Chomsky's insight and the discussion of national standards and national tests

"The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum - even encourage the more critical and dissident views. That gives people the sense that there's free thinking going on, while all the time the presuppositions of the system are being reinforced by the limits put on the range of the debate." Noam Chomsky

Clear example: Vigorous debate over the content of the standards and national tests. Should we require specific 18^th century British novels? If so, which ones? Excluded from the discussion: Should there be national standards and national tests?