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

by William Damon

Overview

The author argues that we are failing to prepare today'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 in our country today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780817913649
Publisher:	Hoover Institution Press
Publication date:	04/01/2011
Series:	HOOVER INST PRESS PUBLICATION Series , #611
Edition description:	1st Edition
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.60(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

William Damon is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, the director of the Stanford Center on Adolescence, and a professor of education at Stanford University. Damon's current research explores how young people develop character and a sense of moral purpose in work, family, and community relationships. He also examines how young people can approach careers with an emphasis on creative innovation, excellence, and social responsibility.

Read an Excerpt

“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

Table of Contents

Foreword John Raisian ix

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction 1

Chapter 1 Youth, Virtue, and the Future of Liberty in American Society 19

Chapter 2 The Virtues Gap in Education Today 39

Chapter 3 Abandoning the American Tradition 69

Chapter 4 The American Dream Denied 105

Epilogue 125

Notes 129

About the Author 139

About the Hoover Institution's Boyd and Jill Smith Task Force on Virtues of a Free Society 141

Index 143