Failing Liberty 101 How We Are Leaving Young Americans Unprepared for Citizenship in a Free Society

by Damon, William

• ISBN13: 9780817913649
• ISBN10: 0817913645
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-04-01
• Publisher: Hoover Institution Press

Summary

This book exposes a very real threat to America#x19;s future-a threat far more serious than any foreign enemy could ever pose. The most serious danger that the United States now faces, says William Damon, is that our country#x19;s future may end up in the hands of a citizenry incapable of sustaining the liberty that has been America#x19;s most precious legacy. In Failing Liberty 101, he argues that we are failing to prepare today#x19;s young people to be responsible American citizens-to the detriment of their life prospects and those of liberty in the United States of the future. He identifies the problems-the declines in civic purpose and patriotism, crises of faith, cynicism, self-absorption, ignorance, indifference to the common good-and shows that our disregard of civic and moral virtue as an educational priority is having a tangible effect on the attitudes, understanding, and behavior of large portions of the youth population in our country today. The author places the blame squarely on today#x19;s grown-up generation of parents, educators, opinion leaders, and public officials for failing to prepare young Americans properly for futures as citizens in a free society. He explains why, unless we begin to pay attention and meet our challenge as stewards of a priceless heritage, our nation and the future prospects of all individuals dwelling here in years to come will suffer, moving away from liberty and towards despotism-and this movement will be both inevitable and astonishingly quick.

Author Biography

William Damon is a professor of education at Stanford University, director of the Stanford Center on Adolescence, and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. For the past twenty years, Damon has written on character development at all ages of human life, most recently The Path to Purpose: Helping Our Children Find Their Calling in Life (2008).

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xi
Introduction	p. 1
Youth, Virtue, and the Future of Liberty in American Society	p. 19
The Virtues Gap in Education Today	p. 39
Abandoning the American Tradition	p. 69
The American Dream Denied	p. 105
Epilogue	p. 125
Notes	p. 129
About the Author	p. 139
About the Hoover Institution's Boyd and Jill Smith Task Force on Virtues of a Free Society	p. 141
Index	p. 143
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

“The conditions necessary for sustaining a free society are not well understood in today’s popular culture. Liberty is understood to mean the freedom to pursue self-centered desires without restriction. . . . This stunted conception is reflected in many young American’s notions about their privileges, rights, and obligations as citizens.”—Chapter One, pg. 2