Ryan Walters may have finally arrived at his "Have you no sense of decency" moment over his Bible directive, with several superintendents stating that there will be no classroom Bible instruction in their district in widespread pushback. (Walters, for his part, has offered no argument other than Eric Cartmanesque declarations that schools "will comply" or else.)
The reason I retired after 36 years teaching high school mathematics was, in part, because I was no longer willing to have idiots preach to me about what and how I was to teach. If you wonder why the teacher shortage continues to worsen, look no further.
Re “. . . a shelf next to Huckleberry Finn and Rome and Juliet and other works of fiction?” I think that would be Romeo and Juliet.
Re “As for the notion that it was the Bible that laid the foundation for ideas such as the rule of law, that's just silly.”
Imagine what human societies would have been without any of the things the bible is claimed to have “started.” They would have had no families, no social structures, no societal rules/laws, no economic system, no political system, etc. For this to be the case, human beings would have to have been living in trees before the Bible came to be. And I wonder how all of the bible's influence was supposed to occur when the vast majority of the population could not or were not allowed to read the bible, nor even to hear it read in a language they possessed. Amazing.
We in OK are watching carefully...Walters and his buddies have played fast and loose wirh money since before he took office...still under investigation over his handling of COVID funding. Districts here still don't know how much Title I money they are getting. We worry he will "redirect" funds to buy Trump bibles. No better way to get his idol's attention! Keep that spotlight focused here!
The reason I retired after 36 years teaching high school mathematics was, in part, because I was no longer willing to have idiots preach to me about what and how I was to teach. If you wonder why the teacher shortage continues to worsen, look no further.
Re “. . . a shelf next to Huckleberry Finn and Rome and Juliet and other works of fiction?” I think that would be Romeo and Juliet.
Re “As for the notion that it was the Bible that laid the foundation for ideas such as the rule of law, that's just silly.”
Imagine what human societies would have been without any of the things the bible is claimed to have “started.” They would have had no families, no social structures, no societal rules/laws, no economic system, no political system, etc. For this to be the case, human beings would have to have been living in trees before the Bible came to be. And I wonder how all of the bible's influence was supposed to occur when the vast majority of the population could not or were not allowed to read the bible, nor even to hear it read in a language they possessed. Amazing.
We in OK are watching carefully...Walters and his buddies have played fast and loose wirh money since before he took office...still under investigation over his handling of COVID funding. Districts here still don't know how much Title I money they are getting. We worry he will "redirect" funds to buy Trump bibles. No better way to get his idol's attention! Keep that spotlight focused here!
Brilliant piece.