Rebecca's Blog

(Austin) Fueled in large part by months-long messy attempts by the current State Board of Education to ignore the advice of teachers and experts, instead opting for ideology- and partisan-based attacks on quality public education, in the last 48 hours the Democrats running for two SBOE seats have gotten a big financial boost from those upset with the current Board.

The infusion of campaign funding this week helps continue the already-existing trend of the two Democrats’ fundraising advantage over their Republican opponents.

In fact, small-dollar contributions raised online for the two Democrats over the past 48 hours alone have exceeded the total cash contributions raised by either of their Republican challengers for the entire time since the March 5th Primary election.

After several prominent blogs and online news outlets featured a new campaign video for Democratic candidates Judy Jennings and Rebecca Bell-Metereau this week, contrasting them with the current radical Republican SBOE, contributions started pouring in. As of Thursday afternoon, over $21,000 in online contributions had been received in the last few days. The current total from ActBlue alone can be seen here.

“I’m not surprised that people are upset about what the current SBOE is doing to our neighborhood schools,” said Rebecca Bell-Metereau, the Democratic nominee for SBOE district 5. Bell-Metereau’s opponent, Ken Mercer, is one of the current Board members who is part of the ultra-conservative voting bloc which has become the laughingstock of the nation.

“People understand that the State Board of Education should be wholly focused on educating our schoolchildren, not on ideological warfare and efforts to politicize public schools,” said Judy Jennings, the Democrat running for SBOE district 10. “These contributors are sending a clear signal with their checkbooks that they want a return to sanity on this Board, not a continuation of ideology-driven behavior worthy of The Daily Show,” Jennings said.

Meanwhile, Jennings’ and Bell-Metereau’s Republican opponents have already ducked one televised debate, sponsored by the League of Women Voters, and appear to be skipping a second debate sponsored by LULAC. The Democrats haven’t turned down a single debate invitation, despite the Republicans’ coordinated attempts to avoid facing their opponents and voters in debates sponsored by non-partisan sponsors.

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Here’s a sampling of the online outlets joining in the last 48 hours on the nation-wide anger at the current SBOE:

After bullying the minority of sensible members into submission, extremists on the Texas State Board of Education managed to distort, water down, and politicize the curriculum.  Now they complain that people have gotten the facts wrong in describing the latest version of Texas curriculum standards.  It’s true that many people are confused about the current state of affairs, after hundreds of deletions, additions, and last-minute revisions.

Who is responsible for this confusion?  I lay the blame squarely on the radicals who threw in inflammatory and unreasonable suggested revisions all along the way–from wanting to remove Cesar Chavez, Barbara Jordan, and Thurgood Marshall and substitute Sean Hannity and Phyllis Schlafly, to eleventh-hour attempts to call the slave trade the “triangular trade.”  Even though the board ultimately rejected some of these extreme suggestions, it’s no wonder the public rebelled.  Many people are left with the impression that the curriculum contains some outrages that have been removed or altered, but the fact remains that extremists bullied the board into passing a highly politicized document.

What remains is a damaged SBOE, with zero credibility and a butchered curriculum still riddled with inaccuracy and instances of plagiarism.  This situation has hurt the entire education system in Texas. For every hour we engage in political bickering, we’re not spending that time addressing the need to lower our soaring dropout rate, grapple with problems of high-stakes testing, and determine how to hire and keep good teachers.

One might wonder why the board would engage in such a destructive and divisive process, wasting countless hours micromanaging the curriculum and squandering limited resources for education.  The answer lies in the words of these extremists:  Cynthia Dunbar’s calls public education a “subtly deceptive instrument of perversion.” My opponent, incumbent Ken Mercer, brags about giving a teacher coalition a “well deserved spanking.”

These radicals simply don’t respect public education. Mr. Mercer, didn’t even send his two children to public school.  Many extremist backers have financial investments in charter schools, textbooks, and testing materials designed for private schools that purvey their own worldview.  These members certainly have a right to send their children to private schools, but they should not have a right to undermine the reputation of public education, schools, and teachers.  We can send them that message by voting them off the board in November.

At this point, it is useless to get mired in the specifics of the damaged curriculum, after the board’s “death by a thousand cuts.”  Let’s focus on the big picture and determine what needs to be done.  We must elect reasonable people in Districts 5 and 10 and then call for a complete review of the curriculum by teachers and experts in the field.  Final decisions on the curriculum should take place in 2011, when we’ll have a board in place that reflects the will of the people.  Many of the bullies who sit on the board managed to get there with money from a tiny minority of supporters with radical views.  The board should reflect the views of the larger population in Texas.  After the negative attention the board has received, more people are looking carefully at candidates, and this election in November will reflect the attitudes of a larger number of participating voters.

