What so proudly we hail: Raise your kids to be grateful Americans

When Norwegian soccer fans do the Viking row, nobody complains that they're honoring pirates, rapists, slave-traders and "settler-colonialists. OK, it's partly because Americans don't know much history. But, mostly it's because rowdy people expressing their national pride is fun.

The reluctance to celebrate America's 250th birthday is "dispiriting," writes Robert Pondiscio. I share his fondness for social media videos by foreign visitors marveling at American abundance -- free refills! — that we take for granted.

Our schools teach students "to identify injustice, inequity, hypocrisy, and failure," he writes. "Children reliably learn what America got wrong, but do they learn what we got right? . . . Do they learn why our imperfect nation remains even now the destination of choice for millions seeking freedom, opportunity, and a better life?"

America needs citizens who are critics -- and those who are grateful for the constitutional order handed down to them, Pondiscio writes. "Freedom of speech and religion. The rule of law. A vibrant civil society. The most creative and productive economy in human history. Scientific and technological advances that previous generations would have regarded as wizardry."

Parents should teach their children to value their heritage, he writes. Read a biography with the kids, visit a battlefield, a national park or "a naturalization ceremony where new Americans pledge allegiance to a country many native-born citizens take for granted." Tell stories about the family members who chose America.

Gather the family and read the Declaration of Independence out loud, writes Joshua T. Katz, a Princeton professor, on Law & Liberty. Here's Katz on Savoring the Declaration.

Larissa Phillips writes about teaching the Bill of Rights to immigrants in on online reading group for GED students. Most of the women are legal immigrants from African and Caribbean countries, who passed their citizenship exams with very minimal knowledge of the Constitution.

She's been a literacy tutor for 20 years, growing to admire her students toughness and determination, Phillips writes. In the last few years, she's noticed a change. "The sour pessimism that once belonged to disaffected college students has trickled into a population that once believed so passionately in the promise of America that they crossed oceans to reach it.

Her students thought they had no rights, so Phillips decided they'd read and discuss the Bill of Rights. "The women were excited about the ones they knew, like the First Amendment, and eager to offer examples of when they’d exercised the right to free speech or to petition the government," she writes. "Most had been to protests, and none had been arrested. Everyone knew about freedom of religion and seemed to deeply believe in the merits of it."

The women were skeptical about the right to own guns, but saw the merits of the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable searches and seizures. "These women — all of whom are black and many of them living in neighborhoods where crime is an issue — knew about racial profiling, and many of them were irritated about it," Phillips writes.

Students complained that rights were always honored. Phillips responded that "having rights doesn’t mean everything is solved; it means you can defend yourself through the court system."

Many remained critics of America, but there was also pushback, writes Phillips.

“We live in the greatest country on Earth," one student wrote. "Think about what it was like where you came from, and why you left. . . . You get to decide your future here. It's up to you, no one else. I thank God every day that I am an American.”

"Clapping and heart emojis floated up from the chat box," Phillips writes.