A Country Worth Inheriting
By Mitch Siegler, Founder

Last week, Americans gathered for Memorial Day parades, ceremonies, and moments of remembrance to honor those who gave their lives in service to our nation. Beyond the holiday itself, Memorial Day offers an opportunity to reflect on a deeper truth: every generation inherits a country it did not build alone.

That inheritance includes freedoms secured through sacrifice, institutions shaped over centuries, and a civic tradition rooted in the idea that people from different backgrounds can still form and build one nation. Our national motto, e pluribus unum — “out of many, one” — captures both the challenge and promise of the American experiment.

At a time when much of society is polarized, our politics are increasingly divisive and public discourse often emphasizes division and distrust, gratitude can feel unfashionable. Yet gratitude is essential to a healthy society. It reminds us that citizenship carries responsibilities alongside rights, and that the work of improving our country begins with recognizing the good done by those who came before us and the value of what we have inherited.

Teaching young people gratitude does not require ignoring America’s flaws or difficult chapters. To the contrary, a mature and balanced understanding of our history acknowledges mistakes while also appreciating the courage, creativity, and perseverance that helped shape the nation we know today. Students should learn that progress is possible because previous generations confronted and overcame challenges rather than abandoning the American project altogether.

This perspective resonates with parents across the country. In THINC’s spring 2026 national survey, 90% of parents expressed support for civics education, while 91% supported teaching mutual respect and cooperation among people with different backgrounds and viewpoints. Also, 82% said schools should help students learn how to participate responsibly in a democratic society. And the percentage who said that schools should teach children about the value of a colorblind society, in which we prize individual merit and behavior above the color of one’s skin or one’s ethnic background? Also 82%.

Those findings point toward an important truth that is sometimes overlooked in our polarized moment: most Americans still believe schools should help prepare students not only for careers, but also for citizenship.

That belief is central to The American Story: Out of Many, One, the civics-centered curriculum THINC is developing. The goal is not to present a simplistic version of American history, nor to encourage cynicism about our country’s past and present. It is to help students understand that they are part of an ongoing national story and that they have a role to play in shaping its next chapter.

A society that loses its sense of gratitude risks losing confidence in its future. A society that teaches gratitude alongside honesty, responsibility, and civic understanding gives the next generation a stronger foundation on which to build.