8.

WATCHING BIG BROTHER

WHAT TEXTBOOKS TEACH ABOUT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

The historian must have no country.

—JOHN QUINCY ADAMS^1

What did you learn in school today,

dear little boy of mine?

I learned our government must be

strong.

It’s always right and never wrong...

.

That’s what I learned in school.

—“WHAT DID YOU LEARN IN SCHOOL TODAY?,” TOM PAXTON, 1963^2

We have to face the unpleasant as

well as the affirmative side of the

human story, including our own story

as a nation, our own stories of our

peoples. We have got to have the ugly

facts in order to protect us from the

official view of reality.

—BILL MOYERS^3