A study of the Constitution should encourage students to think critically. Instead, mainstream resources, like the National Constitution Center's "Which Founder Are You?" quiz, prompt students to focus on superficial characteristics of the Founders, and ignore profound issues of race and class.

Pearson-Prentice Hall's high school textbook, United States History, opens its chapter on the Constitution with this Daniel Webster quote: "We may be tossed upon an ocean where we can see no land----not, perhaps, the sun and stars. But there is a chart and a compass for us to study, to consult, and to obey. The chart is the Constitution." United States History tells students approvingly that Ronald Reagan and others have recited this Webster quote at celebrations of the Constitution.

This is the kind of on-bended-knee Constitution worship that has long been a staple of our country's social studies curricula.

Sure, these days, most U.S. history textbooks acknowledge that the Constitution was not without controversy. Holt McDougal's The Americans offers a perfunctory couple of pages on the debate between elite groups of Federalists and Anti-Federalists. But corporate textbooks present the Constitution as a wise inevitability, awaiting only the Bill of Rights as the icing on a delicious cake of compromise.

Students deserve a more critical and nuanced exploration of the Constitution----one that is alert to the race and class issues at the heart of our governing document. Read more.