Another reason why the Government should NOT run our schools
My 6th grader attends a government-run middle school in the Garland, (Texas) Independent School District. He is at home this week with the swine H1N1 flu, so I’ve been collecting his assignments from his teachers so he can complete them at home. One of those assignments (meant to be completed in class, I believe) was to compare the Magna Carta to the Bill of Rights in the U.S. Constitution. As I was helping my son complete the work, my gaze was drawn to the government-approved version of Amendment 2.
We can get permission to own weapons to protect ourselves.
We immediately had a lesson on the Second Amendment, as I explained the word permission was no where to be found in the Second Amendment and how the reason for the amendment was to spell out our right to have the means to overthrow a tyrannical government.
I’ve provided the summary description of the Bill of Rights with the actual Bill of Rights, so you can see what I mean.
| BILL OF RIGHTS( adapted from Hampton- Brown) | BILL OF RIGHTS(from the actual Constitution) | |
| Amendment 1 | We can worship, speak, print words, and get together if we want. We can ask our government to change things. | Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. |
| Amendment 2 | We can get permission to own weapons to protect ourselves. | A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. |
| Amendment 3 | The government has to provide food and shelter for soldiers. | No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law. |
| Amendment 4 | The police need a good reason to arrest someone. They usually need permission to search our homes. | The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. |
| Amendment 5 | People accused of crimes have the right to a trial. They don’t have to say anything that might make them seem guilty. | No person shall be held to answer for any capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation. |
| Amendment 6 | We have the right to a speedy, public trial and can have a lawyer. | In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district where in the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense. |
| Amendment 7 | People can sue each other for money and go to trial. | In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law. |
| Amendment 8 | No one’s punishment can be cruel or unusual. | Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. |
| Amendment 9 | Citizens have other rights that are not listed. | The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. |
| Amendment 10 | The powers that are not listed in the Constitution belong to the fifty states. | The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. |
Since we are in Texas, the curriculum and text books we use are also used in a number of smaller states, so this sanitized language is incredibly wide-spread. For all of you with kids in government-run schools, please pay attention to what your kids are being taught. We could dispute the description of all of the amendments, but I think it is fairly clear that description of the Second Amendment is clearly misleading, if not an outright lie.
UPDATE (10/30/2009): I was interviewed on The Wells Report on 570AM yesterday. You can hear it on Youtube.
Well, they could just use the ‘real’ bill or rights instead of this hogwash. They just don’t want to expose the students to the truth…our ignorance is their defense.
We can GET PERMISSION huh? Maybe the Ted Nugent clip on gun rights should be mandatory viewing also.
I think this is BS. Sorry I cant believe this is true. I mean this version is so dumbed down and alerted.
So what do you believe?
The word “permission” was placed there because the intended audience is children. It definitely skews the meaning of the 2nd amendment, but I can see that the teachers might have erred on the side of safety. They probably did not want to tell a bunch of 5th graders that it is in their constitutional right to have a gun. That could be seen as tacit approval of bringing a weapon to school.
Also, does the constitutional right to bear arms apply to people under the age of 18? I do not think it does. Perhaps if the teacher had made that point clear, the word “permission” would not have been included.
After all the recent attempts, by school officials, to introduce “intelligent design” in science class, I certainly wouldn’t be in Texas if I had school aged kids. This is just more evidence of a state education system designed to keep children from learning.
Since you live in Texas, your state actually controls most of the textbooks’ content. The textbook publishers kowtow to Texas’s numerical superiority in children, influencing what the rest of the country gets fed. The kids are getting a lot worse information than a dumb downed version of the Bill of Rights.
Honestly, I’m surprised they are even teaching this stuff before high school. So, blame Texas or blame the publishers. It’s not really the gov’t fault.
I recommend this podcast which discusses the systemic problems in public education:
http://schoolsucks.podomatic.com
So did the school send this home or did your son write this, because if it’s the latter than your article is pretty misleading, and he just was a middle-schooler who misinterpreted the amendment.
Jerry, I see it’s been a month between the date you first posted this and when it got updated with your interview information. I wanted to ask, have you approached the teacher and/or principal with your objections and if so, what happened?
As a student who was educated in public school in San Antonio, Texas, I can tell you that you are delusional, and an idiot. This is not a “government approved” version of the bill of rights you twat. The government had nothing to do with this document, it was made and/or decided upon by his teacher or school’s administration.
You obviously have no knowledge of how our public education systems works, maybe you were home schooled, and therefore improperly taught.
The only thing the government does (state government I might add, for all you tenth amendment freaks) is set up certain minimum standards for what concepts must be taught to students each year and in each subject. This is called the TEKS http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TEKS or “Texas Essential Knowledge and Skill” and is tested on the TAKS “Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills” tests each year. Anything beyond or outside these minimums, or the method in which the curriculum is taught, is entirely up to the teacher or school department heads.
I bet even your son knows this unless he’s an idiot too.
