Chapter 3: From the Mouths of Babes

From the Mouths of Babes

Across town another member of the Department of Youth Intervention inspection team, Officer Hardy was at the school observing a class in session. He was in constant communications with the other three officers from the Nevada Department of Youth Intervention, a state organization that was charged with investigating and preventing child abuse—especially in the mostly-privatized school system. Corporal Culp had notified Officer Hardy that she was going to investigate the "sweat shops" as DYI termed any place where children worked for pay. Hardy looked around the room with wry grin thinking that children were worked a lot harder without being paid than when someone was allowed to reward their labors. It was almost un-capitalistic! The class took place in one room with children of varying ages in Silver Orb school summer uniforms: white polo shirt over purple shorts. There were 23 girls between the ages of 6 and 14 and there were 9 boys in the same age span. One of the girls was sitting on the floor wailing like the damned next to an older boy when the naked male teacher approached.

"What happened here, Jonathan?"

"I don't know, sir" the boy said to the teacher.

"I don't want to wear nasty old clothes," the girl screamed. "I can't breathe"

"Okay, okay, get them off," the teacher said. "You're Ryder, aren't you?"

"Yes," the girl sniffled as she pulled at her clothes. Jonathan assisted, which kept Ryder from tearing her clothes. "Thank you Mister. Can you tell my teacher that I don't have to wear these nasty clothes?"

"I'm Mr. Jones. I'm the principal of this school. I'm letting you stay naked today, but I need you to wear your uniform to school and wear it a little longer each day."

"But I don't want to!" Ryder shouted.

"You don't have to want to. It is part of your education. We have time—eight years. You need to learn to wear clothes so that you can work outside of Silver Orb."

"I don't want to leave Silver Orb!"

"Ryder, I had the opposite problem when I got here five years ago," Jonathan squatted down and explained. "I came from the outside and I didn't want to play naked. Mr. Jones was just a teacher back then, and he suggested that I could gradually get used to the idea. That was back in the winter and I wore a lot more clothes. I had a coat, a long-sleeved shirt, an undershirt, pants, socks, and two pair of underpants! It took me two weeks before I could feel comfortable in just one pair of underpants. You have to learn to wear clothes. I had to learn to be naked. When I felt out of place, I finally got over being too modest."

"Nobody will make fun of you here," Mr. Jones said. "If they do, tell me. Everybody wants to be here because this is where you learn to read and write and use numbers. You learn about the world outside Silver Orb and how special this place really is. Jonathan, you can help her put her things in her backpack. Make sure that she has her towel."

"You can sit by me," Jonathan told the girl as he helped her remove her sandals. "But I need you to be quiet when I'm studying. I need to learn things."

"Big kids know everything!"

All the other children laughed.

"What's the towel for?" Officer Hardy asked as the principal took up a place behind the podium.

"To sit on." The principle explained. "Nudist etiquette for hygienic reasons."

The class had become very quiet when the principal took up his position at the lecture podium. After scanning the classroom to make sure that everyone was seated, Principal Jones began.

"Today's history lesson is on the Communist Party Platform and its adoption by the United States of America. By the end of the Wilson Administration all ten planks had been instituted in some form or another. Can anybody tell me the amendment to the US Constitution that made it hard to get rich? Yes, Danny Albertson?"

"Sir, it was the 16th Amendment and the graduated income tax on February 3, 1913 under President William Howard Taft." Danny Albertson had an excuse for his pride.

"That's correct Danny. What was the reason that a graduated income tax and abolishing the right of inheritance were in the Communist Manifesto?" After a moment's silence, Principal Jones nodded at Danny. "You did well, Danny. I bet you can tell me the text of those two planks."

"Yes, Sir! The second plank was a heavy progressive or graduated income tax. The third was the abolition of all right of inheritance. I read something about them being a transition from capitalism to communism. I didn't understand that part."

"You did very well, Danny. Lawmakers in the 20th Century didn't exhibit understanding of that either—despite many being dedicated anti-communists. Thank you. You get two gold stars. Now can anybody give me a why people wanted to transition from capitalism to communism?"

"I can, sir," a tall boy 13 years old stood up.

"Go ahead, Theodore."

