Bradley Project 2008-Bradley Project On America_s National ...

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22 I The Bradley Project on america’s National identity I e pluribus unumwas, and still is, a fundamentally racistcountry.” 36At one time there was an urgentconcern for recognizing our differences,which allowed the contributions of minoritiesand immigrants to be told. Therehas been great progress on that front. Buttoday there is also a yearning for nationalunity and common purpose, a desire toappreciate what is great about Americaand not to dwell on its past wrongs.Schools and colleges, businessesand civic associations, and all levels ofgovernment should promote specialprograms as well as special occasionsthat focus on our national ideals andwhat unites us as Americans.
The Bradley Project on america’s National identity I e pluribus unum I 23Chapter 3a shared historyA history is to a people what a biography is to an individual.What amnesia is to an individual, loss of civic and historicalmemory is to a nation.We need to know who we have been tounderstand who we are. Historian GordonWood explains:We Americans have a special need tounderstand that our history is what makesus a nation and gives us a sense of our nationality.A people like us, made up of everyconceivable race, ethnicity, and religion inthe world, can never be a nation in the usualsense of the term. It’s our history, our heritage,that makes us a single people…. Upuntil recently almost every American, eventhose who are new immigrants, possessedsome sense of America’s past, howeverrudimentary and unsophisticated. Withoutsome such sense of history, the citizens ofthe United States can scarcely long exist asa united people. 37Today there is a drumbeat of evidencethat our national memory is ebbing away.The most recent NAEP Report Carddescribes only 14 percent of seniors at orabove “proficient” in historical knowledgeand understanding and 53 percentas “below basic.” Moreover, the numbersof those “proficient” among children ofrecent immigrants is considerably lower,indicating a special challenge if we are toprepare these newcomers for informedparticipation in democratic institutions. 38At the college level, students areequally ignorant. The American Councilof Trustees and Alumni study found that,even at elite universities, only a third ofgraduating seniors knew that Washington—notUlysses S. Grant—commandedat the battle of Yorktown, the culminatingbattle of the American Revolution. Onlyone in four knew that James Madison wasknown as “the Father of the Constitution”or that the Battle of the Bulge took placein World War II. Most could not identify
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Bradley Project 2008-Bradley Project On America_s National ...

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