Sixty-one percent of Gen Z (18 to 29 year olds) did not know what America's 250th anniversary commemorated. That number is 46% for all adults. Those are a small sliver of responses from a Cato Institute poll conducted in collaboration with Morning Consult of 2,253 Americans ahead of July 4th & America's 250th anniversary. The poll was released on July 2.
I have never seen clearer statistics that show how perilous our future is - since young people know nothing about the country they can be told anything & they very well may believe it.
More knowledgeable respondents (57%) to the poll questions believe the U.S. has moved away from its founding principles (you think) & 56% worry the country could lose its freedom in the next 50 years.
For the rest of us who want to continue the semiquincentennial celebration of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 click on this series of Hillsdale College videos that tells the story of America starting with how a rag-tag army defeated the British Empire. Episodes include "The Shot Heard Round The World," "The Battle Of Bunker Hill," "Crossing The Delaware," "The Second Continental Congress," & "George Washington." There are 19 videos in all, organized so you can watch them in any order or selectively.
The most important point in bringing the results of the Cato poll & the Hillsdale videos together is that a great number of Americans need to learn from the videos so that the worry about America losing its freedom before the tricentennial doesn't occur.
Hillsdale College encourages passing the videos on. And so do I.
The Cato Institute poll raises a troubling question: why do so many Americans—especially younger adults—not know what America's 250th anniversary commemorates?
ReplyDeleteWhat brought us to this point? Is it that civics and U.S. history have received less emphasis in many schools over several decades? Have parents, business leaders, and other successful professionals spent too little time engaging with and improving public education? Has the growth of social media and online entertainment reduced interest in learning history?
Whatever the causes, a nation benefits when its citizens understand its history, its founding principles, and the responsibilities of citizenship. At the same time, America's continued leadership in innovation, entrepreneurship, economic growth, military capability, and now artificial intelligence demonstrates the remarkable achievements of many Americans. The challenge is ensuring that civic knowledge keeps pace with those achievements.
Regardless of where we place the blame, we all have a responsibility to strengthen civic education. America's future depends not only on remaining the world's leader in innovation and AI, but also on raising a generation that understands our nation's history, founding principles, and the freedoms that made those achievements possible.
The elections upcoming are a must for sane people to go and vote, if not you will be controlled by misfit, crazy people, and jerks.
ReplyDeleteWe must talk to neighbors , friends , relatives. Don't badger them, ask questions, let them answer or they will go and maybe think about the seed you plant.