Yes, there is shame in not knowing

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5. Blame the Politicians Ruining Our Schools

I've spent my entire career in the education field, and the more politicians meddle with curriculum rules, the less students learn. Think about the Kansas attempt to teach creationism as fact and evolution as theory. Or the former Texas Education Agency requiring social studies "standards" that bore no relationship to historical fact. One result was a textbook that avoided using the word "slave" by describing slaves as immigrants from Africa! For years the conservative states have demanded watered-down curriculum, and students are asked to develop critical thinking skills only around accepted conservative "facts." I helped develop challenging curriculum for language arts students, and some parents demanded changes because the curriculum was two liberal--meaning that students were required to research differing opinions and draw their own conclusions based on facts rather than dogma. Most schools using the program saw improvements in their students' cognitive skills, but politicians and parents alike demanded that the program be dropped. We need to start electing progressives to school boards and to local and state positions if we want to influence the education of the masses and ensure that people are able to tell the difference between truth and lies.