Tennessee now allows free discussion of creationism, non-scientific and other ideas in the classroom.

Since the massive Republican takeover of the U.S. House and state legislatures in 2010, it will be easy to mark that year as the start of the decline of education in America. Funding cuts, privatization on the cheap, skewed history textbooks and the introduction of fuzzy science has started the ball rolling downhill.

In a few years, when scores slowdown and eventually start declining, Republicans will once again blame liberal course work and the remaining public schools. When Wall Street crashed, conservatives blamed the few remaining regulations for weakening the free market. The same ploy will be used for schools.

Nothing Republicans ever do can be blamed for anything, since what they do flows from the purity of faith and ideology. And the reasons for failure, those messy details, they just get in the way.

Again, burn it into your memory; 2010 was the beginning of the end of the American educational system.  Here's just one story of many:  

Ed Week: Tennessee's Republican governor said Tuesday he will let a bill become law that protects teachers who allow students in their classrooms to criticize evolution and other scientific theories, such as global warming … Tennessee was the state where the nation's first big legal battle over evolution was fought nearly 90 years ago.

Critics derided the legislation as the "monkey bill" … Some contend the measure could open the door for religious teaching in the classroom … backers said it would encourage critical thinking by protecting teachers from discipline if they help students critique "scientific weaknesses."

Hedy Weinberg, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee, said terms such as "strengths and weaknesses," and even "critical thinking," are used by those seeking to introduce non-scientific ideas—such as creationism and intelligent design—into the science curriculum. Tennessee Education Association lobbyist Jerry Winters said "And with all the emphasis on science, technology and engineering and math, it just seems to be moving totally in the wrong direction."