Entered into the database on Saturday, December 31st, 2005 @ 17:21:25 MST
Children in Washington State are being given 'Patriotism tests' which
are completely unrelated to their studies. The paper gauges whether or not the
student shows fealty to the power of the state and whether the student believes
in the right to overthrow a corrupt government. A reader from Washington State writes us to highlight a questionnaire paper
handed out to her daughter and the rest of her 10th grade class. The reader comments, "We live in Washington state. My daughter is in 10th grade and found
this to be interesting. She has a GPA of 3.75 and uses her brain. This was
given in her English class, and has nothing to do with the materials they
were studying. We thought you might be able to use this. They are grooming
our kids. Keep up the great work. Christine." The paper is shown below. Click
for an enlargement. Considering the fact that this paper is a complete one off in that it is not part
of any standard curriculum, we must question the motivations behind it. Is the paper a means of gauging the level of obedience to the state amongst
American teenagers? We have covered several examples before where the government identifies a target
group in society and canvasses their views on the nature of power and when that
power goes too far. For example, in the 90's, American marines and national
guard were occasionally asked if they would be willing to fire on American citizens
in a time of crisis. We are by no means against patriotism when it means love of country. Unfortunately
however, the new brand of so-called patriotism translates as worship of government,
and that definition is something that the founding fathers never intended. This may be an isolated case but if we receive anything similar then watch
this space for any updates.