People have protested, petitioned, and wrung their hands about the May Texas State Board of Education meeting. What struck me most clearly about this board, beyond the ideological mania that motivates them, was their utter incompetence in running a meeting, conducting analysis, or making logical decisions. It’s amazing that these people actually have jobs out in the real world.  Anyone who carried on a business in such an illogical and inefficient manner would have a difficult time keeping it afloat.

This group of ideologues is hopeless, and attempting to conduct a reasonable dialogue with them is doomed to failure.  Only the election in November will change things.  People ask what we will be able to do if we are elected.  With real leadership, we can return the board to a reasonable process with the clear goal of improving education in Texas.

The May meeting provided a good blueprint of what is wrong with the current board. At the outset of the public testimony, Chair Gail Lowe stated that with 205 signed up to speak, it would take ten hours for all the participants to deliver their three-minute statements.  Ha!  By mid-afternoon, they had only made their way through about seventeen speakers.  Instead of simply sticking to their stated rules and allowing all of those signed up a chance to say their piece, board members indulged themselves in the opportunity to speak and air their own views at every possible occasion.  Meanwhile, people who had driven 800 miles from El Paso and other far corners of the state fretted over whether they would have a chance to speak at all.

The board demonstrated the same lack of discipline in their own editing process.  At times people were mired in minutiae of language or “grammarical changes,” as Terri Leo put it.  On other occasions extremist board members soared with their intoxication over big ideas.  Terri Leo struggled to keep John Calvin in the Enlightenment, completely failing to understand what the Enlightenment was all about.

After hearing again and again that they should delay their final vote and send the mangled curriculum back to the review committees to clean up the mess board members had made, the board trudged through hundreds of tiny revisions, with no method and no plan.  Instead of grouping revisions into some reasonable categories, say, and voting on “grammarical” and non-substantive changes in large blocks, the extremists on the board worry over every item with mind-numbing thoroughness. They are not thorough, however, in checking what really counts, such as plagiarized passages in their own suggested revisions.

This board has exactly the same problems I recognize in my students:  poor critical thinking, research, language, and problem-solving skills.  They mix up big concepts with specific examples.  Their method for making the curriculum “fair” is simply to throw in a name from “their side” every place they recognize someone from the “other side,” thus muddying such concepts as the Enlightenment or reform and muckracker movements by  trying to add in totally unrelated figures who represented completely different schools of thought.

One story from the day seems to sum up both the current board’s attitude and its incompetence: it appears that this board left a plagiarized section in the current version, but they did change the UCLA website’s phrase (http://gseis.ucla.edu/courses/ed253a/american-exceptionalism.htm) from “democratic” republic to “constitutional” republic.

May the board learn what plagiarism is and stop doing it.

So what are we going to do?  Stop dithering, like the current SBOE, and put our time, donations, and energy into electing good people in November.

Please visit www.VoteRebecca.com and sign up for e-mail about the campaign. And please contributenow to my campaign so that we can ensure that the extremists are not able to write the final chapter.

(Cross Posted at Daily Kos)

After this past week of teaching and campaigning for Texas State Board of Education, I had a nightmare about a woman saying no Democrats could win in Texas.  In my nightmare, I screamed that we were working as hard as we could and how could she just sit on the sidelines and be so negative.  My dream’s message is clear:  We need help!  The next board will pick the textbooks, and it’s essential that we elect an educated, reasonable majority to implement the will of the people of Texas to give students a 21st century education.  It’s going to take money to make that happen, so we’re asking for your support at voterebecca.com.  Here’s why . . .

The current board is a disaster that has captured the attention of thinking citizens everywhere, but the media and the public are focusing on the problem and not the solution. People in Texas are witnessing the value and reputation of their diplomas plummet with every stupid move of the current Board.  Contrary to the stereotype, most Texans are reasonable people who want a good education for their children and grandchildren, nieces and nephews, and all the future generations who will support us in our old age.  It makes economic and moral sense to have a strong educational system with 21st-century texts and a school board that focuses on the real problems in Texas: a high dropout rate, high-stakes testing, and loss of good teachers.  We can rescue education in Texas by securing teachers’ freedom to teach and students’ freedom to learn. This will take financial support from everyone who sees how crucial this election is.  

