The Republican Party of Texas has, at its convention, adopted a party platform that has an education section. You know at once that it is going to make for interesting reading and it does not disappoint.

Shorter version: “We want our children to be ignorant, unthinking, jingoistic xenophobes who believe everything our equally ignorant parents tell them, especially that babies are brought by storks and that god specially created America as the Garden of Eden. We are going to beat the daylights out of children if they challenge us on anything and there will be no nurse on the premises to alleviate the pain.”

Oh, and elsewhere in the document they support motherhood (really! p. 7), hate gays (p. 7), and love the Boy Scouts (p. 15, probably because they hate gays too).

Oddly enough, they hate pornography (p. 8) but also oppose any attempts to violate the anonymity of internet users (p. 15). Hmmm…. Could it be that the Texas GOP consists of secret consumers of this forbidden fruit? This should be no surprise since conservatives tend to be the biggest consumers of pornography.

If you want to see the actual wording on the education issues, here are the relevant passages from pages 11 through 13:

American Identity Patriotism and Loyalty – We believe the current teaching of a multicultural curriculum is divisive. We favor strengthening our common American identity and loyalty instead of political correctness that nurtures alienation among racial and ethnic groups. Students should pledge allegiance to the American and Texas flags daily to instill patriotism.
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Classroom Discipline –We recommend that local school boards and classroom teachers be given more authority to deal with disciplinary problems. Corporal punishment is effective and legal in Texas.
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Knowledge-Based Education – We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) (values clarification), critical thinking skills and similar programs that are simply a relabeling of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) (mastery learning) which focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student’s fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority.
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Sex Education – We recognize parental responsibility and authority regarding sex education. We believe that parents must be given an opportunity to review the material prior to giving their consent. We oppose any sex education other than abstinence until marriage.
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Religious Freedom in Public Schools – We urge school administrators and officials to inform Texas school students specifically of their First Amendment rights to pray and engage in religious speech, individually or in groups, on school property without government interference. We urge the Legislature to end censorship of discussion of religion in our founding documents and encourage discussing those documents.
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School Health Care – We urge legislators to prohibit reproductive health care services, including counseling, referrals, and distribution of condoms and contraception through public schools. We support the parents’ right to choose, without penalty, which medications are administered to their minor children. We oppose medical clinics on school property except higher education and health care for students without parental consent.

This is the thinking of the Texas GOP in the 21st century. Didn’t Rick Perry suggest at one time that Texas should secede from the US? Maybe they should be encouraged to do so, and create their own nation of Crazystan where reality is optional.