Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Military service diminishes one's freedom according to Educators Publishing Service

We had another controversy here last night over Lex jr.’s studies. He comes home with his vocabulary book. Among the 15 words he is supposed to know is the word “diminish.” The book has the following question:

Which of the following would diminish one’s freedom?
a. Being held captive
b. Having one’s driver’s license taken away
c. Joining the Navy
d. Being released from prison

Mom and dad tell Lex jr. a and b are correct. Jr. informs us that the teacher said that there were three correct answers for that question. Huh? “d” is obviously out, so that leaves “c”. That can’t be. Oh yeah, jr. says that the teacher said there were three correct answers for question 2. So, fired this off to jr.’s teacher last night:

Dear Mrs. N____:

Wow, after serving 20 + years in the Department of the Navy, I never knew that my freedom had been diminished. To learn that fun fact, I had to read Question 2 in section 9C of Danny’s Wordly Wise book.

So let me see, during 20 years, I traveled around the world in both directions; I visited and served in 15-20 countries; I lived over seas in three different countries; I crossed our own country back and forth, up and down 6-8 times; I visited dozens of states; I attended countless professional schools and earned a masters degree all courtesy of the Marine Corps.

And I’m just now learning that my freedom was being diminished all along. Oh, woe is me. Dang, what was everyone else doing while the Department of the Navy had me shackled? Ya’all must have really been tearing it up. I guess any job requiring honor, courage and commitment these days would be looked upon by Educators Publishing Service as diminishing one’s freedom. We just called it duty.

Come to think of it, the only time I ever thought that my freedom was in danger of being diminished was when Al Gore tried to have my military absentee ballot thrown out in FL during the 2000 Presidential Election. But somehow I don't think that incident is what EPS had in mind when claiming "joining the Navy" diminishes one's freedom.

Sorry for all of the sarc. I just wanted to make the point. Seriously, if that question includes “joining the Navy” it is WRONG. Does the teacher’s guide include “c” as a correct answer? If so it should be thrown out, St V’s administration notified and the publisher contacted for a correction.

Thanks

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