6/3/2024

Last week’s curation at RealClear’s American Civics portal begins with a piece at RealClearPolitics by Murray Bessette and David Rose, who recently founded the American Civics Academy. They push back against the “oppression thesis” – the popular claim that America is systemically rotten to its core – and instead highlight the greatness of the country that millions around the world have flocked to. What produced America’s “unprecedented levels of general prosperity” and flourishing was “cooperation – working together to produce a whole greater than the sum of its parts.” Bessette and Rose call this the “cooperation thesis.” As they note, “America is so extraordinary for the simple reason that we – as individuals and as a society – are the world’s best cooperators and have been so for a long time.” They close by aruging that civics educators should “embrace the cooperation thesis so that we can finally begin to cultivate the informed patriotism we so desperately need.”

At the New York Post, long-time teacher Jeremy S. Adams argues that the reason why students do not know much about American history is because they believe that America is not worth learning about. He cites some eye-opening stats, including that “40% of Gen Z considers the American Founders to be ‘villains’ and one in three view Osama bin Laden’s ideas as ‘a force for good.’” He notes that this phenomenon is being fed by an unhealthy cynicism about our country’s history. Adams argues that a civic renaissance must begin in the classroom, where teachers can tell their students about America’s story—warts and all. As he concludes, “There is so much buried treasure in our past, so many American men and women from our rich history who can serve as moral leaders, political models and guideposts of our inner possibilities.”