One Thought Scares Me...

We Teach Our Children What We Wish Them to Know; We Don't Teach Our Children What We Don't Wish Them to Know

De: Richard Dreyfuss

Narrado por: Richard Dreyfuss

We’ve let the meaning of America be reduced to guesswork. It might not be too late.

Our democratic republic is failing, and it shouldn’t be a surprise. We can’t fly a plane without training; we can’t practice medicine without attending medical school. And yet we expect the American people to wield the full power of their citizenship, the product of the most revolutionary governmental thinking in human history, without any education.

We no longer teach our children the Bill of Rights or Constitution. We don’t teach the Enlightenment values that underpin them. We don’t teach the critical thinking skills and mental agility necessary for our own sovereignty. We’ve stopped teaching civics, and now we can’t have a civil political discussion. The American experiment may fail if we don’t act.

Richard Dreyfuss is a forceful advocate for civic education. His latest work, One Thought Scares Me…, explains how the lack of civics education in American education for the last fifty years has led to the deterioration of all aspects of the lives of us, the people. And it shows us the path to reclaiming our American ideals.

©2022 Richard Dreyfuss (P)2023 Skyhorse Audio

Required reading.

This book should be required reading and the gift you give to every teacher and parent you know!

This is Civics

I love the fact that the author carefully explained the problem with not knowing about civics not being taught in schools I think we as Americans lost something I remember being taught economics and civics in high school and now it’s needed everyone needs to get this book or audio book now or forever become ignorant and foolish at your own peril

The Awakening

I learned of this book when Richard appeared on The View and it answered the question of what the hell has happened to America. I’m certain it is more effective to listen to the book than by just reading it. We must pickup the torch and help save our Republic.

Scary, But Hopeful

For those of us above a certain age, we can remember the course of courses in civics and history as taught back in Junior High and High School. Just as we can remember having courses in art and music, and having gym every day. And, if we were able to attend a good school, with engaged teachers, their enthusiasm and lessons may still be with us.

While I believe all of these offerings are missed, and missed deeply, I share Mr. Dreyfuss' concern over the first two most of all. Because we are seeing less and less of this education in schools, and, as a whole, it seems we read a good deal less than ever before - Hang in there and keep up the good fight, Audible - "the people" are uninformed when it comes to governance, our response-ability to our country and to one another.

I do not know what it will take to get more people engaged in the idea that civics and history are critical disciplines. Critical in their importance and critical in terms of their teaching us to think and discern critically. To see difference between fact and opinion. That as we lean more, "warts and all", to steal from Cromwell, we do not see our nation as diminished. While we may not be perfect, there is no nation in the history of the world that ever was, nor ever shall be. We can admit to past mistakes and work to correct them, if not to simply accept them as a place to start.

There have been so many excellent histories of America, as a whole and in focused timeframes, I have listened to through Audible this year that I KNOW we have great material to mine. I hope people who are out there developing curricula might consider how you can take some of them and get them in the hands and ears, hearts and minds of students - and us adult-types, too.

I do not know if it ever will, or can, happen, but I think that if Audible could present the complete and unabridged "A People's History of the United States" by Page Smith you would have a wonderful place to start. Mr. Smith has shared so much from so many - people we would never have heard about - who were "in the room where it happened."

Like we are.

Listen to what Mr. Dreyfuss has said. Take your own love of learning and of country and make something of it. Share recommendations. Advocate for causes that matter to you. VOTE! Listen to divergent options. Prepare to change minds, and be open to having your mind changed in turn.

Opening my eyes to what American is meant to be!

This book made me realize how little I know about this country and the purpose and meaning of America. This book is not a political drama but a very American message to wake up the people to our passiveness and remind us that we are kings over ourselves if we only remember. Let’s stay awake so we don’t fall back to the captivity of mind and soul. Let’s stay kings over ourselves!

Best Book Ever

This book needs to be required reading for all Americans. We must teach our history before we destroy our country. Without the knowledge in this book we are doomed.

