WASHINGTON — In advance of Independence Day, a group of prominent Americans, led by former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence H. Summers and New York Times columnist David Brooks, is coming together to provide advice and recommendations about how schools and colleges can best transmit American traditions and civic ideals to the next generation.
The group is seeking to address four related challenges:
Among the other leaders who will advise the Progressive Policy Institute’s American Identity Project are: Former U.S. Senator Doug Jones (Ala.), Former U.S. Senator Bill Bradley (N.J.), Representative Ritchie Torres (N.Y.), Ford Foundation President Darren Walker, Harvard professors Danielle Allen and Elisa New, Brookings scholar William Galston, Center for Equal Opportunity chair Linda Chavez, and Columbia professor Mark Lilla.
“Young people need an education that tells America’s whole story — acknowledging America’s shortcomings but also its idealism and extraordinary achievements. This education merges a love and appreciation of country with clear-eyed recognition that the United States has a long journey on the way to its ‘more perfect union,’” said Summers, who is president emeritus of Harvard University.
Brooks added: “It is fashionable in some elite circles to denigrate patriotism, but a deep belief in American ideals has fueled much of the progress in this country, from advances in civil rights to those for women. If our schools do not instill a healthy love of our country’s highest aspirations, we are greatly diminished as a people.”
“A nation cannot endure if its children are taught to loathe it,” said Rep. Torres. “In a time of deep division and democratic backsliding, we must instill in the next generation not only a critical understanding of our history, but a proud sense of what it means to be an American. The American Identity Project is essential to renewing our civic spirit and strengthening the democratic values that hold us together.”
“At a time of great national division that only seems to be getting wider, it’s enormously important that our public schools teach our young people a common American identity,” remarked Senator Jones. “That’s good policy, good politics, and is truly what makes America great. It’s time for those of us alarmed by Donald Trump to recapture the mantle of patriotism.”
“You cannot expect people to change a country for the better if they do not love it enough to care,” added Lilla. “It’s time to remind ourselves what we share and why it matters.”
“My identity as a Black person, a Texan, and a gay man are all important to me, but my most cherished identity is that of being an American,” said Walker. “It’s critical that our students learn the shared values that bind us together across lines of race, gender, class, sexuality, region, and ideology.”
“We are on the verge of losing the idea that we are one nation,” Chavez observed. “In the words of our national motto, E Pluribus Unum: Out of Many, One. Forging a common identity has been vital to our success as an immigrant nation, and the American Identity Project will help preserve that ideal.”
“Next year marks the 250th anniversary of America’s grand experiment in individual liberty and democratic self-government,” said PPI President Will Marshall. “What better time to reaffirm the primacy of our shared civic identity as Americans over our various tribal identities and loyalties? That’s what makes U.S. pluralism a source of national strength, and it’s the mission of PPI’s new American Identity Project.”
Richard D. Kahlenberg, Director of PPI’s American Identity Project, thanked the advisory board members for offering to guide PPI’s thinking about “what can be done to address one of the central puzzles of modern political times: how those who champion the values America’s Founders held dear are seen as less patriotic than those who threaten liberal democratic norms on a daily basis. We urgently need new approaches.”
More background information can be found at PPI’s American Identity Project webpage, which includes a 7-page prospectus that explains the need for the project, its parameters, and its potential impact; a 50-page overview report previewing areas of future research, and inspiring examples of groups doing promising work; and a shorter summary of the overview report that appeared in The Liberal Patriot.
The American Identity Project is consistent with PPI’s longstanding commitment to promote fresh policy ideas that draw strong public support from a broad range of Americans. Promoting a reflective patriotism has been a common PPI principle that has animated, among other things, PPI’s policy ideas around national service that were implemented by President Bill Clinton with the creation of AmeriCorps.
Founded in 1989, PPI is a catalyst for policy innovation and political reform based in Washington, D.C. Its mission is to create radically pragmatic ideas for moving America beyond ideological and partisan deadlock. Find an expert and learn more about PPI by visiting progressivepolicy.org. Follow us @PPI.
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Media Contact: Ian O’Keefe – iokeefe@ppionline.org
