These Kids Today...

Scary story in today's USAToday:

One in three U.S. high school students say the press ought to be more restricted, and even more say the government should approve newspaper stories before readers see them, according to a survey being released today.

The survey of 112,003 students finds that 36% believe newspapers should get “government approval” of stories before publishing; 51% say they should be able to publish freely; 13% have no opinion.

...

Although a large majority of students surveyed say musicians and others should be allowed to express “unpopular opinions,” 74% say people shouldn't be able to burn or deface an American flag as a political statement; 75% mistakenly believe it is illegal.

I've got to say, I'm more than a little ashamed of my generation, the boomers. How did we actually raise a generation that trusts the government? What ever happened to "Question Authority"? "Don't trust anyone over thirty"? And of all possible times to go trusting the government, now, when we have the most corrupt regime since... well, ever, is NOT the right time.

It does put the Republican policy of killing education funding whenever possible in a logical context, though. If you want to raise yourself a flock of useful sheep, in the event, say, that you find yourself in sudden need of quantities of cannon fodder - well, questioning minds may not be the tools you're looking for. (Thanks to the Space Ace for the pointer.)