GOP rep discovers terrifying fact: That non-Christians exist

[Avenio]

Get a job, dirty hippie. If you aren't conservative, you don't have a job and are therefore not entitled to an opinion.

I can't say I expected anything less from The Black Plains, but still. It's a little disappointing.

[Wikkiwallana]

But keep in mind that LA is ranked 49th in education.....

http://www.alec.org/publications/report-card-on-american-education/

That's not what the link says. Read it, don't just look at the list.

I had just breezed past the link without clicking when it was first posted. Going back and reading it now, I see it's by ALEC. Their "education policy grade" should be taken with a large block of salt, given that they are an archconservative legislation mill.

[Dyakovo]

Holding a woman against her free will and having a child? Today they call that a Traditional Family.

You lie.

I don't see what all this about slavery is. Many great men had slaves. Caesar, Alexander, Muhammad (Sallallaahu 'Alayhe wa Sallam). Immanuel Kant, Charles Darwin, and Karl Marx all saw different races as inferior. Up until recently, that was the correct knowledge.

Just because it was accepted at the time does not mean it was correct.

[HumanSanity]

Yes, We need to give money to CHRISTIAN private schools. You want to talk about against the "Founders" and their principles lets look at the religious intolerance they fought against and the basic laws they wrote that expressly prohibit the proposal that the Representative makes.

[Mavorpen]

"To the corruptions of Christianity I am, indeed, opposed; but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself. I am a Christian, in the only sense in which he wished any one to be; sincerely attached to his doctrines, in preference to all others; ascribing to himself every human excellence..."

Note the presence of the word "Christian". It's a goddamned quote.

What. Are. You Talking. About?

As a landowner he played a role in governing his local Episcopal Church; in terms of belief he was inclined toward Deism and the moral philosophy of Christianity.
In a private letter to Benjamin Rush, Jefferson refers to himself as "Christian" (1803): "To the corruptions of Christianity I am, indeed, opposed; but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself. I am a Christian, in the only sense in which he wished any one to be; sincerely attached to his doctrines, in preference to all others; ascribing to himself every human excellence..."[197]

That was the part I was talking about. Not the actual part that was a part of the quote.

[Prussia-Steinbach]

I'm surprised that she thought the law pertained to schools that uphold-ed the faith of the founders. I haven't heard of many secular deist schools.

Already been over this.

[Prussia-Steinbach]

Note the presence of the word "Christian". It's a goddamned quote.

Interesting that you omitted the last part of that quote:

...and believing that he never claimed any other.

In other words, he believed Jesus was as good as any man could be, but he was not a god. I.e. Christian deism. He believed wholeheartedly in Christ's morals, but he never said he believed he was the son of god. He was a christian, in that he was a follower of Christ, not of Christianity.

Thank you.

[Rupture Farms co]

Schools should be private but with nominal federal control to make sure rights are not infringed upon.

[Cannot think of a name]

Schools should be private but with nominal federal control to make sure rights are not infringed upon.

So...wait, I don't want to make any assumptions. Are you for the individual mandate in health insurance and if not, why?

[Wikkiwallana]

Schools should be private but with nominal federal control to make sure rights are not infringed upon.

Education should not be a for profit endeavor. It is far too important.

[Rupture Farms co]

Schools should be private but with nominal federal control to make sure rights are not infringed upon.

Education should not be a for profit endeavor. It is far too important.

Fine but it should be paid through bonds.

[Genivaria]

Schools should be private but with nominal federal control to make sure rights are not infringed upon.

-Implying that private schools don't violate civil rights.

[The Mongol Ilkhanate]

Schools should be private but with nominal federal control to make sure rights are not infringed upon.

-Implying that private schools don't violate civil rights.

In order to violate civil rights, you have to be:

1. The state
2. Using force.

Private schools fit neither condition.

[Rupture Farms co]

Schools should be private but with nominal federal control to make sure rights are not infringed upon.

-Implying that private schools don't violate civil rights.

I had about five years attendance of private school and another five years of government/civies funded privately run schooling.

