Reader wonders about education in the U.S.

Food for thought:

December 7, 1941 - The attack on Pearl Harbor awoke this nation.

September 11, 2001 - The attack on New York and the Pentagon awoke this nation.

Five years ago I attempted to warn the US Congress that our nation has an Achilles Heel, and is vulnerable to an attack that would make the damage caused by either, or both, of the above attacks seem minor. That warning has been ignored as far as I can tell.

However, in terms of damage to our nation, there has been a slow relentless attack from within to convert real education into socialistic indoctrination. Consider the thinking of the Founding Fathers who wrote the Northwest Ordinance; July 13, 1787. Section 14, Article 3 starts with the words, "Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged."

You may need to study the Webster's dictionary from 1858 to understand the meanings of the words used at that time compared to their current definitions.

Ask yourself, is "religion" as defined in 1858 now taught in our schools? Is "morality" as defined in 1858 now taught? Are the current problems in our country due to a lack of understanding of the principles that underlay the original US Constitution and first twelve Amendments? Do children respect and honor their parents and older members of the community?

The damage from the attack on education has been much worse than those attacks listed above. Technology has evolved over the past many decades, but human psychology is much the same. Are people taught self respect, respect for others, and independent hard work to get success? Or are people being taught to depend on our (failing) government?

Thomas Fancher

Moses Lake