This post is a little bit different in that it is not specific to the Grand Haven area but highly relevant to those concerned with government and education. Most people sense that there is something greatly off with the way our country has been run in recent years. We realize that government has become a massive machine filled with bureaucracy, waste and abuse.
Graduates from high school and even college seem to know little about our history, our Constitution and the why and how our country was founded. This set of resources is helpful not only to children, but to patriotic adults who want to become more involved and better understand how we got to where we are.
It is essential that we not just learn about the three branches of government and how many representatives there are, but rather learn to understand how the government works and has operated throughout history. Different administrations have enacted policies which continue to affect us today. Many political decisions are based upon power and economics. To truly understand government and its impact upon us, it is important to understand how we got to where we are. Hence, history, government and economics can and should be studied in conjunction.
There is no better place to start than the beginning of American Government as we know it today - The Constitution. The book Five Thousand Year Leap by W Cleon Skousen does just that. It explains the reasoning behind the Constitution in a set of principles used to define the Constitution such as Principle 7: The proper role of government is to protect equal rights, not provide equal things., Principle 1: The only reliable basis for sound government and just human relations is Natural Law, and Principle 27: The burden of debt is as destructive to freedom as subjugation by conquest. This book should be the basis for all government courses taught in high school and college.
In the video Noncompliant featuring Krisanne Hall, Krisanne explains how the people are supposed to control the government instead of the government controlling the people. She explains how the Constitution is a contract between the states that created the Federal Government. The Federal Government did not exist until the states ratified the Constitution. Therefore, the states are superior to the Federal Government. She goes on to give interesting examples that explain how this works when implemented. One such example describes a sheriff who stood up for the rights of citizens in his jurisdiction while telling the Federal government to back off. I highly recommend this video for adults and high-school aged children that want to better understand how our country is supposed to operate.
Resources for Kids
The single best resource which combines the subjects of history, economics and government are the Uncle Eric books written for middle school and older aged children by Richard Maybury. Adults will greatly benefit from reading this series as well.
Uncle Eric Talks About Personal, Career, and Financial Security
Whatever Happened to Penny Candy?
Whatever Happened to Justice?
Are You Liberal? Conservative? Or Confused?
Ancient Rome: How It Affects You Today
Evaluating Books: What Would Thomas Jefferson Think About This?
The Money Mystery: The Hidden Force Affecting Your Career, Business, and Investments
The Thousand Year War in the Mideast: How It Affects You Today
World War I: The Rest of the Story and How It Affects You Today, 1870 to 1935
World War II: The Rest of the Story and How It Affects You Today, 1930 to September 11, 2001
Reading this series teaches kids how to make decisions that will affect their lives in a positive way. Personal, Career and Financial Security discusses the benefits of exposure to a variety of experiences such as, school plays and clubs, sports teams and work experience. Teens have the opportunities to learn different skills from all of these activities. Whether training a new employee, to working with another student to memorize lines, to speaking in front of a large audience, to learning to be responsible and show up on-time each day, kids will benefit.
The book Liberal? Conservative? or Confused? explains how different parties try to control different aspects of our lives in ways which they believe will benefit society. What is a liberal and why is the term so confusing? This book explains it.
There are many parallels between Ancient Rome and America. The book Ancient Rome: How It Affects You Today helps explain how the founding of America incorporates lessons learned from Ancient Rome. There were three distinct eras of Roman history; the Roman Monarchy, the Roman Republic, and the Roman Empire. The book explains how the government changed during each era and how it affected the people. These changes are evident today in American history, but on a much more accelerated basis.
The Tuttle Twins is a series of books to help children learn about complex political and economic concepts.
This series has grown exponentially since its introduction a few short years ago. It targets children ages 6-13. Each 50-page book focuses on a government policy or concept that has real life consequences for all citizens. Here are some of the titles.
The Tuttle Twins and the Creature from Jekyll Island
The Tuttle Twins Learn about the Law
The Tuttle Twins and the Miraculous Pencil
The Tuttle Twins and the Food Truck Fiasco
The Tuttle Twins and the Road to Surfdom
The Food Truck Fiasco explores protectionist laws designed to prevent competition. In the book, the owner of a restaurant convinces the city to pass laws that make it difficult for food truck vendors to continue to compete. Eminent Domain, Free Market, and concepts of liberty are among those introduced. Because these books are targeted at young children, they are brief and the language is simple. The story lines do a good job of introducing complex topics but don't go into a lot of detail.
These are the books that should fill our classrooms and school libraries.