development through life. we call it sometimes birth to death or womb to tomb, everything that happens from rampancy to old age, but my special interest is on character and character development and help people develop their values and their purpose in life. and especially use development, the real focus is the adolescent and early adult years. in terms of education how we might even help young people create a good direction for themselves, a good purpose that takes them through life in a fill the way. >> host: that ties into your newest book, failing liberty is the name of it. how we are leaving young americans unprepared for citizenship to begin here to my you right that the most serious danger americans now faces that our country's future may not end up in the hands of the citizenry capable for sustaining liberty.

>> in any society of the talk but the future you're really talking about young people because they will inherit the society. we have a very precious blessing does not run itself. has to be managed by people that understand the rules of the game, the value, they appreciate . if you failed said transmit to the younger generation and appreciation of how important liberty and democracy are and knowledge about how the system works, how they can participate in a constructive way, if you fail to do that the future of the democracy itself is endangered. and much more than, i think, any foreign enemy could ever play csn because we're very strong in terms of military and even the

economy, but we will never survive or thrive if the younger people who inherited do not appreciated, value would command don't understand how they can participate in a constructive manner. >> host: why aren't younger people, in your view, appreciating in and valuing it like in the past? >> guest: it is not their fault. a lot of it is our fault. the adult generation that has the responsibility of educating young people. in the history of the country, and even -- not just the knowledge. knowledge is important, that they understand the tradition and the constitution. they're frilling to do a good job on that. all the subjects tested and suggested that, including math, which is not necessarily one of our strong suit, history is the worst. steve is no lesson of history or civics than any subject matter. but even beyond knowledge, the

knowledge is important. there is an emotional sense of attachment to a society that is really important if you want to encourage and people did dedicate themselves and to make that kind of sacrifices that people need to make in order to think beyond themselves and to promote the welfare of the entire country. and that just does not happen by itself. in order for them to develop that kind of attachment and appreciation they need to understand how many people have sacrificed for our freedoms and what it takes to keep living telling. it doesn't just happen by itself . it requires a commitment, a commitment to the kind of institutions and the kind of values that our founders back in the days of ben franklin gave to us. >> host: what are some of

those values? >> guest: one of them is a sense of beyond the self, a sense that you are not just in it. it is not just all about me. that there is something broader than you might call the national good common national purpose. that is specially is important in times of crisis. if there is an economic crisis or if the country is attacked in some way it is important for people to rally behind the country and see gathered together and to make the kind of sacrifices that we have seen historically in this country. certainly as recently as world war ii, for example. and in order for people to be willing to make the sacrifices, they have to up value the national good, and there has to be some sense, we call it patriotism, some sense of dedication to the nation. and patriotism is not a word

that is in favor at the current time in educational circles. very few efforts to really promote a sense of love for the country. >> is teaching of civics gone from schools or do they still. ♪ >> guest: it is not gone, but it has been marginalized commensurately now where the hearts and minds of the people who make policy. and when i say people make policy, the national leaders and in the department of education, the big foundations, the business community. i think all of these people in a very well-intentioned way are promoting the goals of success and the sense of competence, the ability to do math, the so-called stem subjects so that our students will be able to

compete in an economic sense with people from other countries . and all that is fine. i am completely beyond high standards of academic excellence, but people have been so single-minded about this as an agenda and put forward a system of testing stevens that is very hard for both the students and the teacher, that this has really monopolize to the agenda of all lot of our schools and most of our public schools to the extent that civics, history, of the subject matter that is we've been to the capacity to be a good citizen has been marginalized. they are taught often and have very bullying way and in one that does not foster an appreciation for what is really at the heart of the american tradition. >> you also said that a crisis of faith is one of the problems of we have. >> that's right. let's take one of the concept that has been important to the

country for at least some generations, the idea of the american dream which is given hope to not only people who are born here, but to immigrants from all of the world that come and aspire to be americans because they believe that this is a place where you can find your destiny. and it has to do with freedom and it has to do with the ability to follow your conscience, to speak your piece, to choose your own path in life. and the american dream has been constantly disparages in the media and in education. if you -- it is kind of an interesting exercise to us search of a phrase the american dream which i have done recently. would you come up with is literally -- and i am not exaggerating, millions of citations, most of their say things like the american dream

is disappearing or the american dream is dead or the vanishing american dream. and these are the subtitle sometimes of about because the word is out and the public discourse among the media, among intellectual circles being transmitted in glasses and a social studies class is that no longer we have opportunity in the country and therefore the american dream is dead. and that is so misleading free and people. and that is one of the things that has led to what i call the crisis of faith because, first of all, a couple of points here that is important to make them make in failing liberty. first of all, the american dream was never supposed to be only about material accomplishments to lie about accumulating a number of bmws in your garage or something like that, getting rich because you have invented a better mousetrap which is the

whale lot of people write about a. it is really about the capacity to follow your dreams and to achieve your destiny as you see fit with nobody coming along to tell you you have to fit into this lot or you cannot say this or you have tough live in this box. and part of that, of course, is the ability to provide for yourself and provide for your family and there is economic virginity. but giving young people the message that it is all over and there is no chance for you to succeed is nothing more than a self-fulfilling prophecy free and schoolhouse. is the shortest wait to get them discouraged, to get them to not think it is worth trying. and then -- on an individual level there is plenty of opportunity free and people. dressing the the people, the group said the american dream is still alive and well with often on the immigrant groups. we interviewed a lot of

first-generation immigrants adolescence. and so happy to be here. these kids really hit it. the message to the -- a lot of other kids did from their schooling and the media is, i think, and elements of despair in their lives and leading to it , leading to a loss of faith not only in themselves, but in the country. ..

