"If we do not teach our children

that opinions don’t matter, but what we are does –

Someone will teach them bitterness toward other’s opinions.

If we do not teach our children to respect authority,

Someone will teach them that children are the authority.

If we do not care enough to tell our children when they are wrong,

Someone will tell them that ANYTHING goes.

If we do not teach our children responsibility for their actions,

Someone will teach them to blame others and exonerate themselves.

If we do not teach our children that life can be hard, but can make us strong,

Someone will teach our children to expect what cannot be

and to despair when it is not.

If we do not love our children enough to know where

they are and what they do,

Someone will take them places and show them things

they should not know.

If we do not teach history with its villains and its heroes,

Someone will make the villains heroes and the heroes villains.

If we do not teach our children that humans are not animals, but souls,

Someone will teach them that human life has no value.

America, if we do not teach our children…

Someone will teach our children that America should be no more."