As the United States approaches its semiquincentennial celebration, Americans would do well to examine how we talk and, indeed, how we think about our national heritage. Any honest reflection must begin with an uncomfortable admission: we have largely failed to inspire young Americans with a durable sense of civic pride or even national gratitude. The great challenge of our time is therefore not political but pedagogical—it consists in educating future Americans as to what makes our nation both unique and uniquely laudable. Across the political landscape, one encounters a troubling disillusionment with American ideals, coupled with a profound ignorance of our institutions. Worse still, young Americans possess little sense of our history—except perhaps its failings—and even less appreciation for the costs of freedom. Like heirs to an unearned fortune, we have grown weary, and even embarrassed, of our riches, with no sense of duty to preserve them into the future.
Much of the blame rests with the university. Too often, institutions of higher education inculcate in students a reflexive skepticism toward our inherited moral and civic order, rather than equip them to understand and evaluate that order on its own merits. In response, many reformers have sought to cultivate a civic renaissance through renewed collaboration between state legislatures and universities. These developments reflect a growing recognition that an indoctrination in what Roger Scruton called the “culture of repudiation” is no education at all. Policymakers have accordingly begun to question whether such an education truly serves the public good—and, consequently, whether it merits public support. Increasingly, state funding has therefore been conditioned on the establishment of schools, departments, and initiatives around civic education and civil discourse.