250 years in, American colleges should still teach patriotism

American institutions of higher education should nurture patriotism in their students.

That I feel compelled to argue for this, as a university president, is its own indictment. For most of this nation’s history, such a basic duty needed no defense at all. But America’s 250th birthday year seems like a good moment to say it plainly, and to call American higher education back to it.

Patriotism means loving one’s country. To love our country is not to blindly worship it, nor to give unexamined support to its every decision, past or present. Indeed, dissent against policies or values that stray from a country’s founding principles can even be a powerful form of patriotism.

But patriotism does not allow us to abandon ship because of our nation’s flaws, real or perceived. And it most certainly does not involve denigrating and deconstructing its history and values without offering any positive vision to rebuild in their stead.

And judging by the explicitly anti-American chaos on many college campuses in recent years, much of American higher education sadly abandoned ship long ago. That’s why we can’t be surprised by Gallup’s very recent report that American pride has fallen to a 25-year low, with only 30 percent of Americans aged 18 to 34 being “extremely proud” or “very proud” to be American, as compared to 53 percent and 69 percent in age groups of 35 to 54 and 55 and older, respectively.

America, warts and all, is a country worth loving — if for no other reason than that it is our own. G.K. Chesterton asserts that true patriotism will love and work for the........

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