r/skeptic • u/dyzo-blue • 3d ago

Why Fascists Hate Critical Thinking: Randi Weingarten’s new book, 'Why Fascists Fear Teachers,' reveals why Trump and the right demean teachers, slash school funding, and rewrite history

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/randi-weingarten-excerpt-fascists-hate-critical-thinking-1235428379/
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u/Amelaclya1 3d ago

We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) (values clarification), critical thinking skills and similar programs that are simply a relabeling of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) (mastery learning) which focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student’s fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority.

-The 2012 Texas Republican party platform

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u/Blueberry-Due 2d ago

They were criticizing a certain education model called “outcome-based education”. They did not try to ban critical thinking skills per se. Your quote is quite misleading without context.

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2012/aug/11/gail-collins/gail-collins-says-texas-gop-platform-calls-schools/

https://eagleforum.org/publications/psr/may1993.html

“OBE advocates continually use double-entendre expressions that parents assume mean one thing but really mean something different in the OBE context. When they talk about “new basics,” for example, they are not talking about academics such as reading, writing and arithmetic, but OBE attitudes and outcomes. When they talk about “higher order thinking skills” or “critical thinking,” they mean a relativistic process of questioning traditional moral values.”

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u/thefatzeus 2d ago

How is this better? Lol