Michael F. Shaughnessy
Senior Columnist EdNews.org
Eastern New Mexico University

1) You have just written a book entitled "America's Survival Guide". What prompted you to write this book?

From my experience working for and serving on the Michigan State Board of Education, as well as my time as judge, I have come to appreciate that a large proportion of our students and general public do not have a good understanding of our founding history and First Principles.  As a free people we are fools to think that we can maintain our liberties and freedoms if we do not understand them, our Constitution, and how to apply them to current events.

2) You indicate that we need to "reclaim our first principles". In your mind, what are those first principles?  

As the Declaration of Independence states, We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men and women are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men and women.  Stated another way, our First Principles are (1) the rule of law, (2) equality, (3) the Social Compact, (4) unalienable rights, and (5) limited government (i.e., the purpose and limit of the government is to protect unalienable rights).

3) Your subtitle seems to indicate that you see an "impending suicide". In your mind, how does a country commit suicide and are we in the process of committing suicide and how can we prevent this suicide? 

Abraham Lincoln stated that "If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide."  What I believe he meant was that we will always be able to overcome foreign threats, but that we can lose our liberties and freedoms by allowing them to be corrupted or ignoring them.  As a free people, the people govern.  When the people are ignorant or disdain their founding principles and history, our liberties and freedoms will be lost.  What makes America unique is our adherence to our First Principles.  Unlike other countries, we are not bound by force, custom or culture, but by a unifying belief in our First Principles. 

The American experiment now teeters on the brink of collapse. We have all but forgotten the exceptional nature of America. We are nourishing our freedoms on the fruits sown and nourished by our forefathers. Studies reveal that the public is ignorant of key concepts and principles of our constitutional order.Despite the importance of the First Principles, our political elite, media, public, and educators have all but forgotten or rejected them.

When they vote, our citizens should understand what they doing and why. When they participate in politics and agitate for change, our activists should be steeped in our historical traditions. When they fight and die for our country, our soldiers should do so out of a sense of the true greatness of our country – not from a visceral patriotic sense of duty as in Serbia, Chad, China, and Syria – but from deep knowledge and belief in the principles for which they fight. Our citizenry's ignorance jeopardizes our liberty; as our principles fade away in memory, so does our freedom.

Let there be no mistake. We may be fighting a hot war against militant Islamist terrorists today, but there is also a cold war raging, right here and right now, for the hearts and minds of our citizens – and we are losing. The terrorists have reminded us that some things are worth dying for. The rule of law, equality, empowering the people, unalienable rights, and limited government are such things. Our freedom was won with the blood and treasure of hundreds of thousands of our forebears. We must not allow their sacrifices to have been in vain. The crisis is here. We must dedicate ourselves to fanning the flame of liberty or risk it dying out. The terrorists, and all enemies of freedom, will win if we simply forget, or reject, what we are and the principles for which we stand. We cannot let those who hate America win by default. Simply put, we surrender when we abandon our First Principles. Political amnesia will be our death knell.

We can meet this challenge by vigorously implementing an agenda of strategic reform addressing many facets of our education system, society, and political culture. We need to implement an American Freedom Curriculum in which every student learns about American history and civics every year (as opposed to skipping several grades at a time as is the current practice).  Teacher preparation institutions and professional development need to focus on American history and civics.  Our First Principles should be taught in law schools and tested on the bar exam.  Our holidays should be reinvigorated with a sense of solemnity and appreciation for our Founding Fathers and sacrifices of our predecessors.  Our media, politicians, and voters need to consider our history and First Principles during policy formulation, political debates and elections.



4) We have one thing in common that I believe we both hold dear- that is, social studies! As a former social studies teacher I believe that we need a rigorous robust social studies curriculum. What do you see as needing reform in social studies at the present time? 

I'm glad to hear that you are a vigorous advocate for social studies reform.  Unfortunately, with No Child Left Behind and other federal and state policies, social studies has been put on the back burner and given second-class status.  The reality is that public schools were established for two major reasons: to teach students to read so they could read the Bible, and to create an educated citizenry well-equipped to vote in elections and participate in our republican form of government.  Today, however, education is now focused on science, technology, foreign languages, social policies, etc.  This means that most students receive a smattering of social studies in clumps throughout their K-12 education, and civics is usually left for the senior year (when most students have checked out - either by dropping out or being disengaged).  

To address this educational crisis, each state should establish and implement an American Freedom Curriculum. This Curriculum should have specific, measurable expectations for students in each grade from kindergarten through the end of high school. Focusing on the First Principles, the curriculum should comprehensively address civics, American history, and comparative political science. Preferably the American Freedom Curriculum would be taught in a multi-disciplinary way that truly engages students. It would emphasize the search for truth, critical thinking, collaborative learning, and self-directed, student-centered learning properly leveraging Information Age tools and learning practices would dramatically enhance this effort. The control exercised by textbook publishers should also be leveraged by establishing state standards that implement the American Freedom Curriculum.  Annual assessment and testing should also be a component of the American Freedom Curriculum. We also need to address social studies reform in teacher preparation institutions, colleges and universities, and law schools.

5) Why does it seem that schools do not teach American history in depth or require students to read biographies, autobiographies as well as fiction and non fiction historical books? 

As my good friend and former Superintendent of Public Instruction of Michigan Tom Watkins often remarks, our educational system is too often a mile wide and an inch thick.  We have made so many issues important that nothing is important.  There has also been shift away from hard facts to more a general sense of history and society. 

6) I understand that at one point the Michigan Department of Education wanted to delete the words "American" and "America" from the classroom. Is this in fact true, and if it is, to paraphrase the guy in Office Space "What the hell is the matter with these people?" 

Within the Michigan Department of Education the point person dealing with the development of grade level content standards announced to a group of high level field educators that teachers should stop using the words "America" and "American" because it was ethnocentric for the United States to claim the entire hemisphere.  Her supervisor, in an e-mail, confirmed the same.  Once I exposed this travesty in a guest opinion piece in The Detroit News, the point person again defended the policy on the radio.  A firestorm soon erupted, and within an hour the Superintendent of Public Instruction quashed the effort and said he would never approve it.  Many educators and observers have told me that but for my article it would have been the policy of the Department.

7) You once served on the Michigan State Board of Education. What was that experience like and what did you learn from it?

I loved serving the people of Michigan on the State Board of Education.  Many important policies are addressed by the State Board.  However, the position is also very difficult.  The bully pulpit is owned by the Governor, and the purse strings are controlled by the Legislature.  Creating change is difficult from the board perspective.  I, however, learned how to work in a bi-partisan manner, focus on issues that could gain consensus, and how to effectuate change even in the most difficult of circumstances.

8) What do you see as the main factors leading to what you indicate as a suicidal America?

Our education system has made American history and civics a low priority.  As many studies reveal, too many of our students and general public are ignorant of our First Principles and history.  The media is obsessed with celebrity.  Our politicians generally ignore our history and First Principles.  Voters are also unconcerned and unaware of our history and First Principles.  This combination is placing America at grave risk.

9) Do you have a web site where people can order your book or learn more about this impending crisis? 

You can order my book and learn more at www.AmericasSurvivalGuide.com.

Published January 14, 2008