But why should those outside of Texas really care? Extremists would like to make Texas the template for taking over local and state school boards and imposing their own political and religious agendas on the rest of the nation.  If we’re not vigilant and proactive, what has happened in Texas will spread all over the country, and the censored, dumbed-down, inaccurate textbooks from Texas can finish the job.  The new board can change all of that by working with publishers to produce good books in this next round of textbook development and purchasing.  

We can make a concerted effort to shape the future for the better, but we have to get people to donate.  If everyone who reads this gets ten friends to donate just a small amount, $5 or $10, we can buy stickers, television spots, signs, and push cards to spread the word that there is a solution to this problem everyone has heard about.  Even a few dollars from a lot of people can make a huge difference.  Public education is fundamental to a sound democracy, and this money is an investment in our future.  Ignorance and apathy on our part have delivered us to this place, but energy, generosity, and informed action will rescue education in Texas.

A number of people are so frustrated with public education that they advocate home schooling as a solution to the kind of problems we have in Texas and around the nation.  One of the most infamous members of the Texas SBOE, Cynthia Dunbar, home-schooled her children, and she calls public education a tool of “perversion.”  

Ms. Dunbar will be retiring from the board at the end of the year, but her opinions will live on.  She represents a powerful faction, and just because she will be out of sight, her views should not be out of our minds.  Public education is in trouble, but what can we do about it?  

While the Texas State Board of Education has served as a model for what can go wrong, public education is still our best hope to maintain a viable democracy.  Meanwhile, we need to remain aware of what is happening in home schooling as well.

In a letter to The Nation, I referenced  Mr. Josiah Ingalls, who also ran in the primaries for Texas District 5 and whose parents “home-schooled” him by sticking him in front of a television set.

Perhaps more disturbing is the kind of home-schooling some students will receive from their zealously fundamentalist parents, including their use of the old McGuffey reader.  Take a look at this text, which refers to American Indians as “savages” and blames Jews for killing Christ. I have no doubt that certain members of the board would like for Texas public school books to resemble the McGuffey reader in its insistence on such values. I recommend that people visit some of the blogs representing these views for an eye-opening education.  

We must look closely at the curriculum, books, and learning experience of all students.  In recent years, I have become more and more alarmed at the lack of preparation I see in students entering first-year classes at Texas State University. Over the last decade, high schools have spent an inordinate amount of time preparing for and administering a relentless regime of tests mandated by the state.  These tests change every few years, so they have no longitudinal value, and they are not nationally normed, so Texas schools get no insight on how they stand in relation to the rest of the nation.  Some people make a lot of money creating worksheets and exams. Meanwhile, most students receive little systematic preparation in critical or creative thinking.  

To remedy this situation, we must have new leadership to steer us toward solutions to the real problems in Texas:  an unacceptable dropout rate, uninformed decisions on curriculum and texts, teaching to the test instead of content, and lack of support for teachers and the communities they serve.  Texas State Board of Education needs two or three more sane people to win in November to repair the damage of the last decade.  

The November election is of vital importance to Texas and the rest of the nation. Although Texas textbooks may not be adopted wholesale throughout the country anymore, their influence is still huge.  As numerous commentators have observed, what happens in Texas does not stay in Texas. The problems facing public education in Texas and nationwide may prompt some to want to toss out our current school system, but consider the alternative to public schools:  Do we really want a generation of new leaders schooled with the McGuffey Reader?

Former Chairman of the Texas State Board of Education Don McLeroy plagiarized his contribution to curriculum standards on “American exceptionalism” from Wikipedia.  Rick Perry’s appointee, Texas Education Agency Commissioner Robert Scott, called the board’s recent curricular outrages mere “payback.”  For Democratic SBOE candidates, these actions look like another gift from our opponents.  We just need to stand back while these guys shoot themselves in the feet.  We also need to thank the Mexican-American Legislative Caucus for holding hearings where Dr. Michael Soto, Trinity University Professor and candidate for District 3, pointed out McLeroy’s inaccurate interpretation of the sources from which he plagiarized his material.  Meanwhile, Fox News launches a full counter attack on Saturday night, May 15th.

When Michael Soto delivered his testimony on the plagiarized material, you could literally see the lawmakers’ jaws drop.  For academics, plagiarism and academic dishonesty merit a grade of F and possible expulsion from the university.  Apparently for Mr. McLeroy, it’s just business as usual.  Too bad he wasn’t there to explain himself.  In fact, not a single board member bothered to attend the legislative hearing.

