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

MaggieD said:
Kidnapping, breaking families apart and punishing those who try to escape is part of slavery's bones, so to speak. I'm referring to how they were treated on the plantations who bought them. Unless owners were psychotic, they didn't destroy the very people they viewed as valuable assets. JMVHO.
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If you're excusing the slanted presentation of slavery in the Louisiana textbooks under discussion in the Op, I can't possibly, even remotely agree.
 
Rewriting history in realtime.
 
jamesrage said:
The article cherry picks fringe comments and tries to associate it with private schools.The article doesn't mention where in the text book those comments are from and what schools actually use those text books.
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Gee, james, I'm not sure what sort of context could provide cover for an outright lie such as "dinosaurs and humans lived together". Maybe you can explain that to me.

And BTW, I don't see these kind of beliefs as "christian".
 
clownboy said:
American slave owners did not travel to Africa or anywhere else to kidnap anyone. They bought their slaves at market. If you want to blame someone for kidnapping, blame the Dutch and the Africans themselves who sold other tribes to the slavers.

Maggie has a point and she's not talking up slavery. She's trying to get through to those with a public school education that the matter was more complex and the conditions different than the pap they push. Slavery is bad M'Kay.

Slaves were an investment, a piece of valuable property. And btw, while all this was happening, children and people who owed money in the North were worked like dogs for less pay and worse conditions than most slaves faced on the plantations.
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A new reason to *headdesk*.

Now people want to debate whether slavery was unkind?

What next? Whether the Holocaust can be excused if only we look at what tidy records the Nazis kept?
 
The fact these books are sold enough to even be published in multiple editions is bad enough, it to teach it as fact I say that is downright frightening, an assault against rational thought even.
 
Pinkie said:
A new reason to *headdesk*.

Now people want to debate whether slavery was unkind?

What next? Whether the Holocaust can be excused if only we look at what tidy records the Nazis kept?
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No, you responded to Maggie's comment with some drek pulled right from the public school bastardization of history. Again, that's no excuse for slavery. Neither the North nor the South should be excused for that. But we don't have to make something up just so we can make it evil enough to oppose. It's sufficiently evil enough on it's own.

Back to the topic of the thread. This is just another dodge by the folks not wanting parents to have the ability to shop their educational dollars.
 
hikari said:
The fact these books are sold enough to even be published in multiple editions is bad enough, it to teach it as fact I say that is downright frightening, an assault against rational thought even.
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Just to let you know, they still teach plenty of long debunked lies in public schools around the nation. Agreed that it's scary.
 
I was homeschooled and taught science in HS using the Bob Jones University Press books. I scored a 35 on the science section in the ACT, earned a bachelors in Molecular Biology, scored a 96% in the biology section on the PCAT (top 3% in the nation) as well as being selected to work on a research project and presenting my research twice while winning a 1st place award for best paper presentation at one of the meetings. I am now working on a doctorate (doctor of pharmacy). I think I turned out fine with a strong science background coming out of high school. :shrug:
 
jamesrage said:
Sounds like nothing more than a left wing smear attack against private schools.If you are going to smear private schools then you should actually post something credible and real. You were duped.

Besides that this is not a mainstream news source nor is this breaking news seeing how the article is dated Aug 7.
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These are NOT private schools, they are paid for with public funds. They are also clearly in violation of our laws against teaching religion in publicly funded schools. They should be shut down.
 
clownboy said:
No, you responded to Maggie's comment with some drek pulled right from the public school bastardization of history. Again, that's no excuse for slavery. Neither the North nor the South should be excused for that. But we don't have to make something up just so we can make it evil enough to oppose. It's sufficiently evil enough on it's own.

Back to the topic of the thread. This is just another dodge by the folks not wanting parents to have the ability to shop their educational dollars.
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I agree, the separation of church and state issue is a more pertinent discussion.
 
digsbe said:
I was homeschooled and taught science in HS using the Bob Jones University Press books. I scored a 35 on the science section in the ACT, earned a bachelors in Molecular Biology, scored a 96% in the biology section on the PCAT (top 3% in the nation) and am now working on a doctorate (doctor of pharmacy). I think I turned out fine :shrug:
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So, even if all the kids in religious schools have similar excellent outcomes, do you think it's appropriate for tax money to be used to pay for their education?
 
Pinkie said:
So, even if all the kids in religious schools have similar excellent outcomes, do you think it's appropriate for tax money to be used to pay for their education?
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Yes, so long as the government treats all religious institutions equally and they adhere to academic standards. My main point though is that the curriculum people are trying to pass of as terrible or stupid actually did prepare me very well for what I would experience on the ACT and in college.
 
clownboy said:
No, you responded to Maggie's comment with some drek pulled right from the public school bastardization of history. Again, that's no excuse for slavery. Neither the North nor the South should be excused for that. But we don't have to make something up just so we can make it evil enough to oppose. It's sufficiently evil enough on it's own.

