Yes...seems we must spell it out for the constitutional lawyers TOO!...always with an alternative translation...especially for those on the left...no need to figure out what the meaning of "The" is

The home schooling movement. And perhaps, in some ways, gradually stripping public education of its power. Sometimes people propose year-round schooling. This, where it occurs, must be fought. And if someone accuses you of wanting to do away with public education, reply "D**** right! You bet I do!" If the person asks why, reply that school is not a police function, and does not protect man (includes woman and child) from the use of force or punish same; and, also, school teaches thought processes, and that should definitely not be controlled by the government. (This reply is to Stormi; I didn't get it into the right slot).

One of my friends (age 64) recently took a job as general manager of a company that is owned by a couple of 30 somethings. (one is quite brilliant in his expert area.) The company was a success until recently and they realized they needed a hand from someone with more experience.
He has been giving the employees (all under 30s) plenty of chances to rehabilitate and become producers with work ethic. He has been setting an example, working 60+ hr weeks and constantly putting out fires created by the young and inexperienced. This week the hammer falls on the worst including a project manager who repeatedly misses deadlines and comes in late.
This is a new definition for the term "generation gap". People now over 50 may have to work til 80 until the next generation (now pre-teens) matures and can take on productive work. The current generation has so little work ethic in spite of their so-called education (and related debt.)
Obviously there are exceptions as there have been in every generation;^)

"I wonder how many people understand the basic idea that their life is theirs and the state is something humans construct" - almost nobody. That's blasphemy.

I do not know about "most people" (on Earth) but I do think that most Americans believe that they own their own lives and are morally free to do as they wish as long as they do not hurt others. But I also see in that that "most Americans" believe that the purpose of government is to control other people. A realistic "Pledge of Allegiance" would go, "I accept the govenment as a prevention against my own predatory nature; and I recognize that if not bound by the laws of society, I would be a danger to myself long before I could threaten others." Just sayin'...

As for "most people" (on Earth), I know that I have cited "Success of the WEIRD People." Western Educated Industrialized Rational Democratic people are not natural. Ten teams of anthropologists went around the world and gave people some basic college psychology tests on physical perception (optical illusions) and social behavior. As dangerous as it is to try to generalize our Paleolithic past from today's so-called "primitives" the fact is that here and now today, some hunters wait until everyone is asleep before they come home so that they do not have to share while in another tribe hunters come home boasting of their kills so that other people become beholden to them for food. Our social norms of personal production and sharing by trade are special to us.

I think that those social norms are at the room of our political rights, freedoms, and liberties.

Here's a better question. Considering all the CRAP we had as REQUIRED reading.
Why was the constitution NOT ONE of them. We had 1/2 a year in civics and it was mostly BS. A little bit about the bill of rights. AND how the Constitution was a LIVING document (Utter BS).
The structure of local government.

Nowadays, they don't even get that... BUT they DO REGISTER them to vote before they are 18 and enlist them as PRE voters. Automatically activating them when they turn 18.

Now, that means, if you are here illegally, they handed you a form, you SIGNED while being BELOW the age of consent, that is NOT VERIFIED that you are a citizen, and they issue you a voter registration card AUTOMATICALLY.

BTW, David Hogg even did this. And in August of 2017, he had his name removed from the voter rolls. I found that strange... Why? (It may have been his father is ex-FBI and just cleaned it up, but I found the timing suspicious)

Woodie wilson's, stalin like useful idiots with the help of revised history creating useless idiots.
To be fair, Many teachers I have talked to these days say they are forbidden from speaking of such things and they don't like it...but they do manage to encourage their students to read it and ask questions.

Accurate history is necessary to understand the sentiments behind the Declaration but it certainly doesn't require an undergraduate degree to understand it nor to read it.

One might say, there are many parallels experience these days with our current government.

I have often wished they had never put it in. I view it as unfortunate; but I interpret "general welfare" to mean that if everybody is protected from crime, the people benefit generally.