Is Oak Park "dumbing down" its villagers?

The Village of Oak Park spent money (not sure exactly how much, but a portion of a $500K federal grant) painting stencils on the sidewalks of our beautiful town to assist and direct people to whichever school they are seeking. STENCILS! You read correctly. With the school's name and directional arrows to boot.

Now I'm no genius, but I can safely write, that if you are walking the sidewalks of OP and looking for a specific school destination, after already securing some form of guidance (neighbor's directions, MapQuest, Google Maps, brochure from the Village Hall) and you still need to rely on stencils to find a piece of property that is 3-4 stories high and takes up roughly 2 whole blocks in a residential neighborhood...you're a half-wit. And the Village should not be responsible for you not getting to your destination.

They say its a part of a Village initiative to provide safe walking and biking routes around the schools. I have no idea what that means. I'll be safer because I can look down and know that I'm in proximity of Longfellow? I don't have worry about traffic or the group of thugs walking towards me because Hatch is this way? Someone please explain this to me because all I can see is another example of dumbing down our society. Garmins not withstanding.

They should have said that it is for children who may be just starting school or older students that are new to the school, those reasons would make more sense. Although, most adults walk the really young children on a regular basis and should be smart enough to figure how to get there. The 3-4-5 graders usually walk in packs, assuming the Alpha Male (Female) is well versed on the route. They're o.k. And lastly, there is no excuse for a Jr. High student not knowing how to get to his/her school. If he/she can't, they shouldn't be in Jr. High. And the Village should blame the parents, not help them with stencils.

Fellow Villagers, let's start being a little more self reliant. I'm all for getting back to pure Darwinism. Survival of the fittest. Weed out the "stencil readers" and figure it out for yourself. Or die trying.  

Author's Note: Some of that grant money also went toward upgrading pavement markings at crosswalks and school speed zone signs. Kudos for those spends.