I’m no constitution worshipper, but this story of public schools teaching American kids a distorted version of the Bill of Rights strikes me as bad news. Texas libertarian blogger Jerry Berggren was helping his middle-school son with his homework. The supporting material for one of his assignments contained a paraphrased, plain-language version of the Bill of Rights. Here’s the scan of the document:
Most of the paraprasing is fairly innocuous, but amendments II and IV are interesting.
“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed” is paraphrased as “We can get permission to own weapons to protect ourselves.”
“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized” becomes “The police need a good reason to arrest someone. They usually need permission to search our homes.”
Those are two pretty big differences which could have serious consequences. As Robert Higgs pointed out in 1988 (in a chapter in this book), the constitution exists not only as words on paper, but also in the popular imagination and in the opinions of judges. If the public’s understanding of what the constitution says changes over time, and public education is pretty uniquely suited to indoctrination, so does the effective constitution. If kids grow up thinking the constitution requires citizens to ask for government permission to protect themselves, they’ll be less likely to resist the erosion of liberty.
Not cool, public school. Not cool.
Brad Taylor is a graduate student in Political Science at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. He blogs at 
Not that I would put it past the government run indoctrination machine known as the public school system to create such a document, but I think this needs to be verified. This aside, the constitution is readily available for all to read. It is the job of parents to educate their children, and this would certainly be a good tool to show your child the way government manipulates the truth.
“They don’t have to say anything that might make them see guilty”
Regardless of if the idiot that wrote this up was some dude trying to screw with us on the internet or is really indoctrinating kids with this junk they need a proofreader, bad.
So we have a right to get permission? Don’t rights mean you don’t have to get permission?
The right to ask for permission is all that people want… Otherwise no one would get those concealed carry permits.
Nick, I just don’t want to go to jail. That’s why I have a drivers license also.
That is an abomination
@Nick: Indeed carry permits are permission slips, plus “kick me hard” signs in the event of any confiscation scheme.
isn’t #3 just plain wrong? Shouldn’t that read, “The government can’t let soldiers sleep in your house without your permission?”
“isn’t #3 just plain wrong? Shouldn’t that read, “The government can’t let soldiers sleep in your house without your permission?””
Excellent catch. The paraphrase would allow for government to say, “You can stay at that guys house, and use all his stuff.”
On another note. I am fairly certain it was some bonehead teacher that came up with that stuff. As a parent I would feel obligated to call the teacher on that bullshit.
Public schools are uniquely suited for indoctrination because they were designed for that very purpose.
The founding fathers created the 2nd Amendment so that we the people could defend ourselves from an oppressive government. It serves no purpose if we have to seek permission to guard ourselves from the very people we’re guarding against.
that publicly illegal book the Holy Bible says ” my people who forget my name are destroyed for their lack of knowledge” and “the nation that forgets God is turned into hell” then, “if my people will repent. I will hear their prayers and heal their land”……..Amerika is Doomed.