Ask anybody — from the president of the United States to your high school guidance counselor — and you’ll probably hear the same, seemingly obvious thing: Higher education is the key to financial advancement. But is everybody going to college a realistic goal? And would the world really be better if we achieved it? Mose Buchele of KUT News reports.
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Students are heading back to school this week, and some of them will begin learning about the birds and the bees. The Texas Education Code requires that abstinence be the focus of any sex education curriculum — but as Nathan Bernier of KUT News reports, there are some changes this year to how sex ed is being taught.
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Next week, the Texas State Board of Education will vote on new ideologically driven curriculum standards for the Texas public schools. Elected officials are going line-by-line — deciding what should and should not be included in state textbooks. And as one of the biggest textbook buyers in the country, Texas could influence what kids learn in other states, as well.
Don McLeroy, dentist and active board member, has proposed adding a requirement to study the rise of conservative icons like Phyllis Schlafly, the Heritage Foundation and the Moral Majority. There’s also a new emphasis on the role religion played in the founding of the country, and on the constitutional right to bear arms. In all, there were more than 300 amendments proposed to the social studies standards. All these amendments will fundamentally change what kids are taught in school.
The State Board of Education is scheduled to take a final vote today on new social studies standards. The guidelines are the result of months of intense political debate. And the stakes are high: the standards will be used for a decade to shape how Texas children view their country and their world.
Most of the material in the new social studies guidelines is actually not very controversial. But in between the lessons on how to use maps and the importance of free speech, there is plenty to argue about, especially on a State Board of Education that has an ideological rift that is almost as big as Texas. [more]
Texas still has some of the highest rates of teen and unplanned pregnancy in the nation. In fact, the Lone Star state has the highest rate of repeat teen births. Dr. Janet Realini and Bill Albert join Texas Public Radio‘s Terry Gildea on this episode of The Source to talk about efforts to bring those numbers down and a new program that encourages adults in their early twenties to wait before becoming parents.
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“The Nubian Queen” Lola Bell was homeless before she opened a little Cajun restaurant off the corner of Rosewood and Chicon on the Eastside of Austin,TX. Her life complete with all of its hardships led her to where she is today: she is a miracle that blesses the streets of 12th and Chicon and has become somewhat of a star in the local Austin community. The money she makes from her restaurant goes towards feeding the homeless—not just once a week on Sundays, but every day for almost every meal. Anybody can expect a hot meal at the Municipal House (a building owned by her husband) which is located right off the corner of 12th and Chicon. Eli, her friend and helper from Trinidad, is there every day dishing out the food that Lola cooked fresh that morning. It is Lola’s strong belief and faith in God that fuel her passion to do good for the community. With a troubled past of loss, drugs, destitution, and hopelessness, Lola found her path in goodwill and faith.
Rick Perry has collected almost $6.1 million from the 155 people whom he has appointed to be non-student regents since becoming governor in late 2000. Over the past decade, 97 regent appointees gave to Perry’s campaign—or 63 percent of Perry’s regent appointees. Regents contributed both before and after their appointments (TPJ).
Related Chronicle.com: Pay to Play in Texas? Most Public University Regents Gave to Gov. Rick Perry’s Campaigns
Out of 934 active hate groups in the U.S. Texas is home to 66. That’s according to The Southern Poverty Law Center’s Hate Map of Texas. Texas leads the nation in the number of hate groups. California comes in 2nd on this list with 60. SPLC didn’t include individuals with hateful websites alone. They focused on organizations of individuals that “have beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their immutable characteristics.”
Various Texas groups from all over the state made the SPLC’s list. From the Austin chapter of League of the South to the Houston chapter of the Nation of Islam. All of major metropolitan and many rural areas are home to the groups on the list.
Public Media Texas is based in Austin. We embrace our local presence in Austin with our hyper-local East Austin site 78702.org. We contribute to the discussion of the environment in the Southwest and the state of politics in Texas. We also seek to understand the dynamic between the U.S. and Mexico along our shared border. Along the way we search for artistic expressions that reflect and provide more perspective on the Lone Star state.
