Wednesday, August 08, 2012

14 Wacky "Facts" Kids Will Learn in Louisiana's Voucher Schools


I've often said, of the South, that it's not the heat, it's the stupidity, and lo and behold, this morning I was gifted with another example of Southern Idiocy.
The good folks in Louisiana wanted to privatize public education, and use a Bible-based curriculum to edu-mah-cate their younguns all at the expense of the tax-payer. So, under Asshat Guv'nah Bobby Jindal's voucher program, Louisiana will spend tens of millions of dollars to help poor and middle-class public school students receive a private education. Now, some say Jindal's plan is a good one--well, that's mostly GOP wingnuts--but others say the program is riddled with problems,
See, of the 119, mostly Christian, participating schools, there are twenty or so that will teach creationist nonsense, er, nonscience and will receive some $4 million in public funding from the initial round of voucher designations.
Many of these schools rely on the A Beka Book curriculum, aka Bob Jones University Press, textbooks to teach their Bible-based "facts." Let's look at what they'll be teachin' down in Loser-iana:
1. Dinosaurs and humans probably hung out: "Bible-believing Christians cannot accept any evolutionary interpretation. Dinosaurs and humans were definitely on the earth at the same time and may have even lived side by side within the past few thousand years."Life Science, 3rd ed., Bob Jones University Press, 2007
2. Dragons were totally real: "[Is] it possible that a fire-breathing animal really existed? Today some scientists are saying yes. They have found large chambers in certain dinosaur skulls…The large skull chambers could have contained special chemical-producing glands. When the animal forced the chemicals out of its mouth or nose, these substances may have combined and produced fire and smoke."Life Science, 3rd ed., Bob Jones University Press, 2007
3. "God used the Trail of Tears to bring many Indians to Christ."—America: Land That I Love, Teacher ed., A Beka Book, 1994
4. Africa needs religion: "Africa is a continent with many needs. It is still in need of the gospel…Only about ten percent of Africans can read and write. In some areas the mission schools have been shut down by Communists who have taken over the government."—Old World History and Geography in Christian Perspective, 3rd ed., A Beka Book, 2004
5. Slave masters were nice guys: "A few slave holders were undeniably cruel. Examples of slaves beaten to death were not common, neither were they unknown. The majority of slave holders treated their slaves well."United States History for Christian Schools, 2nd ed., Bob Jones University Press, 1991
6. The KKK was A-OK: "[The Ku Klux] Klan in some areas of the country tried to be a means of reform, fighting the decline in morality and using the symbol of the cross. Klan targets were bootleggers, wife-beaters, and immoral movies. In some communities it achieved a certain respectability as it worked with politicians."United States History for Christian Schools, 3rd ed., Bob Jones University Press, 2001
7. The Great Depression wasn't as bad as the liberals made it sound: "Perhaps the best known work of propaganda to come from the Depression was John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath…Other forms of propaganda included rumors of mortgage foreclosures, mass evictions, and hunger riots and exaggerated statistics representing the number of unemployed and homeless people in America."United States History: Heritage of Freedom, 2nd ed., A Beka Book, 1996
8. SCOTUS enslaved fetuses: "Ignoring 3,500 years of Judeo-Christian civilization, religion, morality, and law, the Burger Court held that an unborn child was not a living person but rather the "property" of the mother (much like slaves were considered property in the 1857 case of Dred Scott v. Sandford)."American Government in Christian Perspective, 2nd ed., A Beka Book, 1997
9. The Red Scare isn't over yet: "It is no wonder that Satan hates the family and has hurled his venom against it in the form of Communism."— American Government in Christian Perspective, 2nd ed., A Beka Book, 1997
10. Mark Twain and Emily Dickinson were a couple of hacks: "[Mark] Twain's outlook was both self-centered and ultimately hopeless…Twain's skepticism was clearly not the honest questioning of a seeker of truth but the deliberate defiance of a confessed rebel."Elements of Literature for Christian Schools, Bob Jones University, 2001"Several of [Emily Dickinson's] poems show a presumptuous attitude concerning her eternal destiny and a veiled disrespect for authority in general. Throughout her life she viewed salvation as a gamble, not a certainty. Although she did view the Bible as a source of poetic inspiration, she never accepted it as an inerrant guide to life."Elements of Literature for Christian Schools, Bob Jones University, 2001
11. Abstract algebra is too dang complicated: "Unlike the 'modern math' theorists, who believe that mathematics is a creation of man and thus arbitrary and relative, A Beka Bookteaches that the laws of mathematics are a creation of God and thus absolute…A Beka Bookprovides attractive, legible, and workable traditional mathematics texts that are not burdened with modern theories such as set theory."—ABeka.com
12. Gay people "have no more claims to special rights than child molesters or rapists."Teacher's Resource Guide to Current Events for Christian Schools, 1998-1999, Bob Jones University Press, 1998
13. "Global environmentalists have said and written enough to leave no doubt that their goal is to destroy the prosperous economies of the world's richest nations."Economics: Work and Prosperity in Christian Perspective, 2nd ed., A Beka Book, 1999
14. Globalization is a precursor to rapture: "But instead of this world unification ushering in an age of prosperity and peace, as most globalists believe it will, it will be a time of unimaginable human suffering as recorded in God's Word. The Anti-christ will tightly regulate who may buy and sell."Economics: Work and Prosperity in Christian Perspective, 2nd ed., A Beka Book, 1999
And that, folks, is how Louisiana will teach their children, and create a whole new generation of think-skulled, numbnuts. Okay, truth be told, they won't be teaching all their children via Bob Jones batshittery, but even the few who are punished by this lack of education, will continue to spread the word that Louisiana is, well, just dumb.
Yay.



8 comments:

  1. I always wonder how kids that are taught these kinds of things do when/if they go on to college. It must be total culture shock.

    ReplyDelete
  2. We have charter schools on the ballot for the 4th time. They are a different kettle of fish. I would have so started one for my dyslexic kiddo.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It would be funny if it wasn't true...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Looks like Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection will be tested down in the bajou.

    ReplyDelete
  5. OMG! Horrible! Yes, we are in Hell!

    ReplyDelete
  6. where is the aclu? i was under the impression that milwaukee had tried this and it got voted down, but apparently i was wrong because it's still up and running (if you live in certain areas and meet certain requirements you can go to private school, either religious or non-religious)

    anyways, our gov here wants the same for my state- to eliminate the public system as we know it and give all parents vouchers.

    working for the charter schools has given some hope to some families but is not the solution to all that is wrong in the region where i teach, because until all students have equal access to a decent education, everyone suffers.

    xxalainaxx

    ReplyDelete

Say anything, but keep it civil .......