You’re fools. All of you. And you sicken me with your ignorant prattle.
Stephen: “Also, does the constitutional right to bear arms apply to people under the age of 18?”
Yes it does. It is restricted below 21, more so below 18. However, most states allow hunting starting around 14. The Boy Scouts have a rifle shooting badge, and you can start Boy Scouts at 10 and 1/2. I received my first .22 at age 7. And I remember hearing a story of a baby in Illinois(?) that I can’t find a link for that was issued a gun permit because his grandfather gave him a gun (to his father in trust until he was deemed old enough by his father) and the father registered it according to State law. The state issued the permit because there was no age limit on the process.
As for the article… I went to public school, and my son now goes to public school. I’ve never seen something so dumbed down, and question whether it’s real. Maybe it’s because you are in Texas, which isn’t known for it’s educational system. If it is real, I suggest you don’t judge all schools by the crappy one you are in. If you’re going to stay in the program, demand higher standards. Ask why they don’t just teach the real text. I applaud your efforts to set the record straight on the side with your own kid.
Don’t blame the government????? Have you looked ’round lately? Homeschoolers are under attack in every venue for daring to actually want to EDUCATE their children rather than allowing them to be indoctrinated and dumbed-down by the government. What’s happening in Texas is happening in every other state. The LAST thing that the guvmint wants is a literate, rational, thinking populace and they are doing everything in their power to prevent it – at least for the vast majority of our children. Naturally, the children of our “elite rulers” are educated quite differently. Politicians don’t send their kids to private schools just to avoid being robbed and raped, you know.
American kids go into school two years ahead of every other nation in the world and come out two years BEHIND even some third world countries. “Exchange students” from other countries have to repeat the grade that they attended while in the US because their home countries know the horrible state of American “education” – all of which is the result of government interference and support of the NEA and the teachers’ unions. It is no wonder that our nation is becoming a land of the educated elite and the ignorant masses. NOT what our Founders had in mind, doncha know.
The father of propaganda, the Nazi Joseph Goebbels would be proud of this slight of hand by our educators… Hitler said, let me control the text books and I will control the youth, or words to that effect… And a minister I am aware of is noted or saying “Text without context is pretext.”
“Congress have no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, and every other terrible implement of the soldier, are the birth-right of an American … the unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the federal or state governments, but, where I trust in God it will ever remain, in the hands of the people.” -Tenche Coxe, Pennsylvania Gazzette.
Mark,
This was sent home as a study aid for an assignment.
Trublugal,
I made my son approach his teacher about this himself. She was pretty dismissive to him. I have reached out to my rep on the School Board, but have not heard back from him.
Logan,
I have taught my children that when you have to reduce your conversation to name calling and foul language it is evidence of your lack of intelligence. Thank you for proving my point to them that many who receive a public education do not develop the level of intelligence necessary to carry on a respectful conversation.
And I did attend public schools in Texas, Kansas and Louisiana – K through 12.
The Bill of Rights as well as the rest of the Constitution has been “trumped” by a cabal of activist judges, touchy-feely liberal politicians and citizens and political correctness.
You have all the rights you ever had as long as you don’t offend anyone (other than traditional Christians, conservatives or white males) or try to keep what you earned or say something against the government (if liberals are in power) or defend yourself or think for yourself or reject the dictates of the Nanny State. Are there any questions?
what about the 1st amendment? “Congress shall make NO LAW” restricting our NATURAL RIGHTS, is a world away from saying “we are allowed…etc.” the former implies that we inherently have the right, the latter implies we are “allowed” or have permission. And to those who downplay our constitution; that piece of paper (what little of it we still follow anyway)is just about the only thing protecting all of us. do you people actually think the government would be benevolent if they had license to do whatever they wanted?(which they admittedly mostly already do)
quit being naive and realize whats happening to this nation right now under our noses.
when you understand the historical significance of our constitution, you will understand how far we are from freedom.
While less government in certain places would be a wonderful thing, without it we would be anarchists, or worse serfs ruled by corporations. History shows pretty clearly that corporations will always act in their perceived best interests and attempt to get away with as much as possible.
Here’s a question: Should the 2nd amendment scale with technology? If the answer is “NO”, then the 2nd amendment is essentially pointless, excluding Red Dawn/Jericho situations. If the answer is “YES”, the good ole US of A will devolve into a battlefield.
I like shooting inanimate things, but the last thing we need are rednecks or militant Christians with tanks.
