AMAC Exclusive – By Neil Banerji
A new Gallup poll released last week has further exposed a shocking collapse in patriotism – and is yet another reflection on the sorry state of American education.
According to the survey of 1,013 U.S. adults conducted from June 1-22, only 39 percent of Americans say they are “extremely proud” to be American – a mere 1 percent higher than last year’s all-time low of 38 percent.
That figure includes just 18 percent of adults aged 18-34. As recently as 2013, 85 percent of adults aged 18-29 said they were “extremely proud” to be American. In other words, young adults are nearly 80 percent less likely to be extremely proud to be an American today than they were a decade ago.
Meanwhile, Americans 55 and older were nearly three times more likely to be extremely proud of their nationality.
But the greatest demographic differentiator when it comes to national pride remains party identification. 60 percent of self-identified Republicans said they were “extremely proud” to be an American, as opposed to 33 percent of Independents and a paltry 29 percent of Democrats. When Gallup first began asking the question back in 2001, those figures were 64 percent, 54 percent, and 46 percent, respectively.
But what are we to make of the fact that the two demographic groups least likely to be “extremely proud” to be American according to Gallup are young people and self-identified Democrats?
One possible explanation is that there is significant overlap between the two groups – younger people tend to vote more Democratic, while older people tend to vote more Republican.
But why is it exactly that young people today are so much less patriotic than their older peers, and are even less patriotic than young people just 10 years ago?
The seemingly obvious answer is the public education system.
While schools have been rife with anti-American propaganda for decades, the rise of Critical Race Theory and other “alternate histories” of the United States are reflected in just how hostile young people have become toward their home country.
Take, for instance, one recent story about how an influential teacher group is pushing educators to teach students that we live in “violent, oppressive, and tumultuous times” and provide lessons on “oppression” and “antiracism.”
In Washington D.C., the nation’s capital, elementary school and middle school students are given a full dose of Critical Race Theory instruction.
Dozens of public school teachers throughout the country have protested state laws that restrict them from teaching that the United States is a systemically racist country.
New curriculum like “reparations math” is teaching students that minorities are still discriminated against in the United States and are the victims of systemic racism.
The federal Department of Education under Joe Biden wants educators to teach that racism is endemic in America, and has openly praised leading proponents of Critical Race Theory like Ibram X. Kendi.
The New York Times’s “1619 Project,” which holds that the Revolutionary War was fought to preserve slavery, argues white Americans are inherently racist, and has been thoroughly debunked by scholars, is taught in more than 4,500 American schools.
In one of the most telling statistics on what kids are actually learning in school, a majority of students leaving high school say that they are familiar with the concepts “America is a systemically racist country,” “America is built on stolen land,” and “America is a patriarchal society.”
Meanwhile, math and reading scores are in sharp decline.
Things are even worse in America’s higher education system.
Dozens of U.S. colleges and universities have said that the very land their campuses are built on is “stolen,” while dozens more have issued statements claiming America is systemically racist.
Stanford University has now declared that even the term “American” is “harmful.”
A study of the top 100 medical schools in the country last year found that 58 have mandatory courses in Critical Race Theory.
Given these anecdotes, it seems a wonder that even 18 percent of young Americans still have pride in their country at all.
As conservatives have long warned, the left’s anti-American indoctrination crusade is also having disastrous downstream effects on things like military and first responder recruitment. If young people aren’t even proud to be from America, why would they risk their lives to defend it?
In his farewell address, President Ronald Reagan famously asked, “Are we doing a good enough job teaching our children what America is and what she represents in the long history of the world?” If these anecdotes and Gallup’s poll results are any indication, the answer is a resounding “no.”
Neil Banerji is a proud Las Vegas resident and former student at the University of Oxford. In his spare time, he enjoys reading Winston Churchill and Edmund Burke.
“The seemingly obvious answer is the public education system.”
The teachers unions are at the heart of the problem. They are a Marxist/Communist group posing as educators when in fact they are the indoctrinators for the extreme leftist would be oligarchy.
Today’s “young” America are mostly “Me first” attitude and Patriotic towards their country! They fit: “STUPID IS, STUPID DOES!” A good example: the current USA national women’s soccer team where most of them refuse to stand with their hand over their hearts when the National Anthem is played before each game! I refuse to support them!!!
Those people who have no pride in this country have probably never lived outside of it. We were stationed in Germany for 3 years and Panama for 3. Until you have lived in other countries you have no idea what oppressive government looks like. I was never happier to come back to The USA. Proud to be an American.
THE WHOLE liberal CANCEROUS, ANTI-AMERICAN, CHEATING, LYING, gov’t IS THE WORST IN OUR HISTORY AND THERE IS ONLY ONE SURE AND PERMANENT WAY TO STOP THE libs AND IT’S NOT THRU ELECTIONS………
Thanks Obama! Do you see now why Rush said I hope he fails?
