It is our birthright. When, through indifference, inattention, incompetence, or fear of skepticism, we discourage children from science, we are disenfranchising them, taking from them the tools needed to manage their future. The visions we offer our children shape the future. It matters what those visions are. Often they become self-fulfilling prophecies.
Dreams are maps.
Cutting off fundamental, curiosity-driven science is like eating the seed corn. We keep at it, and through constant repetition many of them finaly get it. If a nation expects to be both ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be. A society that will trade a little liberty for a little order will lose both, and deserve neither. I can't even recall seeing an accurate and comprehensible description on television of how television works.