A 26-year classroom veteran is sounding the alarm: America’s education system is hollowing out the very freedoms the Declaration of Independence promised 250 years ago.
Jeremy S. Adams, a high school teacher in California, says what he’s witnessed over nearly three decades should trouble every American heading into the nation’s 250th birthday.
The problem goes deeper than test scores in “generations-long decline.”
Adams argues the real damage is what schools are no longer asking of students — and what that means for the promise Thomas Jefferson made in 1776.
“My central concern is that in our zest to be accommodating and kind, to make sure every student gets to graduate regardless of how much (or little) knowledge they have gained, or what skills they possess, we are not preparing young Americans to take advantage of the promise Thomas Jefferson made 250 years ago.”
The Declaration’s genius, Adams writes, isn’t just its assertion about rights or even its soaring prose about human equality. The most underappreciated element is its acknowledgment of the pluralistic nature of human fulfillment.
Freedom matters because the pursuit of happiness is different for every person. Education in the traditional sense is about learning to appreciate the richness of human life, broadening the possibilities of thought, word, and deed.
But today’s students are being produced in a system that no longer challenges them.
What changed?
Adams points to policy shifts in recent years. Colleges dropped the SAT requirement. Hard books vanished from reading lists. Some schools don’t even require five-day attendance anymore.
Affluent students manipulate accommodation policies meant for truly disadvantaged kids. The number of students with special-needs plans has skyrocketed.
Dual enrollment has replaced AP exams so everyone can get college credit — but dual-credit courses are often easier. Even the College Board has relaxed grading standards as passage rates soar, inflating grade point averages.
Fewer exams. Less homework. Literacy and numeracy in freefall.
Cheating used to result in parent conferences and student shame. Now it gets a shrug or an eye roll.
“We are producing a generation of Americans who never look into the stars, who take no delight in the inspiring words that come from books or history or art.”
The cumulative effect reaches far beyond the classroom, Adams warns. America is fooling itself if it thinks it’s anything more than failed custodians of the promise made in Philadelphia 250 years ago.
But the experiment isn’t over.
Open societies have a unique power to correct themselves, sometimes rapidly. Adams calls this era of easy education and absolute accommodation a terrible mistake — and says a bigger mistake would be continuing it.
If Americans truly want to celebrate the nation this summer and honor the highest aspirations of the founders, they must stop conflating kindness with the endless lowering of standards.
Without that correction, freedom will lead to chaos instead of higher purpose. Children will never become the men and women they’re capable of being.
“Our founders won our freedom. Generations of Americans have sacrificed and bled and died for our freedom. Our greatest enemy today is not Redcoats. It’s comfort with our own educational mediocrity.”
The higher task isn’t merely handing out diplomas and resources while keeping students comfortable and entertained. It’s widening horizons and deepening intellectual and moral capacity.
Adams is the author of the forthcoming book Lessons in Liberty: Thirty Lessons for Living From Ten Extraordinary Americans. He has taught politics and economics at Bakersfield High School for 26 years and was the DAR 2013 California Teacher of the Year.
