Grammar police please tell me what this means

[ashling]

I was looking over state GOP platforms regarding education. The platform of the Arkansas GOP contains the following statement.

In the digital age, old wars over (literal) turf need to be abandoned in order to put the educational needs of students in the place of primacy.

[Sanity Claws]

1. Gibberish

I think they meant figurative turf, not literal. I've never heard of an educational war over actual turf.

Frankly, I think this is meaningless gibberish to hide the real agenda, something to advance stealing from public coffers. My guess is that it is to allow private corporations to get more educational money for doing shit.

[TheBlackAdder]

36. It's not just gibberish, it's. . .

.

.

[lapfog_1]

2. We will no longer send tanks and the infantry

to fight the war over education?

[Orangepeel]

3. My guess is "online charter schools"

[Demit]

6. I agree. Literal turf meaning bricks & mortar schools.

[demmiblue]

8. That is my guess, as well. n/t

[MineralMan]

4. That's what happens when someone has no idea what they're trying to say,

but feel the need to say something. It is a complete sentence, but has no meaning. A perfect illustration of a mind that has lost its train of thought.

[ashling]

12. Good answer !

Having been involved in creating platforms at several conventions in several states, I am familiar with the concept of "sentence by committee." It is seldomn pretty. I think this sentence was tortured within an inch of its life.

[dlk]

5. This Appears to be Someone Who is Not Very Bright Attempting to Appear Knowledgeable

Sod-busters? lol

[TreasonousBastard]

7. Is there context? It seems to be saying...

Actually, I don't have the foggiest idea what it seems to be saying.

[ashling]

20. There is always context

Do I have any idea what the context is?

I don't have the foggiest idea. Well, that is not (literal) truth. Asa Hutchinson's ads trumpeted his push for coding in high schools.

We interrupt this message for breaking news: Just saw a really good ad on Democratic values on the television machine.

In the digital age, the old wars (literal) btween contxt and good grammar needs to be abadoned in our sentences to put meaning in a place of primacy.

[TreasonousBastard]

27. I wonder if the writer of that deathly prose was a graduate of the schools...

for which he seeks primacy.

Or maybe (literal) turf just means the football field?

[malthaussen]

9. It's bullshit.

But basically, I believe it parses to exhorting various departments to stop fighting over the scraps and get together. "Literal," as said above, is used instead of "figurative" because nobody knows what that word means anymore.

OTOH, it could parse to "Stop whining about charter schools and digital education," in which case "literal" is being used correctly. In that case, they're telling educators to shut up and let the private corporations get the money for providing "quality" education for students. On balance, that may be the more correct interpretation, since it addresses the primary interest of the GOP, which is getting more money for rich folks.

-- Mal

[HAB911]

10. Wars

are no longer feasible/desirable and education should take precedence? WTF?

claptrap

[elleng]

11. Nuttin

[C_U_L8R]

13. A mind is a terrible thing to waste

Apparently, we're dealing with some mindless wastoids here.

[Corgigal]

14. Looks like something Trump would say.

I would be confused at that time too. Good luck.

[FakeNoose]

15. It's the old "buzzword" game

How many buzzwords can I pack into one sentence and get away with it? Never mind that the sentence has no meaning, just jam on the buzzwords.

[klook]

16. There are many examples like this in the book 'Less Than Words Can Say' by Richard Lederer.

It reeks of a writer (or committee) trying both to impress and to obfuscate.

[ashling]

22. Fantastic author

I love (literal) Lederer

[zipplewrath]

17. Public schools

They roughly seem to being attempting to stake out a position which allows Arkansas to reduce funding for public schools, especially actual physical schools, by moving towards various sorts of distance learning (i.e online). It will also allow them to overload "teachers" with students in virtual classrooms and those teachers may not even be certified in anyway.

[marylandblue]

18. Turf battles usually refers to bureaucratic fights for power

It implies that public employees and unions want to control kids rather than educate them.

[Hav]

19. "...to put the educational needs of students in the place of primacy"

Who talks/writes like this? No one who wants people to read or easily understand what he has to say. Did someone just want to use the word primacy? So much effort was put into something that could have been expressed in simple terms.

[MoonRiver]

21. Can't police grammar gibberish!

[TexasBushwhacker]

23. Charter schools, online education n/t

[shanny]

24. bureaucrat speak

"in the place of primacy" = "first"

some edimacated person needs to inform the writer that fewer words is better. as for the rest of it, indecipherable. someone wants to do away with something without anyone else noticing.

[Socal31]

25. It's a mediocre, room-temperature word-salad.

[ashling]

38. They should have left out the Romaine

primacy

[Thomas Hurt]

26. odds are this is a wink to private, christian and for profit schools.

really means we are prepared to eff over public schools for your advantage and profit.

[marybourg]

28. "Literal" turf is grass lawn or other grass areas or sod squares.

[Hokie]

29. Did anyone mention the comma shouldn't be there?

Yes that sentence is a mess.

[Demit]

30. Nothing wrong with the comma.

It doesn't HAVE to be there for clarity, but it's not wrong. I think we've become used to newspaper writing, where commas are omitted for speedier reading.

[VOX]

31. It's RW bilge, but makes more sense in the context of the original 2016 document (link)

And their hyperreligiousity is nauseating.

https://www.conduitforaction.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/2016-AR-Republican-Party-Platform.pdf
REPUBLICAN PARTY OF ARKANSAS PLATFORM 2016 As adopted August 6, 2016
<snip>
Reaffirming that God is the source of our rights, and they are protected by imperfect souls who rely on their God-given gifts to serve their neighbors, we therefore submit this platform to the people of Arkansas and to its elected representatives to serve as a roadmap to our state’s continued prosperity and as an invitation to hardworking Arkansans to join us on our journey to realize a positive conservative vision of a stronger and modern Arkansas...
<snip>
As students should be the first consideration, parents also have an important responsibility in the education of their children. Every opportunity for every family to enroll each child in the school of their choice should be secured by government and offered to Arkansas
families. Parents must have the ability to make informed choices regarding the education of their children and should not be reined in by lines on a map or the cost of tuition. As such, we support state government creating ways where families can make the best choice for their children’s education and be able to afford it. In the digital age, old wars over (literal) turf need to be abandoned in order to put the educational needs of students back in the place of primacy.
<snip>

[bigbrother05]

32. In Arkansas they could be talking about the football field

IOW quit bitching about art/music and build us a new stadium.

[smirkymonkey]

33. Sounds like someone who was home-schooled by Betsy DeVos.

[DFW]

34. Republicanese

I'd ask a Republican to translate it, but there is no guarantee a phrase in Republicanese coined by one Republican will be coherent to another Republican.

Just because they say they agree with their colleague does NOT mean they have the slightest idea what they are agreeing to.

[surrealAmerican]

35. Are they selling off schoolyards, or talking about surfacing football fields?

... If neither, that "literal turf" reference may be incorrect.

[SoCalDem]

37. Constituents are pissed at rising property taxes

Sooooooo an "elegant" solution is obviously "online" academies that suck up the federal money, It can be used to fatten the wallets of the "educational software designers".(remember GW's brother)..

and kids without wifi or computers can still go to the crappy schools that may remain (sans most of their funding)

Easy peasy..

Of course SOME schools will be maintained for their "facilities" that can be used by onliners...i.e. pools/football fields.auditoriums etc..

A pared down school system might lessen the local tax-based support system.....at least that will be the way they present it..