A Lot to Be Thankful For focuses on what parents consider the key American values, and to our knowledge is the first to specifically seek out parents who have immigrated here, as well as U.S.-born ones. We wanted to know what parents believe about their nation, and what they wanted their children to learn about being an American. In many ways, what we found is heartening.

We found a clear-eyed patriotism among parents of all backgrounds; a deep belief that the United States is a unique nation, while acknowledging its faults. Parents want the schools to face those faults, but not to dwell on them -- the parents we surveyed want history taught with fairness to all groups, but recoil from strategies that they feared might encourage divisiveness.

America's parents have absorbed the principles of the Bill of Rights, even though few of them can fit a particular freedom to a given amendment. They believe in personal freedom, tolerance toward others, and hard work -- and they think "bad citizens" include the lazy or intolerant.

Finally, parents of all backgrounds firmly believe the schools must teach immigrant children to speak English as quickly as possible, both as a survival skill and as a symbol of their intent to become Americans. They also want schools to teach the common values of American society. Yet this commitment to English and assimilation does not translate into a fear of immigrants themselves. The parents we surveyed fear division, not diversity.

And one of the greatest fears voiced by parents is a fear of something that could only happen in their own hearts: they fear taking the United States for granted.

	Something Special in the World: Foreign-born and U.S.-born parents of all backgrounds share a belief that the U.S. is a special country, and treasure its freedoms. But parents also recognize that the U.S. has failings, and has a mixed record of living up to its own ideals.
	Let Freedom Ring: The chief components of the American ideal -- identified by very strong majorities of all groups -- are individual freedom, opportunity and hard work, combined with a commitment to tolerance and respect for others. To parents, "bad citizens" are those who refuse to work or are intolerant of people of different backgrounds.
	History 101: America's parents display an impressive love of country but they are not very knowledgeable about its historic foundations. They also express fears about taking the country for granted and that there's too much emphasis on "the things that divide us." These fears are widespread, but rarely related to increased immigration or ethnic diversity.
	Teach the Heroes and Traditions of America: Large numbers of both U.S. and foreign-born parents expect the schools to teach all children about the ideals and history of the country.
	English ASAP: Learning to speak English as quickly as possible is seen as the cornerstone of assimilation, both as a practical necessity and as a symbol that a person intends to become an American. Parents fully reject the theory of bilingual education; parents who immigrated to the U.S. are even more opposed to it.
	Include, But Don't Divide: Parents do not view lessons that emphasize the history of different groups as a problem, but parents from all groups recoil at hypothetical examples of lessons that seem to encourage divisiveness among Americans. African Americans are most likely to believe the schools still do not give sufficient attention to minorities.
	The Power of Words: What Parents Mean by "Bilingual Education"

This is just a sampling of A Lot to Be Thankful For. The full report can be ordered from Public Agenda. We also welcome comments about this study on our Online Experts message board.

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