[Genivaria]

-Implying that private schools don't violate civil rights.

In order to violate civil rights, you have to be:

1. The state
2. Using force.

Private schools fit neither condition.

Bullshit.

[Genivaria]

-Implying that private schools don't violate civil rights.

I had about five years attendance of private school and another five years of government/civies funded privately run schooling.

Good for you, would you like a cookie?

[Rupture Farms co]

In order to violate civil rights, you have to be:

1. The state
2. Using force.

Private schools fit neither condition.

Bullshit.

The state is evil.

[The Mongol Ilkhanate]

In order to violate civil rights, you have to be:

1. The state
2. Using force.

Private schools fit neither condition.

Bullshit.

I should say "EITHER" the state or using force.

[Genivaria]

Bullshit.

The state is evil.

Adorable.
The state is made up of people, it is neither inherently good or evil.

[Rupture Farms co]

The state is evil.

Adorable.
The state is made up of people, it is neither inherently good or evil.

The idea of the state is.

[Genivaria]

Adorable.
The state is made up of people, it is neither inherently good or evil.

The idea of the state is.

Order? Structure? Community? Cooperation? I fail to see the evil here.

[R Ev0lution]

Bullshit.

I should say "EITHER" the state or using force.

No. If I don't let you sit near the front of my privately-owned bus because you're mentally retarded, I am neither the state nor using force.

[Rupture Farms co]

The idea of the state is.

Order? Structure? Community? Cooperation? I fail to see the evil here.

All of those things are achieved by the individual, the state is an entity.

[Genivaria]

Order? Structure? Community? Cooperation? I fail to see the evil here.

All of those things are achieved by the individual, the state is an entity.

Without some form of government how are any of those things achieved?

[AiliailiA]

That's not what the link says. Read it, don't just look at the list.

I had just breezed past the link without clicking when it was first posted. Going back and reading it now, I see it's by ALEC. Their "education policy grade" should be taken with a large block of salt, given that they are an archconservative legislation mill.

Pretty conservative yeah. Clicking on a state brings up a small pdf which shows the criteria they use to "mark" states:

1. State Academic Standards
   
   • 2009 State Academic Standards
   • Change in State Standards (2003-2009)
2. Charter Schools
   
   • Charter Schools Allowed
   • Charter School Law Grade
3. Home School Regulation Burden
   
   • (A=None, B=Low, C=Moderate, D=High)
4. Private School Choice Programs
   
   • Private School Choice
   • “A” Grade or Multiple Programs
5. Teacher Quality and Policies: Overall Grade
   
   • Delivering Well Prepared Teachers
   • Expanding the Teaching Pool
   • Identifying Effective Teachers
   • Retaining Effective Teachers
   • Exiting Ineffective Teachers
6. Online Learning
   
   • State Virtual School or Online-Learning Initiative
   • Multi-District Full-Time Online School

Which isn't all bad. The items under "Teacher Quality ..." and "Online Learning" for instance. But overall it's weighted heavily to a privatization agenda.
And ironically Louisiana gets a C- from them, despite having both Private School Choice options ticked (before the voucher program passed the House).

I've used this source before and no-one objected. They base their ratings on what seems to me a more rational and comprehensive list of criteria: here.

That's their 2012 report, released a month ago. There has been three more years of heavy investment into LA education since the report from ALEC.

Unfortunately, Education Week want a subscription to view archived versions of Quality Counts. But using Google cache I saw a text version of their 2009 report. Louisiana scored 74.4 back then, below the US average of 76.2

In the 2012 Quality Counts, Louisiana scores 77.2, above the US average of 76.5

In other words, public spending (mostly from the State level but with significant Federal rebuilding grants) has improved the Lousiana schools which were the worst funded for decades before the relatively recent attempt to fix them. To be fair, results could also be expected to improve as students settle into new schools (either rebuilt after Katrina or elsewhere in state for displaced students).

And now the voucher vultures will claim credit for that, by compulsory testing only for the voucher students: they'll keep chanting "public schools are failing" and claim even a flat result for the voucher students as being better.