Are we doing enough?
As I have spent the last several months studying Story’s Commentaries on the Constitution i have often pondered the question, why didn’t I hear more about this in middle school and especially high school. I remember three US history classes in school: 8th grade with Mr. Rosenthal, AP US history with Mr. Williams and finally, AP Gov’t with Mr. Thomas. Not one of them came close to teaching me about US history or gave me an appreciation for our Republic and constitution like reading Story. I believe we are failing in large measure to heed Story’s admonition in the closing sentences of his book.
“Let the American youth never forget, that they possess a noble inheritance, bought by the toils, and sufferings and blood of their ancestors; and capable, if wisely improved, and faithfully guarded, of transmitting to their latest posterity all the substantial blessings of life, the peaceful enjoyment of liberty, property, religion, and independence…Republics are created by the virture, public spirit, and intelligence of the citizens. They fall, when the wise are banished from the public councils, because they dare to be honest and the profligate are rewarded, because they flatter the people, in order to betray them.”
Matthew Piccolo said,
August 8, 2008 @ 2:00 pm
Amen, brother. It wasn’t until I took American Heritage at BYU and then started to study these issues on my own that I began to understand and appreciate what we’ve inherited and how to maintain it. Perhaps the best thing we can do is teach these things to our children ourselves in the home. That’s the best way to make sure they learn anything we want them to learn and to correct their thinking on things they’ve learned elsewhere that we don’t want them to believe.
Reach Upward said,
August 8, 2008 @ 3:02 pm
I can’t say for sure that my American history and civics education was lacking. But I can say for sure that I was immature and that I was a poor student of these matters during my formative years. Perhaps I would feel more comfortable criticizing the education establishment on this point if I had actually been better at taking advantage of what was offered on these subjects.