Welcome to the Dark Ages!
No, I’m not talking about the recent power outages in California. I’m talking about the decline and fall of American education.
It’s pretty scary how after only being in office a few weeks, G.W. is already tearing down the Wall of Separation between Church and State. From re-instating the abortion “gag” rule overseas, to school vouchers, to government money for “faith-based” charities, our un-elected president continues to promote his Religious Right agenda.
If that’s not bad enough, we on the local front are being subjected to ludicrous bills from our own State
Representative Betsy Close. Rep. Close has introduced three “education” bills that are so incredibly outrageous that one begins to wonder if she recently suffered some sort of head trauma.
HB 2086 would promote posting of the Ten Commandments in public schools. The claim is that this would improve students’ “morals and conduct”. In reality, we all know that this is a transparant attempt by the Religious Right to promote their own agenda. The only thing this would “improve” is church attendance.
HB 2480 would direct state universities to give options to students who want an alternative to required courses because of “moral objections”. Can you imagine the result of such a law? College students could simply opt out of all science and biology courses simply because they don’t believe in the teaching of evolution and think that anything outside of Creationism is immoral. Heck, I suppose I could’ve come up with some “moral objection” to that Statistics class I had to take back in my college days. Rep. Close seems to think that students will be harmed if they are exposed to anything not in accordance to their personal moral beliefs.
HB 2478 would prevent state universities from requiring students to complete ANY courses outside of their major. For example, Computer Science students would only have to take computer courses to earn their degree. If this passes, why don’t we stop calling them “universities”, and start calling them trade schools? Once again Rep. Close seems to have missed the entire point of a university — to provide a well-rounded education.
Education does not happen unless a student is exposed to ideas and concepts outside their own experiences. The goal of a university is to expand minds, not to close them.
G.W. has found his legacy... to make every American just as smart as he is. Heaven help us.
Hello. My name is Angela Christine Byers (yes, my mother actually named me “Angel of Christ”), and I am an atheist.
Copyright © 1996 - 2002 Angela C. Byers
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