America has a president who encourages violence and denies the obvious reality of climate change.  To teach students to think, you have to teach them how to differentiate between truth and lies and that's no simple task when the President and governing party habitually embrace falsehood under the banner of 'alternative facts,' and 'fake news'.  I do congratulate the author on managing to  avoid using the world "fascist' until the last line ... alas, that last line is just the kettle calling the pot black.  I tend to think attacking people for their religion is fascist ... demonizing an entire nation by calling them 'muggers and rapists' is fascist ... urging that innocent family members of terrorists be killed is fascist ... the list could go on, and on, and on.  The educational process would have a lot more success teaching students to think if the country's leaders would set an example ...