My friend Julie Marsh wrote an EXCELLENT article with useful links that updates us all about the Texas education changes and the problems they create: an incomplete, unbalanced, agenda-driven education. It's a MUST READ for all parents. Last year, Texas governor Rick Perry made a few offhand references to the possibility of secession. Given the idiocy of the Texas State Board of Education, I'm all for Perry making good on his lighthearted threats. Then maybe the rest of the country can get on with the business of educating our kids without the input of a young-earth creationist dentist. The Texas Board of Education stirred up discussion last year on the topic of intelligent design; namely, whether it ought to be taught in public schools as an alternative theory to evolution. Under the guise of advocating "critical thinking," the conservative faction of the board argued that high school students should explore the "weaknesses" of evolution. Considering that the most vocal member of the board, Don McLeroy, "believes that the earth was created in six days, as the book of Genesis has it, less than 10,000 years ago," it's not surprising that he wants students to question evolution. I wonder if he's ever applied any critical thinking to his belief that scripture is more compelling evidence than carbon dating. Texas didn't manage to excise evolution from the science curriculum last year. But this year, it's another story where it comes to social studies. Among the changes that have been preliminarily approved by the state Board of Education: * Removing Thomas Jefferson from a section on how Enlightenment philosophy influenced the founders; * Requiring that students learn about the conservative political groups and figures...such as the Moral Majority and Eagle Forum founder Phyllis Schlafly -- without having a similar requirement for learning about liberal movements; * Replacing the term “capitalism” with “free enterprise” in economics and history standards, because...[it has] been tainted by liberal academics; * Requiring students to learn about the “Judeo-Christian” influences on the nation’s founders. Go read the rest!! http://thestir.cafemom.com/in_the_news/100319/mess_with_texas_dont_mind