"The reason for turning to communism was that some people were not satisfied with the people in power and wanted to take over and run things their way. All the ten planks were intended to take power by taking over control of all the economic resources. Dad told me that the prerequisite for that was to take control of the means of force, the police, courts and military, and to take over all opinions, such as churches, the media and school."

"Very good! Now can anybody tell me the last plank? Danny? Go ahead."

"Yes, Mr. Jones." Danny stood straight and proud as he rattled off the quote: Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children's factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production. "And the sixth plank talked about controlling the media and all transportation."

"I'm running out of gold stars. Somebody will have to get more of them." Jones looked at Officer Hardy. "Officer Hardy is our visitors today. Do you have a question for the class? Be prepared for whatever these bright young people answer."

"Why didn't the Communist Manifesto mention gun control in its party platform?" Officer Hardy asked. "Nor did they mention controlling human reproduction."

"I think I have an answer," Theodore Dalton stood up and addressed his audience. "Dad told me a lot about soldiers. Soldiers have guns, but if they don't know what to shoot at and when they cannot get close enough to shoot at things, their guns are useless. By controlling money and communications and transportation, the central government would control the army because it would stay in one place and starve until the army obeyed the new government. Dad tells me that dollars are a more dangerous weapon than guns."

"But guns kill people," Officer Hardy objected.

"Not true, sir, unless you beat people to death with them. Guns shoot things and these things kill people. Bullets kill people. Direct energy weapons kill people. Water cannons can even kill people."

"I thought that only people killed people," Officer Hardy quipped.

"I stand corrected, ma'am," Theodore said. "People use bullets to kill other people and that isn't all. But where do bullets come from?"

Little Lucy Albertson waved her hand. Theodore gave her the floor.

"Bullets are made by people," she proudly announced. "Then other people buy bullets."

The conversation wound down after a while and the principal announced that recess was in five minutes. With a collective whoop, 31 children removed their school uniforms and stored them in their backpacks. The bell rang and the 32 children surged to the playground.

"That was scary," Officer Hardy said. "I thought that I was in a college class, not a grammar school. You have a one-room classroom?"

"Until we get more kids. There are currently 46 children under age 6. Some will be attending school next year. When they have their sixth birthday, they come to school for a rite of passage ceremony that Friday and they show up the next Monday for their first day. Private schools seldom experience discipline problems because everybody wants to be here learning."

"I'm impressed with how you handled that little girl," Hardy said. "What was her name?"

"Ryder Milkweed. She's one of the cultists. The do send their children to school for what we teach. With individual learning computers we can have some learning the basics, a few learning advanced subjects, and the rest practicing social interactions."

"That's great," Hardy held up a finger. "But what if a child acts up and you can't calm him down? What if he disrupts school?"

"We use the minimum force required to protect the other students, ourselves, then school property," Principal Jones answered. "First, we use peers to model appropriate behavior. Then the teachers' physical presence is used. I used verbal exchange to find out and defuse Ryder's issue. Above that we use empty handed restraint and we expel the student. They then attend class with a behavior belt."

"What's that?" Hardy asked. "You don't strike the children with it, do you?"

"They're children. If they need to, they see one of our psychologists. You met Dr. Dalton." Principal Jones drew out a loop of stiff fabric with a box attached to the back. "This is a behavior belt. It works like the implants do on a slave, only this belt is removable and totally external. The punishment features are muted to mild discomfort only and there is only a warm all-over tingle for the positive reward. Oh, yes, if the child starts panicking—measured by pulse rate and other biometrics, this belt will painlessly stun the child and sound an alarm in our emergency services section. I've never had to use this belt and I've been here for 11 years. They're just children and they're well-behaved. That little incident you saw was a girl in distress because she wasn't used to wearing clothing. We will correct that here."

"You mean her parents kept her naked?" Barry Hardy asked.

"The cultists here practice total natural nudity all the time. Generally, children have to be forced to wear clothing and in our society that happens to them shortly after birth. Young children are happier naked. Children are also adaptable and hard wired to please adults." Officer Hardy did a double take at Principal Jones' words. "Yes, it's true—children will do anything to gain an adult's approval. That is why your agency exists. Part of growing up is to switch allegiance to one's peers. Believe me; we adults are far less adaptable. For example, I was shocked when I found out what my working conditions were, but I was under the gun."