"It is important we educate (at least our own kids) the next generation to be true free-thinkers, to know how to question, to know how to acquire knowledge about the world lest they become absorbed by it."
It sure is. Only our facility with reason might overcome our natural gullibility and protect us from being misled. Before the Civil War, Americans were notoriously independent minded, but since then the political class has better crafted our indoctrinations...er, educations, so as to more profitably count us amongst their fans, rather than their critics.
Thanks!