Examines the hazards of teaching school children to have unquestioning trust in the government and its leaders. Suggests that students should be taught the actual rather than an idealized mechanism version of the American politics, and also the importance of the democratic citizen as both supporter and critic of the system. (MK)

A number of third-grade social studies texts were analyzed with regard to six categories: civic orientations, benefits received, value words, symbolic references, authority figures and hero images. The political world...presented in these textbooks is one in which authority is benevolent and social conflict is minimal. (Author)