America’s Anti-American Public Schools Are Destroying What The Declaration Gave Us
The article expresses concern about the decline in the quality and depth of American education, highlighting how current schooling practices-such as lowered standards, reduced emphasis on reading and critical thinking, and more lenient assessments-are failing to prepare students for the responsibilities and freedoms enshrined in the Declaration of Independence. The author emphasizes that true education involves appreciating the richness of human life,fostering intellectual and moral growth,and nurturing a love for literature,history,and philosophy-all essential for a thriving democracy. The piece critiques recent policy shifts, excessive accommodation, and a focus on comfort over challenge, arguing that this approach undermines the foundational values of liberty and individual fulfillment. To honor the principles of the American founding and ensure a resilient future, the author advocates for a return to higher standards, deeper learning, and the fostering of adult obligation in education.
As Americans prepare to celebrate the Declaration of Independence and the birth of our nation, I find myself haunted by a troubling conclusion: the education many American children now receive is hollowing out the very document we claim to honor.
If you aren’t a teacher, as I have been for almost three decades, you probably don’t know just how bad this reality is.
My concern is not simply that test scores are in a “generations-long decline” — although they are. Nor is it that young people seem utterly incapable of doing the intellectual work required of citizens in an advanced democracy — although that is also true.
If I wanted to be a wee bit cranky — after so many years in the classroom, I think I’ve earned the right — it’s not even that our children are growing up in a post-literate, device-obsessed, neurologically neutered, AI-lobotomized, politically nihilistic country where schools frequently serve more as hubs of social services than they do as citadels of substantive learning.
My central concern is that in our zest to be accommodating and kind, to make sure every student gets to graduate regardless of how much (or little) knowledge they have gained, or what skills they possess, we are not preparing young Americans to take advantage of the promise Thomas Jefferson made 250 years ago.
What does any of this have to do with the celebration we are about to undertake?
The most underappreciated element of the Declaration’s genius is not its assertion about rights and freedoms, or even its soaring prose extolling universal human equality. What often gets overlooked is its implicit acknowledgement about the pluralistic nature of human fulfillment.
Freedom is a necessary component of a full and flourishing life because the “pursuit of happiness” is different for every human being. Some of us are health nuts while others find great joy in being foodies. My son lives for golf and fishing — his two older sisters couldn’t care less.
Education — in a traditional sense — is about learning to appreciate the richness of human life, of broadening the possibilities of thought, word, and deed.
But today, we are producing a generation of Americans who never look into the stars, who take no delight in the inspiring words that come from books or history or art. Imagine a reality in which there are souls with no saints, hearts with no poetry, minds with no philosophy.
What happened? You don’t have to look back decades. Look back to recent history and the policy shifts that occurred in the years following societal lockdowns.
We don’t ask young Americans to take the SAT to get into college. We don’t ask them to read hard books or entire books or, frankly, any books. We don’t ask them (or even their teachers) to be present five days a week.
Affluent students have learned to manipulate and abuse accommodation policies meant for truly disadvantaged students. The number of students with a 504 special-needs plan has skyrocketed.
Dual enrollment has supplanted AP exams so now everyone can get college credit. The dirty little secret is that, most dual-credit courses are easier. Even the College Board has relaxed grading standards as passage rates soar on virtually every exam, inflating grade point averages.
We don’t give as many exams. We don’t give as much homework. Literacy and numerology are in a freefall. Cheating used to be a moral failing resulting in parent conferences and student shame. Nowadays, the more likely result is a student shrug or a parent eye roll. The cumulative effect of this dilapidated American education reaches far beyond the classroom.
We are fooling ourselves if we think we are anything more than failed custodians of the promise made in Philadelphia 250 years ago.
But this noble experiment of self-government is not over. Open societies, unlike authoritarian regimes, have a unique power to correct themselves, sometimes rapidly. This era of easy education and absolute accommodation is, and has been, a terrible mistake. A bigger one would be to keep making it.
If we truly want to celebrate America this summer and be true to the highest and most noble aspirations of our founders, we must stop conflating kindness and compassion with the endless lowering of standards and expectations. If we continue on our current path, freedom will lead to chaos, not higher purpose. Children will never become the men and women they are capable of being, whatever it is they choose to be.
Our higher task is not merely to hand out diplomas and provide resources while making sure our students are always and endlessly comfortable and entertained.
No, we should want and demand much more. We should widen horizons and deepen intellectual and moral capacity. We should be the unapologetic adults.
Our founders won our freedom. Generations of Americans have sacrificed and bled and died for our freedom. Our greatest enemy today is not Redcoats. It’s comfort with our own educational mediocrity.
Jeremy S. Adams is the author of the forthcoming book Lessons in Liberty: Thirty Lessons for Living From Ten Extraordinary Americans. He has taught politics and economics at Bakersfield High School for 26 years. Follow him on X @JeremyAdams6. Adams was the DAR 2013 California Teacher of the Year and author of Lessons in Liberty: Thirty Rules for Living from Ten Extraordinary Americans (2024).
" Conservative News Daily does not always share or support the views and opinions expressed here; they are just those of the writer."
*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases
