This article is part of Upstream, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.
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Just weeks before our nation’s 250th birthday, NBC News released a new poll showing a “record-low number” of Americans are “extremely proud” to be Americans. Two groups, in particular, are driving the decline: liberals and young Americans. Just 29% of Democrats and 36% of 18- to 34-year-olds say they are “very” or “extremely proud” of being American, compared to 90% of Republicans and 75% of seniors.
Individually, these partisan and generational divides seem like bad news. But taken together, they strike me as a source of optimism and even inspiration for American patriots.
Because there is another crucial difference between older and younger Americans besides their age and their politics: their knowledge of American history and civics.
For decades, surveys have found that older Americans know more about our founding, our Constitution, and our history than younger Americans do. A recent study by the American Enterprise Institute asked Americans about key elements of U.S. history such as the Bill of Rights, the Civil War, and the Cold War, and found, “Members of Gen Z were less knowledgeable on each historical landmark than were baby boomers.”
This is consistent with the abysmal data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (“the nation’s report card”). Students’ test scores in U.S. history have been falling for over a decade now. Fewer than 15% of U.S. eighth graders are proficient in the subject, and only one-fifth are proficient in civics.
Nor is this epidemic of historical ignorance limited to middle-schoolers. Studies show similar knowledge gaps among college students and adults. Only one-third of Americans, for instance, know enough about our country to pass the citizenship test we require for new immigrants.
In this context, America’s patriotism gap makes more sense. The people who love our country most tend to be the ones who know her best. American history is the second greatest story ever told. The problem is that we stopped telling that story to our children.
On the contrary, we have twisted the story. The elites who run America’s schools, news media, and the entertainment industry have spent a generation lying to our kids about our country. In classrooms across the country today, American history is treated like a horror story. Students don’t learn about our successes — only our sins.
Of course, kids inundated with anti-American propaganda are going to grow up to be less patriotic. On the other hand, if the root cause of America’s patriotism gap is ignorance about our history, the problem can be easily solved. All we have to do is tell the truth about America. That’s exactly what “Star Spangled Adventures: The Movie!” does.
“Star Spangled Adventures” is a series of animated shorts that tells the true story of the United States. Each episode introduces children to a hero or moment from America’s history, from Christopher Columbus and the Pilgrims through the Revolution, the Civil War, and all the way to the Wright brothers and Jackie Robinson. Launched three years ago by the American Cornerstone Institute, the series now has over 30 episodes and has reached hundreds of thousands of children and their families.
Through our Little Patriots initiative, we worked with historians and educators to create original classroom resources to go along with each episode. We’re fighting back against historical ignorance one story at a time.
This year, in celebration of America’s 250th, we decided to turn “Star Spangled Adventures” into a feature-length film. The movie features the voices of stars such as Kirk Cameron, Gary Sinise, Kevin Sorbo, and even a cartoon version of me! You will soon be able to stream the movie for yourself and your family online.
No nation is perfect, but ours is extraordinary. At no point in the last 250 years was there a country that presented more opportunities than America did. Sure, we had our faults. But every other country’s faults were at least as bad, and usually worse.
Today, Americans of every race, creed, and color are freer, more prosperous, and more secure in their God-given rights than any people in history. “Star Spangled Adventures” reminds us all that the best reason Americans should love their country is that their country is so lovable.
And the best way to revive American patriotism is to start telling our children the truth about the land of the free and the home of the brave.
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Dr. Benjamin S. Carson, Sr., is founder and chairman of the American Cornerstone Institute. He previously served as the 17th secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
