A new survey commissioned by the Young America’s Foundation called the Youth Patriotism Index revealed that American colleges and universities are contributing to making students less patriotic. According to the survey, high school students are much more likely than college students to be proud to live in the United States.
The Young America’s Foundation (YAF), a conservative youth organization, announced the publishing of a new survey this week that is called the “Youth Patriotism Index.” The survey aims to measure the patriotic attitudes of high school and college students. The survey results include 800 current college students and 800 current high school students.
The poll revealed that American high school students are far more likely than college students to hold patriotic views. While 70 percent of high school students hold a favorable view of American history, less than half of college students feel the same way.
The survey also found:
66% of high school students believe America is exceptional, compared to 47% of college students
55% of high school students believe America is a good example for other countries, compared to 37% of college students
70% of high school students hold a favorable view of America’s history, compared to 44% of college students
63% of high school students report feeling proud of America, compared to 40% of college students
However, 78 percent of high school and college students combined view the United States more favorably than Canada, Sweden, Cuba, China, and Russia. 82 percent of all students that participated in the survey said that they hold a favorable view of the American flag.
YAF spokesman Spencer Brown commented on the findings, saying: “While many young people today hold positive opinions about America and its attributes, it’s clear that once a student gets to college, those positive feelings are eroded or replaced with more negative opinions about our country. High school and college students still prefer the United States to other countries, believe that our country is a work in progress, and understand the reasons people around the world want to live in America, but barely half say they’re proud of America.” Brown added, “The 2020 Youth Patriotism Index suggests we ought to consider a question posed to America by Ronald Reagan: Are we doing a good enough job teaching our children what America is and what she represents in the long history of the world?”
Breitbart News reported in June that the majority of young and college-educated Americans said that the protests that erupted in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death were justified.