Texas school admin: balance Holocaust books with 'opposing' views | Hacker News Reader

Texas school admin: balance Holocaust books with 'opposing' views

nbcnews.com

32 pointsonychomys25 comments

This sounds like the administrator is practicing malicious compliance- they realize the law is stupid and they're making sure it's followed in a way that makes that obvious

I hope that's the case.

Or they might think the world is composed of opinions and not based in testable reality.

Minor correction: this article says the Texas State Teachers Association is a union, but it is just an advocacy organization since teachers' licenses can be revoked for collective bargaining.

Really? Genuine question: how is that legal?

Same way Ken Paxton, the state AG, isn't in prison.

Texas Government Code, Sec. 617.003. Prohibition on Strikes by Public Employees.

(a) Public employees may not strike or engage in an organized work stoppage against the state or a political subdivision of the state.

(b) A public employee who violates Subsection (a) forfeits all civil service rights, reemployment rights, and any other rights, benefits, and privileges the employee enjoys as a result of public employment or former public employment.

(c) The right of an individual to cease work may not be abridged if the individual is not acting in concert with others in an organized work stoppage.

Quoted by the TCTA, another Texas teacher association: https://www.tcta.org/legal-updates/what-happens-if-texas-tea...

Ok that makes a bit more sense. Kind of like air traffic controls in some places aren't allowed to strike.

To me it reads that it doesnt outlaw licenses just for being in a union but rather doesn't allow you to strike - which i don't agree with but at least understand if education is essential?

In practice, the definition of "organized" is entirely oppressive. It pretty much sucks for teachers.

This is the same place covered in the recent NBC News 6-episode "Southlake" podcast, https://www.nbcnews.com/southlake-podcast

Southlake, Texas, seems to have it all: stately homes, intense civic pride, and above all, terrific schools. So when a video surfaced in 2018 showing Southlake high school students chanting the N-word — and when Black residents came forward to share stories of racist harassment and bullying — the school board vowed to make changes. But the unveiling of a Cultural Competence Action Plan set off a backlash that’s consumed Southlake, fueled by a growing national crusade against critical race theory. Hosted by NBC News national reporter Mike Hixenbaugh (host of the hit podcast “Do No Harm”) and NBC News correspondent Antonia Hylton, “Southlake” tells the story of how this idyllic city, and its local school board election, became the poster child for a new political strategy with national repercussions.

Edit: I wonder if their both-sidesism extends to things like the Alamo.

I read the Texas bill and it's interesting because it lays out that controversial topics need to be discussed with a neutral point of view. But then goes on weigh in on a bunch of controversial topics.

Should there be a book that balances The Bible in TX public schools?

I guess maybe the opposing book would be Satan worship?

Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan

Isn't like, satanism about the love of self as opposed to the love of the One? That would be neat.

Quite crazy how far some states are willing to go just to avoid teaching US history from a Native/African American perspective.

Why would anyone decide to be a teacher today?

**s have found a nice spot in using their garbage degrees, teaching **, which many parents don't want taught to their kids.

Concerning that this would get flagged as it's a topic that frequently comes up in tech circles (misinformation)

I don't generally think well of local town / local school administration. I still have no reason to change that opinion.

Not sure their snark works here since the holocaust isn't "widely debated and currently controversial”

Sadly, it is debated and controversial to some, though it's unknown if "widely" would apply. Either way, this is likely malicious compliance, so the specifics don't matter all that much.

That the Holocaust happened is not a matter of real debate. However there is some legitimate debate about how the Holocaust started:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functionalism%E2%80%93intentio...

> The debate on the origins of the Holocaust centres on essentially two questions:

> Was there a master plan on the part of Adolf Hitler to launch the Holocaust? Intentionalists argue there was such a plan, while functionalists argue there was not.

> Did the initiative for the Holocaust come from above with orders from Adolf Hitler or from below within the ranks of the German bureaucracy? Although neither side disputes the reality of the Holocaust, nor is there serious dispute over the premise that Hitler (as Führer) was personally responsible for encouraging the anti-Semitism that allowed the Holocaust to take place, intentionalists argue the initiative came from above, while functionalists contend it came from lower ranks within the bureaucracy.

It seems the general consensus is "a bit of both":

> [...] Given the fact that scholars have written so much in relation to Nazi Germany, Richard Bessel asserts that, "The result is a much better informed, much more detailed and more nuanced picture of the Nazi regime, and most serious historians of the Nazi regime now are to some extent both 'intentionalists' and 'functionalists'—insofar as those terms still can be used at all."[20]

Our state government actually intends to invite all those cranks to the table and pretend like their skepticism is legitimate. That's what's going on with multiple topics -- they're making a long-term play for propagandized schools.

I think Rebelgecko's theory of malicious compliance is more likely. This is the same state that passes anti-BDS laws that violate the first amendment to protect jewish interests, so I don't think the apparent antisemitism is genuine.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com