Just because we are in the midst of a chaotic government right now, with more corruption being exposed, doesn’t mean we should trash our own country. This is exactly what our forefathers fought for and died for. If you can’t stand by your country in the good times as well as the bad, then you had better think real hard on what it’s like to live elsewhere. We need a total overhaul of these teachers’ unions and find out who they are and what their beliefs are. If they cannot support normal education, which history is extremely important, then they all need to be replaced. Denying our children what they need to know is a criminal action.
They used to say “love it or leave it”.
DEPORT ALL liberals, illegals AND THE ONCE HONORABLE, fbi, doj, cia AND NOW, THE secret service, STAT, TO MAGA
All 10 of my grandchildren are in Catholic schools or will be in a few years. Honestly, be it good or be it bad in your thought pattern, we avoid friendships with families that are extremely liberal and left thinking in behavior and actions. I have had people condemn for this, but I only ask one question. What is the value to the children being exposed to this? I am open minded to listen to those values, even on this forum. Funny thing, I have never gotten a reason…
Dear Neil, Jocko, Jerry and the world:
I like how you write Neil and Jocko and Jerry wrote great answers.
I can say I am proud I am an American. I told someone recently about when I was on my last time out of Moscow in 1992 and I was pulled (literally) out of line when I was getting on the plane as this “bruiser” of a woman thought she had seen something in my hand carried luggage. God and his Angels must have been watching over me as I was carrying Olympic silver coins (perfectly legal- but this was the soviet union) wrapped in black crepe paper. To make a long story short I told my husband when I arrived home about this and that I “wanted to kiss the floor of the plane (Delta) when I finally got on”. This is true patriotism from a woman who worked (health care) in the soviet union and the middle east.
Neil I believe that Edmund Burke said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” I have tried ever since I got back from the soviet union about the evil I witnessed while there but it has fallen on deaf ears. My family back in CA and friends I have in WA state and CA are suffering from the “useless idiots” in WA DC. I hope that some of the young people will look at this, read it and respond. In my 83+ years I have worked over seas many times in countries that would make you so ill.
I have also worked in schools here and over seas so I can speak to a lot about that also! I am so angry about the way I have seen our health care and our schools being taken over by the “woke” ideology. I thank you all for the chance to speak out here.
Sincerely, Carol
System fails in Basic Education
The dems propaganda is alive and well with the coming generations. They have been brainwashed to hate anything American, the white race has to be eliminated that also means young white people unless you say I hate America.
Thise migrants coming to America should be asked what they think of America. Except the ones that have to sleep on the streets of New York City or any place else. Ole Joe said come on in only forgot to set up housing for them. He wanted the red border states to take care of them. Hell even liberal CA doesn’t want them. Sanctuary cities don’t want them. And ole Joe doesn’t say a word. He wants a new country where there is no opposition. Everyone follows their leader like zombies. The young people are ready for such a country. Till they find out in a decade or so that whoa what happened we are a third world country.
When we were young the elderly were in charge and now it is the young. And you can see what a wonderful America they are making of it. Wait till all their current brainwashing leaders are gone. I heard my granddaughter say I am going to have fun, no marriage no kids and when I am old the government will take care of me. Only she has never been told the government is us. But the propaganda ole Joe is teaching the kids you need money we will print some more. Inflation what inflation?
America hasn’t been America since Kennedy was assassinated.
There was love and kindness for our fellow man. After distrust and rumors were floating around about the assassination and to hold on to something people took sides as to what was the truth. Americans never believed we could become a country like we live in today. Everyone says they are scared but I don’t see an uprising. The left has so much power right now just like during and before World War II. Everywhere you have people that rat you out if you express a different opinion. Take parents at schoolboard meetings, arrest a few and people stay away. They are taking parental rights away. Those that fight against it are audited by the IRS and they stay quiet. What has ole Joe done for America. NOTHING. Only the youth hear him say we will pay for your student loans. Pay for abortions so have some fun. Make heroes out of criminals and we will take care of an abortion and you need drugs here they are. Living in the street and burning down inner cities oh that was just kids being kids it was mostly peaceful remember while the cities were burning all in the name of white racism. The kids believe all the talk about systemic racism in America. If you repeat a lie long enough it becomes the truth. Kids haven’t learned yet that believing in idols only brings you disappointment. Don’t blindly follow a person that you cannot see their faults. There is no such thing as a perfect person or thing. There are always improvements possible. Wake up children before you are all eliminated through pandemics and these wonderful vaccines.
I wasn’t a “downfall” of education, it was deliberate sabotage of American education! If you destroy their belief in America in grade school, you destroy America!
The public education system needs to return to pledge of allegiance to the USA flag every morning before class starts and return to Prayer in school. The kids have been taught to HATE the country they live in. This is so wrong and it is the down fall of our great country. God help the U.S.A.
I am so glad I grew up with “old fashion” morals and am really still very conservative. We need to get rid of the liberal fools running things now days and get back to the way things used to be !
