As students get ready to go back to school with fresh notebooks and sharpened pencils, let the first lesson of the school year come from the 40th president of the United States, Ronald Reagan. In his Farewell Address in 1989, Reagan spoke of a resurgence in national pride that returned during his presidency, which he called a “new patriotism.”
Yet Reagan also warned that this revival would not mean much unless it was grounded in thoughtfulness and knowledge. What the outgoing president hoped for was “an informed patriotism” for the country’s citizens, where the teaching of history would be based not on what’s in fashion but on what is important.
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