, global warming, and human cloning,"
Tim Swarens, writing in the Indianapolis Star (December 7, 2012), offered a prediction about the bill: "Perhaps it's an article of faith, but I choose to believe that Bosma [the speaker of the Indiana House of Representatives], Behning [the chair of the House Education Committee] and a majority of lawmakers will see that Kruse is badly misguided in pushing a bill that, if implemented, would undercut educators, embolden classroom mischief-makers, and send the wrong message to the rest of the nation about a state that wants to grow its science and technology sectors."  
Please tell me you laughed out loud at the assertion that the bill will "embolden classroom mischief-makers."  I just remembered a scene from My Dog Skip where one of the "hicks" in the class was reading aloud a favorite passage from The Bible.  He said the world "ass" over and over again to the general glee of all but the teacher!  The Bible emboldened him verily.

Nearly every argument against this bill offers the failure of the technology business sector as one of the primary factors to oppose it.  Again, let us recall that those proposing these bills are in the main Republicans.  This is one of those confusing moments.  The "party" of business interests is undercutting business interests?

I don't think so.  The reality is that the masses being educated in public schools are NOT the bright lights who will lead us shiningly into the glorified technological future (you know, the one where some of us live in space and others live under ground and the rest revert to beasts fighting for water and shelter).  Rather, these are the minions who will at best only need field the masters a competent servant class.

That is to say, no one believes that states which teach creationism will "destroy" their tech economy...rather they will simply offer a more obedient workforce!  Ta-da!  Creationism is the belief in being an obedient creation after all.





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