Constitution Day: What is Your Child's School Teaching?

Tomorrow is the 223rd anniversary of the signing of the United States Constitution, which is perhaps the greatest governing document created by man.  Federal law requires all public schools to teach students about the Constitution on September 17, but apparently there is a great deal of latitude on the 'how' and 'what' of those lessons. 

At Texas' Permian High School, educators instructed students to create a collage about the Constitution, and sent home a rather curious handout with a brief rundown of the Amendments.  This summary only mentions that the First Amendment establishes the people's right to criticize the government, and that the Second Amendment maintains "that states have the right to have armed militias."  This 'lesson' on the 1st Amendment makes no mention of religious freedoms, and the latter seems to exclude an individual right to keep and bear arms.

To make matters worse, when parents Audra and Jason Moore sent an email asking about the origins of the teaching materials, the teacher repeatedly insisted the material came from the Declaration of Independence. (And incidentally, misspelled 'Independence' throughout.)  While those of us already concerned about the quality of academics in public schools are appalled that the extent of the assignment for 11th-grade students is merely to make a collage, apparently the teacher is utterly lacking in the knowledge and skill necessary to teach such an important historic and civic lesson. 

This incident occurred in a relatively conservative community in Texas; one can only guess the extent of the problem in more liberal climes, as evidenced by certain textbook manufacturers who apply an appalling level of bias to U.S. History lessons, and even attach a warning label to the Constitution.  Happily, many groups are working to re-introduce serious consideration of the Constitution, even providing pocket copies of the Constitution to 5th graders. Of course this leads one to wonder why these schools have 5th graders reading the actual Constitution while 11th graders are making collages.

Americans need to wake up and realize the extent of the attempts to indoctrinate their children with liberal viewpoints via the public school system. Rather than just assuming the schools are teaching, take time to talk to your children about this historic anniversary and what it means. The future of the country may depend on it.