There will always be ideological disagreement. It’s one of many benefits of liberty, the right of free speech and debate. I remain convinced those rights carry responsibility as well. Nevertheless, I continue to search for the reason why our nation is in such cultural and economic decline. I keep coming back to the fact there are likely many reasons. But a conversation with an acquaintance recently set me about considering one very important thing which seems to be at the root of our national dilemma. The conversation was long but predictably kept coming back to “education”. Now before all my Liberal friends start on me about education funding, teachers unions and the like, that’s not the education I’m talking about.

“John” and his wife are the quintessential Americans who worked long and hard, sacrificing and saving for the future they now enjoy, the values and work ethic of their parents deeply embedded in every decision along the way. As “John” and I navigated our ideological differences in terms of the current political climate, it became clear to us that many parents today are not teaching their children some of the very simple tenets of the American dream that we were taught, but rather instilling a sense of “American entitlement” if you will, into their psyche thus limiting their potential. The notion that a laundry list of college loans, along with the ramblings of a professor who has no clue what the world outside academia looks like will somehow be enough, is now being crushed by the reality of life in 21st Century America for so many college grads.

Politics aside, the values of hard work, integrity and ethics in the “real world” seem largely things of the past. The selective and revisionist use of our founding principles as shields against the fundamental truths of freedom eventually translates into nothing more than a lot of excuses for some. We have allowed politicians and the media to warp “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” into “blame, entitlement and the pursuit of mediocrity“. Parents have abandoned their moral responsibility to their children by entrusting their futures simply to “secondary and higher education”, often at the expense of “home schooled” accountability, reality and reason. Consequently, many in the education system today lack even the most basic skill set for success. When combined with manufactured obstacles placed at the feet of those less fortunate by greedy demagogues in positions of influence, this politically induced complacency becomes the recipe for disaster which has been the cause of unrest and upheaval for millennia around the globe.

Education has come to mean different things to different people. Politicians endlessly throw money at it as if it were a wishing well. The word itself is bandied about as a magical cure all to everything that ails us. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. While I continue to support the notion of education as a necessary albeit partial pathway to success, that success only comes when the “educated” are also equipped with the fundamental understanding that no one is going to make your way for you, and that life is not always a bowl of cherries, but if you avoid the pits you are less likely to break a tooth.

“life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” does not always mean things work out exactly as planned, but rather it may be necessary to adapt, overcome and improvise by way of principle and personal exceptionalism, another way forward in a country which embraces and defends the freedom to make of yourself what you wish. All the “secondary and higher education” in the world can’t teach you that, but good parents and a good old-fashioned American “Constitution” can. In the end, it may be all “We the People” leave posterity.

Parents, here are some definitions of education to consider:

Education – The act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for a mature life.

Education –  In its general sense is a form of learning in which the knowledge, skills, and habits of a group of people are transferred from one generation to the next through teaching, training, or research. Education frequently takes place under the guidance of others, but may also be autodidactic. Any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts may be considered educational.