Public Schools: The Dumbing Down of Americans

We unfortunately are forced to send our boys to the public government school just down the road.  If we were not having $2,800.00 per year stolen from us in property taxes rent to the king, we would be in a better place to send our children to the private school of our choice, but that is for another post in and of itself.

Our boys attend what many would call a “good” public school, four-stars, all sorts of extracurricular activities, a new high school (which resembles a university in size) complete with a gigantic football stadium.  Yesterday, however when our 3rd grader arrived home, he excitedly took out his folder from his Bears backpack and quickly rifled through his papers to show us that he received an A+, 100%-with a smiley face, on his social study quiz.  As we place a high priority on education in our home, we praised him for his dedication to maintaining good grades.

As the hectic afternoon wore on, I went to pick up the smiley faced social study quiz, now laying on the kitchen table, when I noticed something that caught my eye.  After glancing over the questions it was obvious that this smiley faced quiz was not 100% correct after all.  The error unfortunately, was in the curriculum itself and how the Department of Education sees fit to teach our children about their government.

It is shameful in my estimation that we are teaching children from an early age a wholly incorrect structure as it relates to our Federal government. This is not a matter of the question being over simplified for the benefit of a 3rd grader, as one can think of several different ways to appropriately ask the question.

The President is not the person who “leads” our “national” government, the President is simply the face of the Executive Branch, but has no more power Constitutionally than Congress or the Supreme Court.  It is the lynch pin of our Republican form of government that all three branches are “co-equal” in the sense that they were specifically designed to check and balance one another to prevent abuse.

This structure was a wholly unique difference at the time of Constitutional ratification.  Regardless if our current President has abused Executive Authority, teaching children that the “President” is the “leader” creates an improper picture in their impressionable little heads.  One in my estimation that elevates a “leader” too closely to “King”.

Who knows, maybe it is me, maybe as a total nerd for our country I am over reacting,  and in the end the error was corrected by me.  Fortunately, I caught this error, but it does beg the question as to how credible  the overall government “approved” curriculum has/will be as our boys continue their education.

When I was 5, the following video made it easily digestible to my developing intellect that all 3 branches are co-equal: