Politicians + School Boards = Bad Mix

Max2147 · 07-14-09, 09:26 AM

In recent years, the Texas Board of Education has become increasingly politicized. According to a well-informed friend of mine from down there, it became a major cause for social conservatives intent on spreading their agenda as much as possible. Liberals of course fought back, and as a result the Board is now filled with political types instead of teachers.

This is the result: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124753078523935615.html

I'm sorry, but a Reverend "who preaches that Watergate, the Vietnam War and Hurricane Katrina were God's judgments on the nation's sexual immorality" should not be writing our school curriculum. When that happens, you get stuff like this snippet from the article: "The conservative reviewers say they believe that children must learn that America's founding principles are biblical. For instance, they say the separation of powers set forth in the Constitution stems from a scriptural understanding of man's fall and inherent sinfulness, or "radical depravity," which means he can be governed only by an intricate system of checks and balances."

Now the conservatives on the board did recommend more study of original documents, which I agree with in principle. But what original document did they pull that gem from? I've read the Constitution over a few times, and I've failed to see any mentions of Christianity, God, the Bible, or man's "radical depravity." I think that if they had been motivated by those things, they might have mentioned them at least once or twice?

Now the liberals in this aren't innocent, although to their credit their reviewers were all professors of history and education. But saying that talk of minorities' "contributions to society" marginalizes the minorities isn't exactly the most intelligent thing I've heard today.

Just a thought, but maybe we should leave the history curriculum to historians instead of politicians.

07-14-09, 09:26 AM	#1
Max2147 Seasoned Skipper Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 714 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	Politicians + School Boards = Bad Mix In recent years, the Texas Board of Education has become increasingly politicized. According to a well-informed friend of mine from down there, it became a major cause for social conservatives intent on spreading their agenda as much as possible. Liberals of course fought back, and as a result the Board is now filled with political types instead of teachers. This is the result: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124753078523935615.html I'm sorry, but a Reverend "who preaches that Watergate, the Vietnam War and Hurricane Katrina were God's judgments on the nation's sexual immorality" should not be writing our school curriculum. When that happens, you get stuff like this snippet from the article: "The conservative reviewers say they believe that children must learn that America's founding principles are biblical. For instance, they say the separation of powers set forth in the Constitution stems from a scriptural understanding of man's fall and inherent sinfulness, or "radical depravity," which means he can be governed only by an intricate system of checks and balances." Now the conservatives on the board did recommend more study of original documents, which I agree with in principle. But what original document did they pull that gem from? I've read the Constitution over a few times, and I've failed to see any mentions of Christianity, God, the Bible, or man's "radical depravity." I think that if they had been motivated by those things, they might have mentioned them at least once or twice? Now the liberals in this aren't innocent, although to their credit their reviewers were all professors of history and education. But saying that talk of minorities' "contributions to society" marginalizes the minorities isn't exactly the most intelligent thing I've heard today. Just a thought, but maybe we should leave the history curriculum to historians instead of politicians.