A lone voice, crying in the wilderness

A book about civics from Richard Dreyfuss took me by surprise at first, but I was intrigued. The more I read ABOUT the book, the more I wanted to read it - and so I did, finishing it this morning.

The author writes with knowledge and passion about educating our children regarding the uniqueness of America; how radical it was at it’s founding, how it is an imperfect work in progress, and how it is nevertheless the greatest plan for a government the world has ever known. The main question he addresses is this: How will our children be equipped to continue this great republic when we have failed to educate them properly on how it was designed to work? He makes a very strong case for the idea that they CAN'T, and that is largely why we find ourselves where we are today.

I did not agree with 100% of what he says in the book, but I believe he is sincere in his motives and that his ideas are without a hidden agenda. While Mr. Dreyfuss and I are not personally acquainted, his writing seem to be that of a person who is willing to listen to opposing ideas, discuss them, and agree on a solution that can be appreciated by all parties involved. Indeed, one of the main points of the book is that we seem to have lost the ability in our culture to civilly debate ideas; instead, we shout at each other while trying to eliminate or silence opposing viewpoints.

The book is heavy on how we got where we are (the problem) and light on ideas of how to fix it. Yes, a proper curriculum in civics for every student is important, but that will not solve the problem of apathy. As the saying goes, you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. Having had a liberal arts education myself, AND having taught in the public schools for 34 years, I know that many things are being taught properly, yet there are multitudes of parents and students who do not value education as they should, and therefore do not avail themselves. Indeed, if you go to the Facebook page of “The Dreyfuss Initiative”, the most recent post is from 2019. It states (in part), “On the first page of my Civic initiative is a box that says “sign the Preample”
(sic) ——Do it. When I get 200,000 signatures I am going to organize a National Civic Strike, co,-ordinated by time zones, so that at the same second across the country nobody drives, nobody buys, nobody calls, nobody chats, nobody does nuthin’, for 30 minutes, nut (sic) enough to hurt the the economy but enough to get everyone’s attention.” This idea is also brought up toward the end of the book itself. If you go to the webpage of the organization itself (https://www.thedreyfussinitiative.org/), there is no mention of the strike, past, present or future. If that means that he could not get 20,000 signatures in 5 years, in a country of 330 million, there is little hope of this initiative having an impact.

Furthermore, who will teach these classes in civics? After 50+ years without it being a part of our educational system, those who have the most understanding of it are no longer up to the task, being well into their golden years. Therefore, the blind will be leading the blind.

Mr. Dreyfuss appears to be a lone (or at least lonely) voice, crying out in the wilderness. While I believe he is a true American, doing what he can to save his country, I’m afraid the forces of darkness working against him have gained too much ground for us to recover. It would take direct intervention from God to turn this ship around. I will never say never, and I will partner with Mr. Dreyfuss and others like him gladly…but I can’t say I am confident in a positive outcome for the country. The patient is too far gone.

Revolutionary Rebuttal

Dreyfuss clearly outlines how we have failed in America to educate our citizens in order to manage the perfect union our founding documents described. We should all be outraged at the way our media has been hijacked by a tiny minority of billionaires set on squeezing more money from our spongy brains while we hand over the power to destroy ourselves. This should be required reading and watching Mr. Smith goes to Washington required viewing in all 8th grade level classrooms so our children have a chance to learn how to think critically so they can govern wisely.

Spot On!

While maybe a bit over dramatic in delivery and presentation, the analysis and conclusions are spot on. We need this kind of curriculum again. Hopefully, it's not too late.

A collection of well thought out, passionate ideas loosely bound for a noble purpose.

Due to the topic, the narrative seems to be one long ramble of deep thoughts, reflections, and ruinations. On the other hand, the passion, and weight of the novel demand that ideas be laid out simply and earnestly to reach the reader with honest sincerity and conviction. This is more than a fireside chat, it’s a wake-up call that things aren’t what they were meant to be and could be made right again. If you’re curious you won’t be disappointed , and if you’re not then you should be.