Thanksgiving is a time to be grateful for our legacy as Americans, writes Rick Hess, being very Old School.
As a former social studies teacher, he thinks U.S. schools have swung too far from celebrating our history uncritically to presenting America as sordid “slavocracy” founded by "settler colonialists."
"When it comes to students from Nicaragua or Nigeria, Syria or Sri Lanka, teachers are told to be mindful to respect their heritage, honor their traditions, and not belittle their country of origin," Hess writes. Yet, when it comes to "our nation’s founders, traditions, and history," students are taught a simplistic caricature of America the Awful.
In private, most teachers say they want to teach a balanced, nuanced vision of America, he writes. But, publicly, many hesitate to talk unapologetically about patriotism.
Like generations before them, young Americans are "tasked with creating a more perfect union," writes Hess. "They will one day take their turn as custodians of the American creed."
Ninety-one percent of Americans celebrate Thanksgiving, reports Pew. That includes 74 percent of immigrants who've been in the U.S. for less than 10 years and 88 percent of those who've been here for more than 20 years.
As I posted yesterday, hopefully we can disrupt the school systems, colleges, universities and Democrats over the next 20 months as we gear up for the Semiquincentennial and the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in the summer of 2026. They won't support the celebration and won't be able to resist denigrating the US. Highlight, post them, expose them