America’s schools no longer teach our history or celebrate our unique culture, devaluing a powerful force for national unity.

Immigration and America’s Broken 

Civics Education System

By Christina Hoff Sommers

Senator Michael Bennet (D–Colorado) has written poignantly in support of the Gang of Eight’s immigration bill, urging its passage as a means of reaffirming “quintessential American values” and restoring “the American dream.” But today, few of our students — foreign or native born — know much about the provenance of those values. Our schools no longer teach the American dream. It is time for Americans to insist on restoring our system of civics education.

If the United States is to open a path to citizenship for today’s undocumented immigrants and maintain a liberal policy toward new immigration, we must break our silence on the sources of the freedom and prosperity that have drawn immigrants to our shores. Our immigration system is broken — but so is our system of civic education. As Congress moves towards opening new paths for immigrants, it should find a way to restore the foundation of American citizenship — the self-confident teaching of American history in our nation’s schools.

American history has always been a powerful force for inclusion, assimilation, and national unity. Children of immigrants from disparate parts of the globe, along with native-born children from all stations of life, discovered what it meant to be an American in our schools, where they recited the Pledge of Allegiance, celebrated Washington’s and Lincoln’s birthdays, learned about the American Revolution and the Civil War, and came to view themselves as part of an extraordinary culture of liberty. But our schools have drifted away from this mission.

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