This saddened and angered me.. Not so much a rant..as it is a question to y'all...

Well Sir...last evening, as is my custom, I was watching the O'reilly Factor on Fox. Now...I know there are a few of you out there who have written to me in the past that you absolutely detest Bill O'Reilly (a man whom I greatly respect), but this post isn't about him or his show....it's about a very short segment he showed regarding our Nation's young people, primarily ages 12 to 17......

Bill has just released his new book, "Kids are Americans Too", and he clearly states to any perspective buyer, that the book is really for kids, ages 12 to 17, who are aware of, and attuned to, what's happening in the world and United States today, and that it is not for the younger kid, or the kid who spends all day in front of his X-Box or Playstation....

Apparently, some of his staff went out on the street and randomly video taped and asked kids (boys and girls) in the 12 to 17 age group, "What do you owe your country?". This is where it gets disturbing. He showed brief clips of the answers they received.....

Answers like "I don't owe my country anything...it owes me.", "Nuthin", "Not a damn thing!", "What was the question?", "What's my country ever done for me?" and blank stares. When one young man was asked if he would ever consider joining the Military, he immediately responded "*%#@ No...Never!" Another student was asked if he would ever leave this country and become a citizen of another country, his answer..."In a heartbeat!". It was obvious he thinks we are a bad country, undeserving of his presence....

Now Sir....what immediately came through was an enormous sense of entitlement on the part of some of these kids, and a complete lack of knowledge regarding our past history and the sacrifices made by many a young man and woman for their country and the freedoms we share today.

Now Mam...in truth, you can't blame the kids if they haven't been made aware of our great Nation's sacrifices and history. You must look to both the parents and the education system(s). Like many reading this article, I grew up being taught "Social Studies", "Civics" and American History in my educational curriculum. A sense of National pride and honor had been instilled in me, by both my parents and the school system I went to. I was taught about the countries throughout the world who DIDN"T have the freedoms we have in this country, countries like The Soviet Union, North Korea, Communist China and others, and this told me that not all countries in the world were free and had a standard of living like our great Nation.

When I was in the Navy and out on those long patrols under the Atlantic, and in the Seabee's on foreign shores, I guess that on some level I thought that the younger people back in the States knew that folks like myself and others were doing their duty to make sure the next generation was safe from a global conflagration and would experience the same freedoms I did growing up. I guess now, in hindsight, maybe I was in error, because some of those kids that were interviewed on Bill's program were children of the kids and children that I was helping to protect.....

I submit this to all of you, no Nation can survive long if there is no sense of national Pride and love for that country in its citizenry and occupants, because very few will be willing to defend it should the time come. This statement is true for all nations, Great Britain, Israel, Canada, The United States, Russia, you name it....and history proves this statement out. Hmmmph...just look at France....someone else is always pulling their tits out of the wringer....

My good neighbor is a school teacher (Middle School), and he has shared with me that today, because of "No Child Left Behind", kids are only being taught about whatever is going to be on the test, very little else. He related an account of a teacher telling her students that, regarding the Declaration of Independence of the United States, the only thing(s) they needed to know were the names of 5 of the original signers of this great document....In other words, they are being taught "To the Test", not for the sake of learning. Hmmm....

I am now a great grandfather (sigh), and I come from a teaching family, and over the years I've noticed a change in what mine/our children are being taught. In some cases there is a concerted effort on the part of some school administrators to only allow teachers to teach a "Politically Correct" agenda, or a curriculum that will result in the student passing tests so that the school looks good, or their own ideological agenda, whatever that might be.

I'm assuming that some of you have seen Jay Leno's segment "Jay Walking", where he asks basic knowledge questions of different people on the street. In one segment, he asked a young college woman, "Where is Pearl Harbor?"....answer...New Jersey. Next question, "Who attacked us at Pearl Harbor?"...answer..."The Hawaiians". Wanna hear the best part....she was in her last year of college to become a TEACHER!!! If it weren't so sad it would have been funny....

OK...so where is the Cookie-man going with this? I have a question that I truly DO NOT know the answer(s) to...I need your help.

How can someone like myself, or you parents out there, effect a positive, meaningful change in a deteriorating educational system (we really can't do too much regarding the students home situation)? What actual action can I take to change or enhance school curriculum's to insure that history, civics, whatever you want to call it, is being taught to our young?

What are your ideas regarding this, and what can we do? Gunny, Subvet, MightyMom, Gert, Sig...anyone?

Thanks for your time....Cookie...