America's 250th birthday is here, and so much that has led up to this moment has made it clear we have a lot of work to do to restore pride in this country… for those on the left. And an answer is underway.
The Department of Education and the America First Policy Institute launched the America 250 Civics Education Coalition to address a problem most Americans already suspected: kids don't understand how their own country works. The coalition partnered with Education Secretary Linda McMahon and officially launched on Sept. 17, Constitution Day, the anniversary of the Constitution's signing in 1787.
National Assessment of Educational Progress data show that only 23% of eighth graders scored at or above proficiency in civics. That's a generation graduating without a working knowledge of the country they're inheriting. It’s no wonder socialism is becoming so popular among young people. They don’t understand why our system is superior.
"One of the first things we did was kind of a diagnostic on where we are in civic education, and that was kind of the sobering news," Michael Shires, vice chair of education opportunity, higher education and senior policy officer at the America First Policy Institute, told The Center Square. "The numbers would say that we're not doing a very good job of passing that along to the next generation."
Shires has a theory for how this happened. "A big part of how we got here is we just stopped telling the stories of what was good about America," Shires said. "We've gotten much more proficient at telling the negative stories and forgotten to tell many of the positive stories."
So the coalition is telling those stories again, at scale. Under the motto "Know America. Love America," the group has run more than 100 events, including K-12 teacher summits, student competitions, lectures, classroom resources, and a 50-state "Trail to Independence Tour," tracing how each state joined the Union.
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Recent polling shows the share of Democrats who say they're "extremely" or "very" proud to be American cratered from 85% in January 2001 to just 29% in 2026. Republicans held steady at 90% across those same 25 years.
This can be fixed.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon said the mission comes down to something simple. "Every young American understands the beauty of our nation and is equipped with the civic knowledge required to contribute meaningfully to its future," she said.
The coalition includes dozens of organizations working with the Department of Education, among them First Liberty Institute and Turning Point USA. First Liberty Institute President Kelly Shackelford told The Center Square just how deep the knowledge gap runs. "There are so many polls, for instance, like 71% of Americans don't even know what the three branches of government are," Shackelford said. "And one of the more disturbing polls is that a large percentage of the students don't even love their country. And it's because they don't know what their country is."
Shires doesn't want the 250th anniversary to be a one-off celebration. "We don't want July 5 to be the end of this conversation," he said. And despite the noise on cable news and social media, Shires said Americans still feel good about where they live. "Despite what you see in the news headlines and the networks and the social media and everything else, for most people in their lives, they're excited that they're in America, that it's a place where they can thrive and make their own choices and pursue their dreams," he said.
Initiatives such as this can deprogram young people who have been brainwashed to hate our country. Let’s hope it expands and continues.
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