I’ve taught civics for decades. Our kids have lost faith in our nation

You aren’t crazy ⛄if you suspect something is deeply broken in A꧃merican schools. 

I’m a teacher and have been ꦑfor over 25 years. I’ve never seen apathy and unhappiness like I see in our kids today.

Graduat♛ion🐼 rates have soared as proficiency scores plummet. Fewer than half of all Americans can name the three branches of government. A sizable chunk of college graduates actually think Judge Judy sits on the Supreme Court.

But ignoran🌟ce is just a symptom of a much bigger democratic crisis.

The real reason s𓆏tudents 🧜are more ignorant than ever before is that many now believe the nation, its institutions and our history aren’t just imperfect — they’re beyond redemption.

Why learn about something that isไn’t worth saving?

Ignora💛nce can 🐷be easily remedied. Cynicism, on the other hand, breeds generational rot.

Sometimes the numbers leave normal Americans agog — considers the American Fou𓆏nders to 🌟be “villains” and view Osama bin Laden’s ideas as “a force for good.”    ; 

I have had students tell me that if they’d face🎐d the choice of serving during World War II, they would rather leave the country than fight. Many of them think that America is uniquely bad on a number of fronts.

For most students, the cynicism isn’t grounded in thought — it’s refle🦹xive.

Over the past few years a decent chunk rꦜefuse to stand for th🦩e Pledge of Allegiance, but they can’t articulate why they refuse.

Here is what my younger teacher self would be shocked to find out: Sometimes it is so overwhelm🔯ing I am tempted to be complicit. Not because I am cynical, but because I find myself𝕴 worried about things I never used to worry about.

Should I stop🐠 celebrating the achievemen♐ts of the Founders or Lincoln or other American heroes for fear of offending modern sensibilities?

Should I worry that the framed picture of Thomas Jefferson o♍n my wall might elicit objections?

This isn’t simple paranoia, mind you. Here is aꦰ fairly recent development: I have received notes from former students in the past few years, students who I was once close﷽ to, softly chiding me for my patriotism, my optimism, my belief that America is more than a place but an idea worthy of perpetuation.

This atmosphere of cynicism has a root cause.

Cynics in high pla🔥ces try to ossify and cement America to a specific moment in time, usually anchored to a moment or event that paints the United States in the worst possible light, like say 1619. Never mind that that was more than 150 years before the Declaration of Independence.

Perpetuating this cynicism to kids is especially dangerous today because it exists♈ in an era of unparalleled American unhappiness, espeﷺcially in our young people.

The loneliness. The self-harm and digital addiction.꧙ The loss of faith in traditional pi🐓llars of life — the family, the church, the school.

Th𒀰e worst thing teachers can do is feed t✨his cynicism.

To be clear: This doe🎃sn’t mean ignoring American mistakes. Far from it. But we should stop fetishizing cynicism and valorizing 🅺national self-loathing.    

And it isn’t just the young peꦏople who are suffering. Broad swathes of American adults are experiencing a similar loss of faith in the nation and its institutions.

This is the time — the ultimate moment — when Americans from all walks of life need stirring modꦿels from the past, not debilitating pessimism.

This is when it would be beneficial to the body politic and the soul of the nation to remember that libert🎃y requires wisdom and that freedom unmoored from inꦐspiration can descend into frivolity. 

We should unapologetically return to focusing on Americans from the recent and🔯 distant past who can demonstrate what it means to use freedom and use it well.

While conducting research for my forthcoming book about these American heroes, I came upon an extraordinary quote from the father of future Sen. Daniel Inouye that he uttered to his son when dropping him off for service: “America has been good to us . . . We all love this country. Whatever you do, do not dishonor your country. Remember: Never 🐽dishonor your family. And if you must give your life, do so with honor.”

Tragically, t🦋oo few think an𓂃d talk like this anymore.    

As a long-time teacher, as well as a deeply worried parent and citizen, I know there is no question that we ☂learn by example — we are improved or depraved by the examples before us. &𒁏nbsp;

We ignore them at our peril. 

There ꦛis 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.

We just need to ꩲstart digging and tell their stories.

We can’t do that until we believe in America again. ♚This renaissance can start in the classroom.

Jeremy S. Adams is the author of the forthcoming book “Lessons in Liberty: Thirty Rules for Living from Ten Extraordinary Americas” (HarperCollins).