Thanks for mentioning Frederick Douglass. I often brought up his quote to my history students, "So long as my voice can be heard. . . I will hold up America to the lightning scorn of moral indignation. In doing this, I shall feel myself discharging the duty of a true patriot; for he is a lover of his country who rebukes and does not excuse its sins."
I'm glad you acknowledge that "consumerism is merely a surface-level indicator of our good fortune, not the soul of it." Because before I read that, I was thinking, "seriously? 50 kinds of breakfast cereal?" I remember as a teenager that often when people discussed the flaws of the Soviet Union they would mention the lack of brands of toothpaste or toilet paper. I remember questioning the importance of brand choice as a marker of a good society.
Great piece here. It reminds me of what Mark Bauerlein writes in The Dumbest Generation Grows Up, as he criticizes educators for only teaching the negatives our culture and ignoring the heroism, opportunity, and narrative grandeur of our past:
"A question for the mentors comes to mind: are you happy with the outcome? These angry, half-educated seniors who could muster so little knowledge--were they the prophesied result of your curricular reforms? When you insisted that twenty-year-olds be given control over their own formation, is this how you wanted them to exercise their freedom? Did you think that releasing them from the burdens of Western Culture would make them more worldly, more liberal? Did you not anticipate how the denial of a coherent and monumental background would disable them from intelligent controversy? You righteously dismantled one grand narrative in the name of diversity and choice, and diversity and choice wouldn't allow any other overarching scheme or storyline to take its place. The multiculturalism you hailed did what it was supposed to do: multiplied and randomized the books, heroes, artworks, settings, leaving sophomores to assemble them into a meaningful whole--something they couldn't do. You may not have cared about meaningful wholes, judging them exclusionary, the concoction of narrow interests, not the historical truth, but the nineteen-year-olds just released from the structures of family and home and high school needed those wholes to ease their way into the world. All they ended up with in their heads was Western guilt, a slender and brittle sense of the past that didn't deepen their experience. It attenuated it."
“Do they learn why generations of immigrants crossed oceans, deserts, and borders for the chance to become Americans?” My Greek mother never let us forget why she did. Thank you for reminding others.
One thing that made the Bicentennial so successful was that the federal government didn’t try to make it just one big event in Washington. The American Revolution Bicentennial Administration helped support thousands of celebrations organized by states, cities, schools, community groups, and businesses all across the country. It became a truly local, grassroots celebration that people could participate in wherever they lived, which is a big reason the Bicentennial felt like it was everywhere in 1976.
Thanks for this piece. I share your concerns and appreciate the plea to parents. It reminds me of the interview you did with Jeremy Clifton -- https://www.aei.org/events/the-hidden-beliefs-that-shape-your-students-an-introduction-to-primal-world-beliefs/, which I highly recommend to all your readers. I've been meaning to watch it again, it was that good.
Thanks for mentioning Frederick Douglass. I often brought up his quote to my history students, "So long as my voice can be heard. . . I will hold up America to the lightning scorn of moral indignation. In doing this, I shall feel myself discharging the duty of a true patriot; for he is a lover of his country who rebukes and does not excuse its sins."
I'm glad you acknowledge that "consumerism is merely a surface-level indicator of our good fortune, not the soul of it." Because before I read that, I was thinking, "seriously? 50 kinds of breakfast cereal?" I remember as a teenager that often when people discussed the flaws of the Soviet Union they would mention the lack of brands of toothpaste or toilet paper. I remember questioning the importance of brand choice as a marker of a good society.
Great piece here. It reminds me of what Mark Bauerlein writes in The Dumbest Generation Grows Up, as he criticizes educators for only teaching the negatives our culture and ignoring the heroism, opportunity, and narrative grandeur of our past:
"A question for the mentors comes to mind: are you happy with the outcome? These angry, half-educated seniors who could muster so little knowledge--were they the prophesied result of your curricular reforms? When you insisted that twenty-year-olds be given control over their own formation, is this how you wanted them to exercise their freedom? Did you think that releasing them from the burdens of Western Culture would make them more worldly, more liberal? Did you not anticipate how the denial of a coherent and monumental background would disable them from intelligent controversy? You righteously dismantled one grand narrative in the name of diversity and choice, and diversity and choice wouldn't allow any other overarching scheme or storyline to take its place. The multiculturalism you hailed did what it was supposed to do: multiplied and randomized the books, heroes, artworks, settings, leaving sophomores to assemble them into a meaningful whole--something they couldn't do. You may not have cared about meaningful wholes, judging them exclusionary, the concoction of narrow interests, not the historical truth, but the nineteen-year-olds just released from the structures of family and home and high school needed those wholes to ease their way into the world. All they ended up with in their heads was Western guilt, a slender and brittle sense of the past that didn't deepen their experience. It attenuated it."
“Do they learn why generations of immigrants crossed oceans, deserts, and borders for the chance to become Americans?” My Greek mother never let us forget why she did. Thank you for reminding others.
One thing that made the Bicentennial so successful was that the federal government didn’t try to make it just one big event in Washington. The American Revolution Bicentennial Administration helped support thousands of celebrations organized by states, cities, schools, community groups, and businesses all across the country. It became a truly local, grassroots celebration that people could participate in wherever they lived, which is a big reason the Bicentennial felt like it was everywhere in 1976.