Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Republicans to Cleanse U.S.History of all negative references, push their own right wing "more patriotic" national standard in Schools.

The Republican efforts to privatize public education, K-12 and colleges, is moving onto the next stage; their own "national standard," a concept they say they despise and say is at the heart of Common Core (which isn't).

It's happening all over the country in every "red threat" states. 
An Oklahoma legislative committee overwhelmingly voted to ban Advanced Placement U.S. History class, persuaded by the argument that it only teaches students “what is bad about America.” Other lawmakers (want to) prohibit the teaching of all AP courses in public schools. Oklahoma Rep. Dan Fisher (R) said the AP history class fails to teach “American exceptionalism.” Rep. Sally Kern (R) claims that all “AP courses violate the legislation approved last year that repealed Common Core.”

She argues that “AP courses are similar to Common Core ... an attempt to impose a national curriculum on American schools.”
Republican meddling will cost Students lots of Money: By getting rid of Advanced Placement, students won’t get college credits in high school, raising the cost of education immensely:
Advanced Placement … developed by a private group, the College Board, and are not required … They save students money and are generally seen as a prerequisite to admission to elite colleges. But Republicans believe the Advanced Placement U.S. History test “deliberately distorts and/or edits out important historical events.” The RNC said a new framework for the exam “reflects a radically revisionist view of American history that emphasizes negative aspects of our nation’s history while omitting or minimizing positive aspects.”
Republicans hate liberal indoctrination, not right wing indoctrination. Conservative indoctrination is often described as “state specific educational standards.” And since conservative ideology is the same everywhere, it would ironically be…a national standard:  
Efforts by conservative school board members in Colorado to make the Advanced Placement U.S. History course “more patriotic,” prompted a walk-out by students. 

Under the changes proposed in Colorado “students would only be taught lessons depicting American heritage in a positive light, and effectively ban any material that could lead to dissent.” 
Yes, Republicans would love to quash future dissent, like Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has attempted to do at the state Capitol. There's more...
In South Carolina conservatives asked the College Board to exclude any material with an “ideological bias,” including evolution. Similar efforts are underway in Georgia and North Carolina.
GOP Attack on Education everywhere:
North Carolina GOP Looks To Raise Taxes On Students : North Carolina’sconservative majority provision of the bill would end the state income tax deduction for tuition expenses — essentially a tax hike on college students.

Congressman Says We Don’t Need Education Funding Because ‘Socrates Trained Plato On A Rock’: During a House Education and Workforce Committee to reauthorize the nation’s elementary and secondary education law, Rep. Dave Brat (R-VA) said, “Socrates trained Plato in on a rock and then Plato trained in Aristotle roughly speaking on a rock. So, huge funding is not necessary to achieve the greatest minds and the greatest intellects in history.” He later went on to say that he thinks the answer “would be to get private sector folks into every one of our schools, get the CEOs in the schools and move beyond this just narrow policy debate and really have a revolution.”
Congress is getting in on the act:
Current law targets $14 billion to schools and school districts based on the number of students living in these communities. The Republican legislation would give states the option whether they live in a high poverty community or not. For example, Los Angeles Unified School District would lose out on more than $75 million while the Beverly Hills Unified School District would gain $140,000.

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