There is something these unpatriotic young people need to understand before it is too late. The Progressives will encourage this sort of attitude and promote it everywhere and whenever they can to hasten the breakdown of our society. But should they win and our country embraces full-blown Communism these very people who think the United States of America is a bad place to live and doesn’t deserve their patriotism will discover that they will be forced to be patriotic in a country that they will have good reason not to like. Just like the acceptance of the LGBTQ agenda. Those who have glommed onto, embrace and encourage the agenda will find themselves in the gulag – or worse – should the commies take over since Communism has no compassion for those who are “different”. If our young people had a greater knowledge of world history, especially that of Communism, they would know they are being set up to take a fall. Sadly in their ignorance and arrogance they do not foresee the likely outcome of their desire to be different. This is the message that needs to be blaring loud and clear right now but I’m not seeing or hearing anything regarding that particular concept, and I see and read a lot. I guess you could say we are not recognizing the entire forest for the individual trees.
The Dumbing Down of America began in September, 1978. Thanks to Carter’s Department of Education he created and has been CONTROLLED by democrats the whole time since. That was the beginning of Indoctrination and Brainwashing. That includes not teaching the U.S. Constitution to kids or to THINK for themselves.
And what do we have today? INDOCTRINATION and NO asking questions.
Just OBEY.
Today they are Brainwashing our 4 and 5 year olds with CRT GARBAGE.
That alone speaks volumes.
Our children are being used as a pawn for political gain and power by Democrats substituting Fear for Reason.
WAKE UP AMERICA.
They have WEAPONIZED your children AGAINST you just as Hitler did in Nazis Germany.
America, with all its problems, is still the best country where a person can build a future. Most other countries on earth are not like this. Those who want to bash US history should be exiled to one of those other countries until they come to their senses. Any teacher who buys into CRT and the lies that go with it bears a heavy responsibility for the attitudes of the next generation. WAKE UP! DONT DESTROY THIS GREAT NATION! STAND UP AND RESIST THE LEFTIST INDOCTRINATION! If they fire you, take it to court! Be a patriot for God’s sake!
Teacher’s unions are the source of the problem. It is easy to understand why teachers chose to unionize (I had a grandfather who taught public school for farmers who had no crops to sell. At that time teachers were paid at the end of harvest. He was paid many years, but two 2 years (dust bowl) he was not paid, so he moved to Oregon to become a farmer.)
The payment of tax funds based on student days of attendance lead to stuffing as many students as possible into a classroom taught by one teacher so that teacher would be paid as much as possible. If education outcomes were equal, that would be very efficient. But teachers motivated to do whatever it takes to make the most money continue the race.
My first year teaching high school, I took home so many papers to read and grade that I could not finish grading them before midnight. Another teacher told me it is simple: three students (she selected 3 names each day) read their papers aloud the following day. They had been warned their letter grade would depend on the quality of the paper they read aloud. She made sure everyone was eventually selected. It didn’t matter that she had 35 students for most of an hour several hours of the day. But the spelling and penmanship might be intelligible or might not. A future employer would eventually see a difference.
Home schooling is the best solution. There will still be testing and standards to meet.
A hardworking student with a computer can probably do better than he would in a socialized public school.
For years I’ve advocated the removal of the Department of Education, the reduction of the authority of the EPA and the DOJ.
I’ve always said that the reason people don’t respect our flag is because they’ve never been handed one folded
I WAS proud of America and it’s school system. I’m not nearly as proud of America today, as a was 10 years ago. In fact, I’m more disappointed NOW in America, than I ever was because the education system isn’t putting education first or how a student is actually doing first. They are making everything political. A child can’t learn if they are hungry, if they are agitated, if they are being pulled back and forth between their parents, or expected to do things opposite of what their families expect. They need a good night’s sleep, calm, a good learning environment, and a good teacher, who can teach several different ways. Not all children learn the SAME way. A good teacher will recognize that. A good nurse, will help a teacher figure that out. I was one of those nurses-because lots of our kid’s today have learning disabilities. Vision, hearing, etc., ADHD, ADD, APD, you name it, there’s a LOT of disabilities teachers have to work with and know about. They have to work around multiple treatments for children such as asthma SVN’s, CBG checks and Insulin injections, and other injections for children-NOT the kind for gender changes but for actual growth hormones. Yes, some children just don’t grow! You’d be surprised what all the treatments are that school nurses are required to do around the country. We also have to write CARE PLANS for every single student with a medical condition and every teacher with a student with a medical problem has to have a CARE PLAN and follow it. It’s a pretty, hard job for them, on top of their teaching career. As some of you know, some of them can’t teach at all.
If you have a disgusting government, and teacher unions teaching disgusting ideology, then you’ll have disgusting people!!
Education from Preschool through College is not EDUCATION but INDOCTRNATION.
Over the last few decades the Democrat party with the help of the Republican Rino’s have destroyed everything they claimed they were going to save.
We need to control term limits at the polls because the elected have become way to comfortable.
Those who attempt to indoctrinate otherswith such fallicies are usually the most guilty, such asPOTUS 44.
Wow, it is shocking to me that only 29% of Democrats are proud to be an American!
I wrote a book called “the Melting“ and left a copy with an exact two years ago. Representative, simple way to stimulate kids and a review of where we came from. Never had a response.
docs.google.com/document/d/1pVLyCo6TBXClTws82Ap4a7wexEh8JlTI6KIvy_ArIfE/edit