Today let’s talk education, shall we?

No secret that I think American education sucks the big one.  It has been in decline for decades and gets NO better…..no matter how much we talk and debate….it just keeps in decline.

We have ll heard, well those of us that are interested in education, about the many attempts by state’s and school districts to re-write history to their liking……never mind that it is false….some attempts are successful and others are being dragged through the courts or the election process.

I read apiece the other day that made me think……..

A California school district is scrapping a lesson plan that allowed middle school students to deny the existence of the Holocaust, Fox News reports. After a wave of criticism and a reported death threat, Southern California’s Rialto Unified School District backpedaled on its unusual method of teaching eighth-graders about propaganda. The lesson plan (part of a “Diary of Anne Frank” unit, the Daily Bulletin notes) asked students to write an essay for or against the belief that the Holocaust occurred—which would help them “develop critical thinking skills,” a school board member said.

Among the critics was the Anti-Defamation League, which expressed its concerns to district Interim Superintendent Mohammad Islam, saying the lesson plan “gives legitimacy to the hateful and anti-Semitic promoters of Holocaust denial,” reports another Daily Bulletin article. Today the district canceled the plan and promised to strike “any reference to the Holocaust ‘not occurring'” from school assignments. Meanwhile, Rialto police said they received several calls from someone who made death threats against Islam and a district spokeswoman. Authorities are investigating, and two officers were stationed today on campus.

After reading the piece I had to think awhile before I came to a conclusion…….it think that to teach students just how propaganda works is not a bad thing and would help them see the lies that are fed to them daily……..First, the stupidity of some just amazes me at times before i realize that it is not their fault……education or the lack thereof is to blame…..second, as a political historian I can understand where they were coming from…..the critical thinking thing, that is…….there is very little of that in society today and teaching students to think out issues is vital….however I do think that some other subject would have made a better test of their thinking skills…….

We need students to be able to think outside of the box……not being capable of such thinking is what has turned our system into the world joke it is today.

I have weighed in….would anyone else like to jump on this wagon?