SAN ANGELO, TX -- A new survey ranking the 50 states in patriotism has ranked Texas towards the bottom.
Wait, what?
According to a survey by WalletHub, Texas is ranked 46th in patriotism towards the United States. New Hampshire was ranked the most patriotic and New Jersey was ranked the least patriotic by the Washington, D.C.-based company.
The survey scored points in all major cities on two major categories: military engagement and civic engagement. The weighted average of the cities created the score for each state. Out of a possible 100 points, Texas scored 28.66.
Texas was fourth highest in average number of military enlistees, but was ranked 11th for military engagement.
Texas came in at 49th for civic engagement, which measures volunteer workers, percentage of those who voted in the last election, etc.
So, how can Texas and other states improve on their patriotism, starting in the classroom?
"When I was young, we learned what was called “civics” in school, beginning with elementary school," said David Konstan, Professor Emeritus of Classics and Comparative Literature at Brown University. "It was biased in its way, no doubt about it (the United States was just emerging from the Second World War), but we did learn about the Constitution, the way the government works, and what was expected from and due to a citizen. Any such course must have a critical perspective: we don’t want to inculcate mindless obedience to the status quo. What’s more, the world is changing, and what seems right to some may not seem so to others. The issues are delicate, I recognize, but they need to be faced honestly and critically. I trust a citizen body that thinks for itself."
You can read the full study here.
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This just goes to show you can rig a 'study' to say anything. Lemme guess, they did their study in the major cities and therefore left out most of Texas. I am not surprised kids educated in big city school systems and their parents don't test high on patriotism. The big cities in this state actually support socialists. Thank God the rest of this State still supports this country, this State, the military, law enforcement etc.. I don't need a study to tell me that the Concho Valley is as patriotic or more so than anywhere in this country or that big city and leftist (redundant, I know) community leaders think that is a bad thing.
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PermalinkAbout 10 years ago I moved away from my hometown (San Angelo) and moved to the Austin area (the liberal nest of Texas). The kool-aid flows freely here. I live across the street from a school teacher. She is a very sweet lady in her mid 40s and as left thinking as they come... open borders, free education and medical among other things. I've debated with her a few times and have asked how we're supposed to pay for that. Her answer... "well, tax the rich of course". I work with several very intelligent people, engineers of every type, accounting and business people. Not all but, most lean to the left politically. These people are from all over the country with different backgrounds. The common thread with all that I have mentioned is the education system. People like my neighbor teaching students to believe the same as she does. It seems people like these believe many of the same things - big Gov. is good, free everything is good, open borders good, police bad, military bad, founding fathers bad, constitution needs to change, patriotism not necessary.
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PermalinkDid not mean to bash teachers, by the way. We are blessed with many wonderful teachers here in the Concho Valley. The problem is smart teachers don't want to have to deal with the leftist "you know what" either and so they move here, which is great for us but not so good for the big city kids. I guess we need missionary type teachers to move to the big city and do a few years to help the kids there!
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