Educating the Right Wing

The latest report from the Florida Department of Education regarding the success of schoolchildren on standardized testing must really have given local conservatives a lot to think about.

After all, they are the people who promoted and shoveled the nonsense called No Child Left Behind.  Instead, every child has been left behind, just ask anyone teaching on a college level. Their kids are great at taking tests, but have no idea how to think their way through a situation.  Political candidates like Jeb Bush, a prime architect of this travesty, continue to tout to the concept and ignore the accompanying damage.

That’s what makes the recent results almost comical.

On one hand, students in my area, Volusia County, finished above the state average in biology, but below in civics.

That means that they actually learned enough about science to answer some questions about it.  Since biology embraces everything from Climate Change to evolution, that realization must have conservatives desperate to find some way for the students to learn something else.

Gerrymandered voting districts

On the other hand, the right wing must be thrilled by the civic results.  Conservatives have spent the last few years energetically throwing up roadblocks to reduce the number of voters and trying to make sure no one gets in their way through gerrymandered voting districts.  For them, the less people know about civics the better.

At least, that part of the plan is working.

Climate Change

However, in the long run, they will come out on the short end.  Educated voters may not know much about political shenanigans, but when they see that conservatives are anti-environment and ignorant (or dismissive) of science and factual information, they just might decide to go in a different direction.

Now that would be the start of a real education.

Long-time religious historian Bill Lazarus regularly writes mostly religion and religious history.  He also speaks at various religious organizations throughout Florida.  You can reach him at www.williamplazarus.net.  He is the author of the famed Unauthorized Biography of Nostradamus; The Last Testament of Simon Peter; The Gospel Truth: Where Did the Gospel Writers Get Their Information; Noel: The Lore and Tradition of Christmas Carols; and Dummies Guide to Comparative Religion.  His books are available on Amazon.com, Kindle, bookstores and via various publishers.  He can also be followed on Twitter.

You can enroll in his on-line class, Comparative Religion for Dummies, at http://www.udemy.com/comparative-religion-for-dummies/?promote=1