July 4 is probably the most sacred date on the American civic calendar. This yr marks the 246th time Americans have celebrated the monumental achievement of founding a nation that, within the phrases of
Abraham Lincoln,
was “conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”
But the celebration comes with arduous truths of historical past. The Fourth reminds us of Americans’ wrestle, because the Constitution places it, to “form a more perfect union.” The stain of human bondage sparked the Civil War. The suffragettes of the Nineteenth and early twentieth centuries fought for the appropriate to vote. Japanese-Americans throughout World War II had been pressured into internment camps. And males corresponding to
Medgar Evers
and
Martin Luther King Jr.
paid with their lives to realize equality lengthy denied to African-Americans. When we think about our previous, sober reflection ought to accompany festivity.
Crucially, such reflection should occur in our public faculties. Liberals and conservatives alike have been responsible of taking part in down elements of the American story within the classroom. Some on the left wrongly try to scale back our historical past to an unpleasant saga of patriarchy and racism. Others clarify our nation by way of an ideologically pushed framework that sees America as completely tainted by the unique sin of slavery. Some conservatives have minimized how slavery, racism and discrimination have inflicted scars on our nation.
The overwhelming majority of Americans—left, proper and heart—are united towards indoctrination however supportive of candid instruction and considerate debate. Here’s a problem for educators and all residents: Let youngsters study our historical past with eyes huge open. Families don’t need their youngsters caught up in political video games. If we assist them, our kids could be stronger and extra able to discerning reality from opinion, dialogue from indoctrination, than we give them credit score for.
All Americans ought to be involved about any indoctrination of kids. But content material addressing America’s tough historical past of race relations, together with at present’s challenges, isn’t essentially proof of that. Achievements within the realm of civil rights have occurred by way of an imperfect course of spanning greater than two centuries. The struggles of Americans like King and
Frederick Douglass
are classes in striving towards the “more perfect union” of the Founders’ creativeness. And they’re value educating.
The American public-school system should educate each the galling and superb elements of U.S. historical past. As Virginia Gov.
Glenn Youngkin
has mentioned, “We can teach all of our history, the good, the bad, and Virginia’s children will be better for it.” While it isn’t at all times a cushty course of, educating youngsters America’s full historical past in an age-appropriate manner, with parental consciousness, is important for their very own sake and for our nation’s.
Doing so will assist take politics out of training. It will put together youngsters for the actual world, the place stopping damage emotions doesn’t take priority over going through uncomfortable info. And it’ll instill in our kids the flexibility to entertain concepts they might disagree with—an important situation for a functioning democracy.
American exceptionalism is actual, however fragile. Teaching the total story of American historical past will encourage the subsequent generations of Americans in their very own progress towards a extra excellent union. America remains to be, as Lincoln mentioned, “the last best hope of Earth.” If we inform the total story of the American previous, it’ll assist write a vibrant story of the American future.
Mr. Bennett served as U.S. training secretary, 1985-88.
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Appeared within the July 1, 2022, print version.
Source: www.wsj.com”