Evo said:
http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2010/sep/11/this-series-examines-important-issues-to-texans/
He is also apparently out of touch with how bad education is in Texas (refer to his statements in above article).
What statements? He admits they have a very high dropout rate and education could use improvement. Even with that: according to the
NAEP site Texas is trending upward, for what it's worth, in national test scores.
In percent proficiency using the NAEP standards:
In reading - Texas students went from 29->30 in 4th grade and 26->28 in 8th grade (between 2005 and 2007)
In math - 40->40 in 4th and 31->35 in 8th (between 2005 and 2007)
They seem low, but they're definitely not the lowest in the country, and they're trending upward - even with the massive influx of immigration (while some states have regressed). As Evo pointed out in the
NH-libertarianism thread, a state with higher immigration and urban centers would have a much harder challenge in social problems as well. Comparing to other southern-border states: Texas has higher scores in 2007 than CA, AZ, NM and is a push with FL.
He even admits that he's not in the curriculum process:
The State Board of Education is an independently elected body that is charged with developing college- and career-ready curriculum standards for our state. As elected officials, they are accountable to their constituents for implementing curriculum standards that will ensure the best education possible for our state.
She's also advocating much more parental involvement, and realized that sometimes austerity measures are necessary - but is pleading for education to not be cut as much. And she doesn't refute that Gov. Perry has almost doubled education funding over the last decade (as is in the first article), she just says that cutting it now is unfortunate. Ultimately, her solution is more parental involvement and school pride to help out the state when it may be forced to cut funding. The title is very misleading, she really only addresses the budget issue in the introduction then goes on to talk about how the stakeholders in a child's education should be taking more action.
However, not all the challenges facing our schools are about shrinking budgets. The education of our children is a partnership — a partnership among the schools, the parents, businesses, churches and the rest of the community. - Fmr. First Lady B. Bush
Even with all of that, however, what do these test scores have to do with ID? When has Gov. Perry used this belief as a legislative tool? He says that it's the State's elected school board's job to determine the curriculum. So, applying the same logic as indicting him over his religious beliefs - couldn't one see this as evidence that he's actually willing to step aside and let the proper officials handle the problem? I think a President who's willing to ignore the constitution and the limits of his job is more dangerous than a President whom knows his limits, generally regardless of his other beliefs. I think the paradigm discussion should be on these actionable points, and track records - not hyperbolic 'what ifs' surrounding Gov. Perry's beliefs or knowledge.
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There are two points of hypocracy that I see happening in this thread as well: I think it's a bit hypocritical that there are some in this thread that are willing to claim a technicality on Gov. Perry infering that ID=science, but yet will call evolution a fact (instead of a well-tested theory). Both inferences are incorrect when using the same definition of 'scientific theory.'
The second hypocracy is: why isn't the current President's religious beliefs being called into question? He's asserted that he's definitely a Christian, believes in god, refers to 'the Creator', but also says that he's all for 'evolution' and trusts in science ... how can he do both? Even without taking 'the creator' statement at face value, how can someone be trusted (using the logic from many in this thread) if they state one belief (christian) then state an opposing belief (evolution). This seems like a few very panderous statements, and inconsistent. Again, I'd personally rather have a sometimes not scientifically rational consistent President (that knows his limits) rather than an inconsistent one without a clear thought process as President. Which brings up the point - what leads anyone to believe, that aside from constant pandering to constituency, that President Obama is any more rational based on his mixed-bag of beliefs than a consistent-evangelical?