From a young age and over the years, I have heard people say, “Teach your children well. You don’t want to raise little monsters, do you?”

These and other comments were about molding and shaping children at an early age. The Bible says, “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” I guess it’s all about training our children, right? Right.

In Germany, Hitler knew this to be paramount to his success in being the supreme ruler, dictator, and Grand Poobah – so much so that he dictated what would be taught in every school and changed the curriculum to reflect the superiority of the Arian race and people.

At age 10 they were grouped by age and taught “German patriotism.” No big deal, right? They were molded and shaped until 18 and then inducted into the German Army. After age 10 they were not allowed to engage in any outside activities aside from their “group.” They were taught good work habits and ethics, and the learning day had much to do with the great Leader known as Hitler and the Nazi party (socialist).

These kids became so loyal to Hitler and the party that they would turn in their own parents for any anti Hitler or anti-party comments. Party indoctrination was so deep that when Hitler declared the Jews were the cause of the German woes, it was not hard to get the Hitler Youth to turn on them. You don’t kill that many people, the way they were killed, without brainwashing the youth. They grew into soldiers who carried out the party’s orders without question because they trusted their leader.

Now, let’s look at today. We have education being more and more dictated by liberal America. Many elementary and high school texts have rewritten history to twist the things we hold sacred into something wrong and inhumane.

Recently an elementary school district taught and tested the kids on the evil conqueror, Christopher Columbus, and the millions of Indians (yes, millions) whom Columbus and his people slaughtered. If that’s true, why do we “celebrate” Thanksgiving? (That’s just wrong on so many levels.) The curriculum went on to ask the kids what questions they would ask him at his trial.

Textbooks are being changed to downplay the Judeo-Christian influence on the nation’s history. Some history books emphasize that our forefathers came here to get away from religion, rather than the actual fact that they came here to practice their own religion and worship God the way they chose.

I guess, based on these new history books, the Pilgrims must have been confused, because they had the first Thanksgiving to offer thanks to the Almighty (not mother earth) for all He had given them.

Jefferson must also have been confused because he used the congressional meeting house to have Sunday service, government-paid and -maintained, with the Marine Band playing hymns in the government building.

Now, our elementary school kids are learning how bad these men were because they owned slaves.

They had their faults, and it’s appropriate to teach about the wrongs of slavery, but not to the exclusion of the rest of the story. How about teaching our kids about the selfless dedication they had to the freedom of the American people and that what they sacrificed was much more than a new iPod or Sunday football game?

Then there are our institutions of higher learning that seem to teach more about sexual pleasure and how to get as much from the government as possible than they teach about, science, math and technology, as evidenced by our drop in world standing in these areas.

Numerous college campuses now have “Sex Week.” Many liberals justify this by saying it’s just “part of the college experience” and it helps the kids to blow off a little steam.

I highly doubt that Albert Einstein, Marie Curie or Jonas Salk would attribute their genius to their pursuit of sex and sexual knowledge in college. More and more colleges have what boils down to “how to have better sex” classes, complete with visual aids, presentations, and nothing left to the imagination. One college provides an introductory comic book to incoming freshmen to help them exploring their “erotic self” and even their “homosexual self.” Really? What if I have no homosexual self or can’t find it? Do I fail?

Politically, students on campuses are being encouraged to embrace communism and socialism and shun conservative values, speakers and teachers.

We are becoming the laughing stock of the world, with our failed economic policies, our mismanaged healthcare law and rollout, and our failing school systems.

Hitler’s lesson was on target. If you get the youth, you have the country. In other words, he trained the youth in the way he wanted them to go and eventually had total control.

Today the progressive left is training up the youth in the way they want to see this country grow, and they’ve been doing so for many years. Take a look around at what’s happening in our country.

We are seeing the fruits of their efforts now. And we are in a heap of hurt as a nation and a people.

Joe Messina is host of The Real Side (TheRealSide.com), a nationally syndicated talk show that runs on AM-1220 KHTS radio and SCVTV [here]. He is also the current president of the Hart School Board. His commentary publishes Mondays.