When I think about what American children are learning in public schools across the country in the second decade, I am reminded of the learning experiences that I had in Texas' public schools from 1958 to 1970. First, I think of the fact that Dixie Elementary School was where I started reading and writing. When I was fourth-year, my mother International Schools in Delhi taught me how to read and write. As such, I had many questions about many things that both intrigued and puzzled me. I can recall asking a few questions to my first grade teacher. She didn't have the temperament to handle my voracious curiosity and advanced level of learning. That's what I did. I was able to discover the truth about science, government, geography, economics, philosophy, and science through encyclopedias. For mathematics and numbers, I struggled to figure them out as well as words. I was an average student in elementary school and junior high school, until I found an application that allowed me to do pure mathematics. It was electronic programming.
In my time, most public school students didn't know how to refer to the truths about American history, law, and government until the eighth or ninth grade. The teacher was the one who presented the facts to students in each subject. Students would take notes and write down the information the teacher gave them about science, history, social studies, and federal politics. Then they would have to take tests on the notes. It was basically a repetition of information that teachers had memorized and studied. In elementary and junior high school, most examinations consisted of questions that could be answered with either true or false, fill out the blank, multiple choices, or questions that asked for specific answers. For example, "How did plants get water?" or "Who was America's first president to live in a log house?" There were very few essay questions that required creative analytical thinking. For example, the question "In 500 words describe the benefits of growing up in a log cabin that made President James Garfield a better president" was one of those questions. The teachers were the ones who taught the facts most mid-20th century public school students. This accurate description of public school instruction can be interpreted to mean that students who were taught incorrect facts about history, law, or government would not only fail their next grade, but will believe they have been correctly informed.