Will the Real Dwarves Please Stand Up ?

On Tuesday, August 15, a new Zogby survey on the state of American education was published.

In case you missed it, this exhaustive poll of 1300 Americans, coast to coast, of knowledge revealed:

* Seventy five percent (75%) of the students polled could name TWO of Snow White's Seven Dwarves.

* Only twenty five percent (25%) could name two of the justices of the United States Supreme Court.

* Most knew the name of Superman's home planet (Krypton), but less than one out of eight knew the name of the planet nmearest the sun in our solar system (Mercury).

In this space, we have bemoaned, in the past, the essential cultural and civic illiteracy encouraged in government schools.

Let's pose a question or two here.

Is it a conspiracy of left wing politicians and the teachers' unions to keep all the evolving citizenry oblivious and uninterested in the workings of the Rebublic? Or of the natural world, in fact?

Is the word "democracy" (which is not mentioned in either the Constitution or the Decalaration of Independence) just a shibboleth?

Why don't you question your local Tax-eaters and find out?