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We need a department of education, so we can control money and also promote what types of education. Do we really want the Texas style of Education? Where Texas kids are going to learn right wing propaganda, creationism as Science, and Confederate heroism?

   

The greater problem with Texas is that school funding is tied to standardized testing scores. So teachers in Texas teach to score on tests, not to learn. The kids spend all day practising tests and learning test-taking strategy. Curriculum is secondary, at best.

   

http://www.top50states.com/average-iq-score.html Seeing as how Texas is ranked ahead of Washington state, yes you SHOULD want a Texas style of education.As for all that right wing propaganda you claim is being taught in Texas all I can say is good! Texas has the highest growth rate of population and household income in the United States.Four of the highest growth rate cities in America are located in Texas.That right wing propaganda must be doing something right.Speaking of the right wing,isn't Boeing the largest private employer in your state of Washington? It seems to me that Boeing {and Washington state} is dependant on right wing politicians to keep them in business.Thier commercial side isn't doing so hot these days.I have seen lots of ads from Boeing bitching about how they lost the contract for the new Air Force tanker.Boo fucking hoo!

Washington would be pretty much screwed by the loss of Boeing,wouldn't they? Washington has been kissing some serious Boeing ass to get them to stay in Washington.You had better hope that the right wing don't demand that Boeing move to a more right wing state in order to get contracts. It is only fair that defence contract jobs go to pro defense states. Thats politics baby!

Last but not least,your statement about Texas teaching confederate heroism. That statement made me angry enough to stay up past my bedtime to post a retort.I went to school in the south,Virginia to be exact.The first shot of the American civil war may have been fired in South Carolina,but the real war started and ended in Virginia.The population of Virginia suffered greatly during the war.They lost a large part of thier land when West Virginia seperated.If any area of the U.S. would have cause to teach a slanted view of the war,it would be Virginia.I can honestly say that was not the case.I was taught the war from an American perspective.{I will admit we were taught a reverence of Gen.Robert E Lee and Stonewall Jackson}. Not because thier cause was just,but because they were great leaders.They defeated numerically superior opponents time and time again.I was taught the same respect for Field Marshall Irving Rommel.No one is saying his cause was just either.No one doubts his greatness on the fields of battle.I was taught that the confederacy was in the wrong.I was taught that Virginia had a horrible record when it came to slavery and civil rights.Virginia was admitting thier faults to thier children in thier classrooms.I was taught this in the early 70's before there was a department of education.Do not attempt to paint southeners as stupid unpatriotic simpletons. A very large percentage of todays military comes from the south.Oh and by the way that southern state of Virginia that I graduated from.....it is ranked 6th in the U.S. Far ahead of Washington state.Screw the department of education!

   

Some good points, Rick, but: 1. The Texas schools system is disaster. No jurisdiction "should want a Texas style of education", for the reasons I posted above. 2. The greatness of Robert E Lee is tenuous at best. His generals were great (Jackson, as you mention), but Lee's greatness is a coat-tail ride on his field generals. Lee's blunder at Gettysburg is, I guess, overlooked by those indoctrinated to "revere" him.

   

Acually, it was Democrats who here are fighting for Boeing and not Republicans. Republicans let Boeing move to Chicago.

   

Actually given that Texas is ranked only 25th in spite of its considerable size and wealth, wouldn't it be more likely that Vermont which is ranked number 1 would be a better choice?

Also, it seems to me that a little company called Microsoft has its HQ in Washington. It might be even bigger than Boeing.

   

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