“If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.” Thomas Jefferson’s warning remains timely today. A free people will not remain free if they do not understand the ideas that protect freedom.
As we continue to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary this year, it’s an important time to reflect on the past and look ahead to the future. As we consider the future of our country, it is imperative that our nation evaluates the education of its citizens. How we educate our next generation will determine the direction our country heads.
Today, the majority of students exit K-12 public education without achieving basic proficiency across academic subjects, lacking critical thinking and reasoning skills, and having little to no understanding of free enterprise and free markets.
Free enterprise is more than just an economic system — it is about freedom. It gives individuals the power to make their own choices and turn ideas into reality, empowering them to overcome obstacles, create businesses, and contribute to their communities. At its core, free enterprise protects liberty, drives prosperity, and rewards responsibility.
As Doug DeVos explains in the Believe! Journal, “free enterprise is the belief that ordinary people are capable of extraordinary things.” Continuing, DeVos explains, “it’s the belief that everyone’s capable of being an entrepreneur….ultimately, an entrepreneur is anyone who finds new ways to solve problems in any facet of life.”
Believing in the ability of ordinary people to create and innovate isn’t just a theory — it transforms lives. When people are free to act on their ideas, they thrive in a free market, where competition, supply, and demand turn innovation into real opportunity.
A vibrant free market drives better products, lower prices, and constant innovation. It fuels economic growth, expands freedom, and improves the quality of life, while providing individuals with the opportunity to use their talents to create solutions that benefit their own lives and the lives of others.
Despite the evidence of how free markets create opportunity and prosperity, too many students are instead taught, using American taxpayer dollars, that socialism or Marxism are superior systems. The result is an education that casts capitalism and free enterprise in a negative light, even to the point of abhorrence. Students are left unaware of how these principles drive innovation, reward effort, and protect the freedoms that have made our nation strong.
Throughout the world, nations that restrict free enterprise and free markets experience hindered financial growth and limited opportunity for their citizens. In contrast, countries that embrace free enterprise and free markets consistently empower people out of poverty and enable individuals to exercise ingenuity, leading to their flourishing.
Ignorance and freedom cannot coexist long-term. Instead, truth and knowledge must be accurately taught and defended if we are to sustain freedom in our nation.
An electorate that does not understand free enterprise is more likely to support policies that limit opportunity, increase dependency on government, and weaken personal freedom.
America’s students must learn not only the history of our founding principles, but also how economic freedom protects liberty, fuels financial prosperity, and rewards hard work and personal responsibility. They must understand that every opportunity they enjoy exists because freedom allows people the opportunity to create solutions to problems.
If we want America’s best days ahead of us, we must educate future generations not merely to participate in a free society, but to understand it, cherish it, and preserve it.
Freedom is a gift — but it is also a responsibility.
As President Ronald Reagan famously said in his 1961 speech, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. The only way they can inherit the freedom we have known is if we fight for it, protect it, defend it, and then hand it to them with the well-taught lessons of how they in their lifetime must do the same. And if you and I don’t do this, then you and I may well spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it once was like in America when men were free.”
The next 250 years of our nation depend on what we do today. To ensure those years are filled with hope, prosperity, and enduring freedom, it is imperative that we educate our next generation exceedingly well, including in the arena of free enterprise.