Back to the topic of the thread. This is just another dodge by the folks not wanting parents to have the ability to shop their educational dollars.
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It's not their dollars, these are public funds being used to indoctrinate children in religious and/or right wing lies. These schools need to be cut off from public funds or shut down immediately.
 
digsbe said:
Yes, so long as the government treats all religious institutions equally and they adhere to academic standards. My main point though is that the curriculum people are trying to pass of as terrible or stupid actually did prepare me very well for what I would experience on the ACT and in college.
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So you were asked when dinosaurs lived and answered correctly? You didn't get the answer at school if you did.
 
digsbe said:
Yes, so long as the government treats all religious institutions equally and they adhere to academic standards. My main point though is that the curriculum people are trying to pass of as terrible or stupid actually did prepare me very well for what I would experience on the ACT and in college.
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How is teaching kids that humans and dinosaurs lived at the same time "meeting academic standards", digsbe?
 
iguanaman said:
These are NOT private schools, they are paid for with public funds. They are also clearly in violation of our laws against teaching religion in publicly funded schools. They should be shut down.
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Charter schools ARE public schools. But what is at discussion here is the ability to use vouchers for any school that meets the states requirements for educational institutions, public or private, even if that private school is religious.
 
Pinkie said:
How is teaching kids that humans and dinosaurs lived at the same time "meeting academic standards", digsbe?
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How is teaching kids the false nonsense we teach them about history in public schools "meeting academic standards"? Those standards are set by the states. Disagree with the standards all you want, but that does nothing to rebut the equal treatment argument.

Now, personally I wouldn't enroll my grandchildren in a school that teaches such crap. That could be why I pay for their private schooling.
 
clownboy said:
How is teaching kids the false nonsense we teach them about history in public schools "meeting academic standards"? Those standards are set by the states. Disagree with the standards all you want, but that does nothing to rebut the equal treatment argument.

Noqw, personally
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I can't make sense of this post, clownboy. Could you elaborate?
 
Pinkie said:
How is teaching kids that humans and dinosaurs lived at the same time "meeting academic standards", digsbe?
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It taught everything I needed to know. There was literally only 1 chapter that focused on both the creationist viewpoint and the evolutionary viewpoint. They discussed how "dinosaurs" may be creatures like the leviathan that was referenced in Job. The OP is a spin job that was created to make the curriculum appear devoid of all facts. The curriculum for the different sciences taught me what I needed to know and personally I think they were better than what most of my publicly schooled friends received.
 
digsbe said:
It taught everything I needed to know. There was literally only 1 chapter that focused on both the creationist viewpoint and the evolutionary viewpoint. They discussed how "dinosaurs" may be creatures like the leviathan that was referenced in Job. The OP is a spin job that was created to make the curriculum appear devoid of all facts. The curriculum for the different sciences taught me what I needed to know and personally I think they were better than what most of my publicly schooled friends received.
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So, not only do you not think there should be any limits on how a private school uses taxpayer money, you also don't think there should be any objective standards as to what a child is taught?

(I'm inferring here....I doubt you think any such thing.)

In addition to the limits on private school use of taxpayer money that existed when I was a child, there was also a state-wide exam, per subject, per year which a student had to pass in order to receive a Regent's diploma. Students who failed or didn't take the required courses could still get a diploma, but as a rule you couldn't get into college without the Regent's one.

I understand that public education is terrible and something must be done, but it seems to me we are throwing the baby out with the bathwater if we make no effort to restrict the use of public funds.
 
Pinkie said:
Gee, james, I'm not sure what sort of context could provide cover for an outright lie such as "dinosaurs and humans lived together". Maybe you can explain that to me.
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Teaching what some Christians do or do not believe.

And BTW, I don't see these kind of beliefs as "christian".
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Which is why I said in my first post in this thread that the article is a left wing attempt to smear private schools..
 
digsbe said:
I was homeschooled and taught science in HS using the Bob Jones University Press books. I scored a 35 on the science section in the ACT, earned a bachelors in Molecular Biology, scored a 96% in the biology section on the PCAT (top 3% in the nation) as well as being selected to work on a research project and presenting my research twice while winning a 1st place award for best paper presentation at one of the meetings. I am now working on a doctorate (doctor of pharmacy). I think I turned out fine with a strong science background coming out of high school. :shrug:
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No offense to you as a person , but its a sign of how bad our educational standards are that you managed to get a university degree in biology when only a year ago you denied the validity of evolution. You even bought into some nonsense about "15 questions that evolution can't answer" that should have been basic knowledge from your coursework. I desperately hope that you at least are willing to accept the evolution of bacterial anti-biotic resistance if you ever have to apply your schooling in reality.
 
Pinkie said:
So, even if all the kids in religious schools have similar excellent outcomes, do you think it's appropriate for tax money to be used to pay for their education?
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People are compelled by force of law, to pay taxes for these things.
Whether or not they use or significantly benefit from these tax benefits.

It's only fair to allow people to choose how their children are educated, as long as it doesn't violate same basic humane and educational principles.
 
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