This  hearing was important and informative, but Chairwoman Gail Lowe could not find time in her schedule to attend the hearings.  She said at first that she couldn’t afford the travel, but when the legislative caucus offered her travel money and lodging, she claimed that she couldn’t take time out of her busy schedule.  She is, by the way, self-employed.

The refusal of current board members to participate in discussions about the board’s actions with teachers and legislators is shocking but not surprising.  The negligence and bad faith of certain members of this board are breath-taking, but we need to keep ourselves focused on a very simple goal:  Elect Judy Jennings for District 10 and Rebecca Bell-Metereau (full disclosure–that’s me) in District 5.  It’s just that simple.  Mike Soto is running in a solidly Democratic district, and the races in 5 and 10 will be close.  While we have a disadvantage historically, these two races are absolutely winnable, especially given the behavior of the current board.  Every bit of bad publicity works to our benefit, but we need to follow up with the message that there is a simple solution to this problem.  Contribute, no matter where you live, and vote in the November election if you live in Texas.

Now, I leave you with this question:  What is the most effective way to convince everyone to contribute, even if it’s just a few dollars a month, to rescue Texas education.  You can contribute if you want to help education in Texas and around the nation. As we have seen, bad education in Texas is infectious, and it may be coming to your state soon.

(Cross posted at Daily Kos)

Anti-intellectual extremists and their publicity organs continue to devalue teachers and education.  Public schools have received so much criticism that some students and parents view education as a waste of time.  This is a terrible loss for our young people, our economy, and our society with disastrous potential for our future.

Radical conservatives on the State Board of Education have fueled this perception that public schools are not worthwhile.  Meanwhile, the Republican Party has fractured, and many traditional Eisenhower Republicans are embarrassed and disturbed by the emerging extremism.  However, Texas no longer needs to be a national loser in the battle between radical ideologues and thinking, caring parents and educators.  If rational people from across the political spectrum just pause and consider, we will all recognize that public education is an essential part of our democracy.

Most Texans would like to take a more reasonable approach to education. All fiscal conservatives and libertarians don’t always agree with the extreme religious-right and other fanatics in the Republican Party.  We need to emphasize social and intellectual values that appeal to a broad range of reasonable people, and we must marginalize the hysterical, emotional fringe.

I want to welcome moderates of all  persuasions into a dialogue based on reason, civility, and a desire to create the finest public education we can offer.  We will begin our transformation of the schools based on data and best practices from around the nation and the world.  Other industrialized nations have their children in school for more hours, and that might be a good start to improve our educational system.

We also need to consider how we use our time in general.  Teachers need more planning opportunities in the school day and schools must revise scheduling practices.  Studies indicate that young people, particularly teenagers, do better when they start their day an hour or two later.  Perhaps a staggered class start time would help parents and teachers work around traffic and work schedules, and the whole society could allow more flex-time scheduling for work and school.

Young people and teachers need time to relax, reflect, read, exercise, interact, and enjoy education.  The stress of rushing from one class to the next is not conducive to learning or efficiency for teachers or learners.  Let us make our educational system both more productive and more stimulating, without the frenetic tension sometimes associated with classrooms focused on speed and testing.  Let’s return to a greater respect for education and reasonable dialogue, and let’s give our teachers and students sufficient time to teach and to learn.

Rick Perry famously claimed his personal willingness to secede from the union, but sometimes I wonder if Texas hasn’t already seceded.  Look at what has happened to the two-party system.  Texas, with two Republican senators, is marginalized in national politics, and roughly half of the state has no voice for our views at the national level.  With Perry as governor for so many years, a single person has now dictated most of the major appointees in the state.

Within the Republican Party, people no longer strive for compromise in a range of opinions.  Rather, in a phenomenon called social norming, they vie for the position of most conservative.  Each candidate tries to prove that he or she is even more right wing than the other, and the result is a party that swings further and further toward crazy.  Fed by radio talk shows and Fox News, followers live in an odd echo chamber, in which pundits parrot identical phrases for each news story.  These party lines make wonderful fodder for the Daily Show and the Colbert Report, but what are they doing to our ability to function as a civil society?  What are they doing to promote an educated citizenry with a thriving economy?

Read more…

Science and Social Studies Are Not About Feelings

Extremists on the Texas State Board of Education are apparently very sensitive, and they want to engineer the curriculum so that none of it hurts their feelings.  Read more…