Texas: The Education Sector Is Full Of Idiots

I skimmed the topics and agreed with a good portion of them, but man when I got to the social issues, imad.jpg

Same. That whole 'Strengthening Families" section is full of bigotry and contradictions and made me sad.

I got to this line
and have already had enough. I hate the fact that there are so many people here who actually agree with this ***. Fighting for their right to be treated equally =/= assault on (traditional) marriage. They're not trying to change traditional marriage or prevent traditional marriages. That would be assault on marriage.

it that's what you got from me playing Tetris during class and still getting near perfect scores higher than anyone else, then so be it.

oh I'd also like to point out about the videos posted on page 1, TAA is a fool, and is one of the worst youtube athiests.

TAA has good information at times, but I don't really like how he presents it. His obnoxious bellowing at me doesn't tend to get his point across better, you know? As for presentation, I prefer Zaunstar. But I'm fairly new to watching people on Youtube, so I haven't discovered all the good ones yet. You should pm me a list of your favorites. :D

TAA is an an obnoxious, loud, ball of anger that could be doing something good but instead took on the manner of keyboard warrior.

You want amazing info, go to someone like Sam Harris.

I haven't heard of Sam Harris. I'll look him up! I need suggestions, because yeah, TJ is a bit loud and angry for my tastes too, and I just don't know where to begin looking for good Youtubers.

Edit: I just looked up Sam Harris and am watching his short video on Catholicism. I'm less than two minutes in and already like him very much. Intelligent, calm, factual. Thanks Xueye!

Hope you don't mind I'm doing dumping some stuff from reddit on you

https://nukethepope.jottit.com/videos
http://www.reddit.com/r/atheism/comments/ervo4/a_list_of_videos_everyone_should_watch_submit/
http://www.reddit.com/r/atheism/comments/i8wfe/a_little_compilation_of_my_favorite_atheist/

Definitely recommend Tyson's "God of the Gaps" and anything else by he or Sam Harris.

As long as Reddit isn't as scary as 4chan, I don't mind. :D

Sam Harris has unbelievable patience, presence, and composure. He's not as in your face as Dawkins, nor is he as raw as good ol' Hitch was, but he is phenomenal.

Also, Stephen Fry! The man has a number of videos that you may find fascinating. Fry and Hitch together is an absolutely astonishing thing.

Edit: So as not to thread jack, PM me or facebook me if you want more haha

I think I pledged celibacy forever after Chlamydia was described as "green, cheese-like discharge."

Yeah, that worked out.

I really don't give two shits about red-light cameras, but congratulations, I suppose, for hovering on the mini-bullets at the end of the article and completely ignoring the main point of the article: that the Texas GOP directly stated they are against the teaching of critical thinking skills.

Thunderf00t
Potholer54 / Potholer54Debunks
Dprjones
Aronra

all make some solid points in their arguments without descending too far into rants.

I personally enjoy Pat Condell myself, but I haven't been on youtube in awhile. (comes from not having fast internet at home).

bzzzt!

Wrong again. You dont get critical thinking out of a book.

I enjoy some of Pats work but he does get ranty on topics of Islam in Europe.

Actually you do. Scientific method is a perfect example. It is hammered into your brain in every science course/textbook. And has real-life applications.

To say you don't get critical thinking out of a book is a joke to every chemist, biologist, physicist and mathematician whose step foot in a lab. You think people just pull research out of no where?

Critical thinking is an incredibly difficult thing to teach, but it is possible to facilitate the conditions for it to be developed. It requires a hands-on, educated approach, and can be supplemented by books. The fact that it's not currently facilitated anywhere but college is baffling.

To be perfectly fair- it be very very difficult to facilitate it even at AP level in HS. I do think some HS students would be fully capable of it, but there are many who who would have interest in it.

Many HS kids just want to get in-and-out. Then there are those who want to see the applications of various theories/postulates/etc into practice and real-life situations.

All that's required to start the youth towards a healthy lifetime of critical thinking is to stop making everything about what and where and to instead start asking why and how.

Everything is fact based until college. Everything is regurgitation, and it's really accomplishing nothing.

Oversimplification. Anyone, even basic primates, can follow a plan. Its the application and creation of said plan in individual circumstances that define the "critical thinking" process. Thats like saying "you followed a recipe, so you must be a good cook".

Comparing intelligence to wisdom is the age old apples and oranges. Critical thinking is the application of such knowledge. There are plenty of people out there just as smart, if not smarter, than some of the greats, yet they do not know how to apply their knowledge.

Really? So I suppose If I handed a chimp an organic chemistry book he could put into application some hydroboration and friedel-crafts reaction. Ugh No.

Organic chemistry is probably the pinnacle of critical thinking, as an undergraduate in chemistry and/or bio sci.The courses introduces students to various chemistry reactions. And also provides them with examples of applications of synthesis reactions. That itself is critical thinking.

EDIT: And to go back to your example of the cook. Even in organic chemistry the "cook" must know what to do when too much side-product is yielded. Or how to speed up the reaction. Those are all critical thinking skills taught from a textbook!

To chime in a little late on the sex ed thing. I learned at a very young age about sex and birthing etc.

Not from my parents, but my from my grandfather. He had longhorns (at which point I learned very early not to *** with longhorns because they are moody), and well cows had sex, cows had babies, and it was all normal. It was all just nature happening, it wasn't anything horrible or to be feared/ashamed of.

I remember being like 5~6 in school and the topic coming up and the teacher kind of nervously explaining it and I just busted out "Babies come from people having sex and they get pooped out." My mother was called, hilarity ensued. Well obviously the "pooped out" part got explained a little bit better after that... but if you have ever watched a calf get born, they really do look like they are getting pooped out.

Even though I understood the basics, I still took sex ed in school, think it was around the 5th or 6th grade when it started? And basically it was half a day every year where they talked about STD's, being safe, etc. They never went into gritty porn details, but more of the "wear a condom, don't sleep with anything that moves" type of stuff.

I'll probably be honest with my children when they ask. I's all natural and a part of life. I'm sure they will see a cat or dog giving birth somewhere along the way and start asking questions. I'm not really concerned about the whole omg I have to explain sex to my child, and at least funny stories can come out of it.

Lets not drill down to specific examples, lest we become so esoteric as to exclude any non-biochem majors from the discussion.

You can teach a chimp how to get from point a to point b. Easy peasy. Simple repetition is well within the capabilities of most organisms with a central nervous system, as long as there is a reward at the end.

You hint at wisdom rather than intelligence in your edit. A good cook knows how to deal with out-of-the-textbook situations. Its an odd combination of experience, innate ability, willpower and luck. Its something you will never, ever, ever learn in a classroom or book. Like sex, just because i watch a lot of porn, doesn't make me good at it (a lot... Like way too much to be healthy...)