Kevin, the last thing that you understand is that the supposed “war” between government and big business is a fraud, a means of distracting us from what is really going on. Yes, we are dealing with a socialist government, but what we are REALLY dealing with is fascism (a cooperation between government and big corporations which lead to a tyranny of both). What do you think all these lobbyists are about? They aren’t from small corporations or “mom & pop” businesses, but from the multinationals that run the world! Government has simply become an arm of these megacorps; they are in league with the government supplying the muscle and the corporations the money. It’s been going on almost from the beginning. In Britain, it was called mercantilism. Alexander Hamilton favored it – along with an extremely powerful central government. Of course, Jefferson and Madison were vehemently opposed. Lincoln favored Hamilton’s viewpoint and killed hundreds of thousands of Americans – military and civilian – and destroyed an entire section of the nation in order to further that view of America. Today, we see the final consequences of “Hamilton’s Curse” (book by Dr. Thomas DiLorenzo – read it!).
The author has as much trouble explaining the second amendment as the “adapter” for the students version.
“the reason for the amendment was to spell out our right to have the means to overthrow a tyrannical government.”
“overthrow a tyrannical government” does not appear in the text of the second amendment just as the word “permission” does not appear.
Jerry,
You might consider approaching her yourself with your concerns. I’d expect her to be a little more responsive to another adult. Not that it justifies her dismissing your son, because there is no excuse for that. But, you really should have the teachers side of the story before maligning the whole school system.
Glad to hear your son is well.
I am a little surprised that Logan seems to think that public schools are not run by government, just because it is run by the local government level and not by the state level.
If your public schools are not funded by taxes collected by threat of the jailhouse or bayonet, then I would call them private schools instead. Otherwise, they are still government schools.
Bill Starr
Columbus, Indiana
Tue, 3 Nov 2009, 7:36 am EST
Jerry Lingle,
My language is the mirror image of the actual language, “being necessary for a free State.”
If tyranny (whether internal or external) threatens liberty, the right of citizens to bear arms and to form a well regulated militia is necessary for the free State to defend its freedom. I highly recommend Federalist Paper #29 and how the framers of the Constitution intended the military to be a decentralized organization and how he treated with sarcasm those that believed the federal government would take the military over.
Our military is no longer organized as the framers of the Constitution intended, it is now centralized and completely under the control of the federal government. So the fears of the anti-federalists have in fact been realized.
The use of the word “permission” is very, VERY important. It leads the student to believe that our rights proceed from the government rather than from our Creator and that if they do proceed from the government, then the government has every right to rescind them. With God gone from the culture – including schools and the government – it is difficult to inculcate this understand of the procession of rights to students who have been taught that God is a myth and that He has no place anywhere but in individual people’s own belief system. How then does one explain that the Constitution – like the Declaration – made our rights contingent on NOTHING created by man?
If you think it’s bad in TX, imagine the outright indoctrination and brainwashing that passes for education here in NY. It makes your blood run cold.
Why not teach the “Bill of Rights” as is? No need to re-write it just show it as it exists ten discuss in class what each right means. It’s a joke to keep such an important document from our students!
Unfortunately, the internet is open to those who wish to mislead – but then, the “main-stream media” is worse. What is most illuminating is the fact that even when people try to make up totally ludicrous examples of government excesses in hopes of marginalizing government critics, the very examples that they present are little or no different from what is actually going on! In other words, the government (including government “education”) is every bit as bad as the false examples presented to make fools of those who disapprove of government!
When government’s defenders make up false “examples” in an attempt to make fools of government’s detractors, they soon find out that their “outrageous” scenarios are little or no different from what is actually happening! It’s scary out there folks!
Are we living in an idiocracy? This is intended for children and is supposed to help them understand the meaning of the first ten amendments. I agree that it was should have been translated differently for kids to understand but there are no political intentions here. Teach your kids critical thinking skills instead of trying to get your “Tell it like it is” moments in and your kids will be much better off.
Just one more attempt, in a long line of such attempts, to usurp the “Law of the Land.” Let us not forget that every federal, state, county, & local official must swear alligence to defend & uphold the U.S. Constitution. These school teachers are mere hirelings of the childrens parents. Their wages are, for the most part, a result of taxes levied upon property owners.
It is time, at the least, to make your voices heard at local School Board Meetings and the ballot boxes. Until the citizens are willing to do so, nothing will change.
That is exactly what I did. Did you not read the rest of the post? I made my son read the actual amendment and compare it to what was written in the description, and he decided it was wrong on his own.
The oaths that are taken are useless. To begin with, activist judges have made the Constitution itself meaningless. They found the “right to privacy” in the “penumbra” (outer shadow) of the Constitution and then extrapolated that to a right to an abortion for any (or no) reason throughout all nine months of pregnancy (Roe v. Wade; Doe v. Bolton). On the other hand, the Supreme Court and the federal courts can’t seem to agree on the meaning of either the First Amendment (no problem with the concept of “hate crimes” or “hate speech”) or the Second – or the Tenth! So in actuality, there is NO hope that taking an oath to “defend the Constitution” is going to result in actual constitutional behavior and standards.
The courts and the liberals have determined that the Constitution is a “living document”, that it “grows and changes” according to the times. But, alas, that definition has actually murdered the Constitution; the only thing “living” about it are the progressive maggots who feed on the remains.