American education once emphasized the positive elements of our nation’s key people, places, and ideas. George Washington was faithful and “could not tell a lie.” Abraham Lincoln was “Honest Abe” and freed the slaves. American exceptionalism was counted as a positive vision, a patriotic love of country. This emphasis has faded in recent years, replaced by a pedagogy that teaches American values as outdated and American institutions as problematic. What would it look like if we taught American history, and other topics, from a perspective aimed at building support for our national values, institutions, and history?
The National Association of Scholars is producing a series of virtual events meant to do just this. These events are intended to present America to students and the general public by engaging with American history, literature, art, and culture, and presenting these in a dynamic way to listeners, with an eye to showcasing facets of America that make our nation truly exceptional.
Part of NAS's mission is to promote a positive vision for education: to offer alternatives, not just point out flaws. These webinars mark NAS’s ongoing efforts to provide exemplary educational content.
NAS will introduce new topics into the series over time. Our current active series are:
American History, American Character The Great American Novel
American History, American Character
This series brought together scholars to examine pivotal moments in American history and what those moments can tell us about our national character. The series ran through the summer of 2022. Videos of past events can be found here.
The Great American Novel
This series looks at prominent works by American authors and what they have contributed to our national literature. This series will run through December of 2022. You can see and register for upcoming events in the series below. Videos of past events can be found here.
Upcoming Events:
The Virginian (Owen Wister)
November 22nd at 2 pm ET
The Maltese Falcon (Dashiell Hammett)
November 29th at 2 pm ET
The Big Sleep (Raymond Chandler)
December 13th at 2 pm ET
Photo by Logan Roush on Unsplash
