John, re: "It's the right that doesn't want evolution discussed, that doesn't want reasonable sex education in the schools, that's not bothered by the terrible inequalities in schooling across the country, that wants certain forms of hyper patriotism mandated, that's what bothers me. Whether it comes from the local level, the state level, or the federal level."
Those issues concern many of us but I wonder if Steve is right in saying, or at least I think he's saying, that this should not be a federal issue?
Excepting those issues such as separation of church and state, free speech, and non discriminatory "race, religion etc" rights that fall under the protective umbrella of constitutionally protected interests, is it the role of the federal government or the State and local communities to structure their schools and their texts?
The fact that they see the world differently in the southern states is simply a fact of life. (Interestingly, 38% of all this nation's Republicans live in the south.) Don't misunderstand me, I think that many of those theories are based on magical thinking and, or, ignorance, but the parents of the children being taught in Oklahoma, Texas, and other southern states are just as committed to their children as we are to ours and the kids who would be taught such things are their kids, not ours.
If Oklahoma wants to teach creationism, abstinence or hyper patriotism, what right does our representative in the White House or our representatives in Congress have to tell them that the rest of the nation regards those as "wrong" decisions and that they are federally discouraged or prohibited from teaching them?
And for "enlightenment" it's not necessary to encourage a federal vs states controversy that will create more stubborn resistance and conflict. The southern culture, like repressive middle eastern cultures, will not change overnight but, left to blunder blindly along on it's own, it will likely change from within because young people are not stupid, not even the young people some southerners seem so determined to blind with their own stupidity. Ed |
