July 9, 2012 7:31 AM

Texas: Where blind obedience to authority is valued above critical and rational thinking

Texas Republicans are saying that their 2012 platform’s opposition to “critical thinking skills” was a mistake—but that mistake is now the formal policy of the Republican Party of Texas until 2014. The stated reasoning behind opposition to critical thinking skills was that such education programs “focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student’s fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority.”

Anyone of a Liberal persuasion living in Texas understands that, the Texas GOP’s protestations to the contrary, Conservatives aren’t really interested in the idea of teaching children to think critically. Sure, they’ll speak persuasively about how they value edumication, but what they really want is to create generations of children who obey authority, worship Jesus, and reliably vote Republican. Essentially what they want are endless generations of voters who exercise their democratic franchise as they’re told and without question. They understand that when you teach critical thinking skills to children, some of them will begin asking uncomfortable and inconvenient questions. Those questions, and the answers that follow, might lead some to become (GASP!! OH, THE HUMANITY!!) Liberals who questions the efficacy of the dominant political/theological paradigm. They might begin to question whether the Texas GOP’s Right-wing version of their Imaginary Friend actually exists, and if it does exist, whether He/She/It’s an inflexible kill-‘em-and-grill-‘em Conservative.

Texas Republicans are loathe to admit that working to create such unquestioning conformity is part of their agenda, but the reality belies their protestations. As someone who lived in Texas for 10+ years (3,722 days…not that I was counting), I’m familiar with the hyper-religious lunatics who’ve co-opted the Texas Republican Party. Their state conventions are more tent revivals than political convention, and some of the folks in charge of the party think the separation of Church and State is a Communist plot.

Critical thinking, of course, is what allows a person to differentiate between fact and hokum. I will assume that this is the peeve being addressed by the party plank (which, as it turns out, doubles as a handy paddlin’ board). Differentiating between fact and hokum sounds all fine and good until it leads to questioning your elders. When elders spout hokum, now that needs to be properly respected. If your elders say the Loch Ness Monster is proof that evolution never happened and that Noah’s Ark was actually a hovercraft, you had better damn well not start using your newfound critical thinking skills on picking apart that. Believing something contrary to your parents counts as behavior modification only if the original behavior was a full-on brainwashing.

OK, so they “regret” their “mistake.” I’m just cynical enough, and I spent just enough time in Texas, to understand that what Republicans are contrite about is being caught in the act. Their efforts dedicated to indoctrination over edumication is predicated on flying under the radar. Anyone who’s paid any attention at all to the machinations of the Texas State Board of Education understands that it’s not about edumication. Not by any stretch. It’s about indoctrinating Texas children to accept a Christianized, sanitized world view as the apotheosis of science and history…because the LAST thing REAL Texans want is for their children to question the dominant paradigm. When children are allowed to think for themselves and draw their own conclusions, they might begin to make decisions and form opinions that make them more difficult to control. They might even decide that being a Conservative Christian isn’t for them. They might decide to head in a different, very un-Texan direction. REAL Texans don’t think for themselves; they do, think, and vote as their church and their Republican overlords tell them.

Even if we take them at their word that this was in fact a mistake rather than just being something you regret when you get caught, and aside from the fact that this regretted mistake remains official party policy, it’s pretty damn clear that the party’s Education Subcommittee seriously discussed its opposition to critical thinking skills and included said opposition in some advanced drafts of its part of the platform. I think we can safely say Texas Republicans don’t support critical thinking skills, anyway.

OK, so I realize that might seem condescending, but there’s a sizable element of truth to it. Why else would those who control Texas edumication devote so much effort to ensuring that Texas’ children are indoctrinated in a reliably Christian manner? Why is Fox News Channel the de facto official news source of Texas? Why do most Texans view Liberals in the same way they view Yankees and social diseases? It’s because those who control Texas politics don’t want generations of children who think for themselves; they want children who’ve been reliably indoctrinated to do, believe, and vote as their told. It’s because democracy in Texas really exists only in the sense that one man/one vote is still the rule. That those votes are cast by Texans who have themselves been thoroughly indoctrinated to love Jesus and hate Liberals almost goes without saying.

Sure, the Texas GOP “apologized” for their “mistake,” but the reality isn’t nearly that simple. What they’re sorry for is being called out for inserting a plank opposing the teaching of critical thinking into the party’s platform. That’s no mistake; they simply regret being caught- because if you know Texas, you know that the plank simply spells out what was previously unspoken.

Critical thinking is for losers and Liberals.

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on July 9, 2012 7:31 AM.

Today's motivation fail was the previous entry in this blog.

Amerika: Sometimes it feels like the scariest, least edumicated place on Earth is the next entry in this blog.

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