i will call her. first of all we would like to ask you maybe not to speak to your son too much about it. we are handling this in a professional way. and the first rule of thumb that we use is we don't call the incident stealing. we don't want to hurt your

son's self-esteem and give him a label. so we have been calling it uncooprative behavior. and trying to not embarrass him too much. and of course when mrs. jones called me on this call-in radio show. she said. you know, ever since i talked to that teacher, i have noticed that he is blowing the whole thing off. he doesn't take it seriously, it hasn't sung in that he has done something wrong. >> i use that incident as an example of how schools in many cases shying away from using a moral language saying that you did something wrong. that is not to say that this is a bad child. i mean that would not be appropriate but the incident the behavior is wrong. you need to learn to do better. and when you remove that moral language from a child's life they are not going to develop virtue or develop character. they will not develop the

conscience that of course is the responsibility of every adult in our society. you know. even plato back thousands of years ago said that the first duty every adult is to teach the, to fine pleasure in the right things. the right meaning moral things that you should enjoy being generous and honest and living a life of virtue that should give you pleasure. you should feel embarrassed if you do something dishonest. you should feel embarrassed so the school is exactly moving into the opposite direction. i have seen this in so many cases. i have seen this about incidents of cheat especially. cheat something huge in schools right now. very few schools know how to handle it. they don't want to embarrass the kids it. is the same story. over and over again. this is a real problem.

to bring it back to failing liberty. and decracy, ben franklin way back in the 17 hundreds said very clearly a democracy requires a citizenry of vir tuch the democracy cannot be sustained by people without virtue. it will go to december pitism. you need to have every person independently want to do the right thing. be honest, care about their fellow citizen. and to be willing to sacrifice, be willing to give somethingch for sake of the greater good. >> professor william damon. we are leaving young americans unprepared for citizenship is the book. a rise in self abc shoppertion is the problem you say? . that is the downside there. is two down sides to

miseducating young people in the way that i have mentioned. one downside is for the country. we will not have. that is what we have been talking about. mostly this afternoon we will not have a citizenry to run a democracy to turn into something else. not as good. like despitism but the downside of the individual. apart from the public damage that is done. is that it becomes a world of self centered pursuits. self abc shoeshtion and the irony here is that people that are out for themselves and that they are trying hard to become happen accumulate as much status and prestige and wealth and all of the things that make you happy in life. those people turn out to be fairly miserable in life. if they are not living for greater than themselves. self abc shoeshtion is not the way to go through life.

you are worry. worried that somebody will take something away from you. and you worry about everything. your life is filled with anxiety. often despair meaning lessness. and a sense of emptiness. so when we fail to convey to young people that you're living for something greater than yourself and it could be a lot of things of course, it could be your family. and it could be your friends. and also nation also ought to take a part in your concerns. that is the mission of educators is to introduce to the lives of young people. things this they can believe in and enough to did he kate themselves enough to and to commit to and to sacrifice things to them now and then. and ironicly. though you are giving something up. you are gaining something. you are gaining a satisfaction. and a steadyness. and a peace of mind. resilience and the thing

that have to do with having a purpose in life. what i am writing about in failing liberty is that one of the many kinds of purpose that's often develop is the sense of civic purpose. >> this is not the only. people have religious purposes, family purposes vocational purposes. they are all very important in life. everything that will get you out of yourself. but civic purpose is the part of being a full person. into and again. bill damon says that the most serious danger americans now face greater than terrorism is that the country's future may not end up in the hands of the citizenry capable of sustaining libty, america's most precious legacy. this is the cover of the book. failing liberty. professor william damon of stanford. thank you for being on book tv. >> thank you very much.

stanford university professor debra stats talked about moral limits of mark else much the interview part of book tv's college series was recorded on the campus of stanford university in california. >> now joining us on book tv stanford university. debra satz. professor of ethics in society and philosophy here at stanford and has written a book. why some things should not be for sale. the moral limits of markets. professor satz. why is the philosophy professor writing about economics. >> good question. economics involved a lot of different dimensions. i think that it was glad stone that said that budgets are not matters of arithmatic but our values and economics inhe haveityably raises questions about ethics and the most obvious questions of ethics

concern the legitimacy and the justice of distribution that the market produces. there are other kinds of questions too. so there are questions for example about should you be able to sell your kidney like you sell an apple? >> -- what should we think of markets and toxic waste? child labor markets. or markets next access to information. how should we think about those markets? are they different in kind? are sex markets different in kind than automobile markets? a role of social life and the goods and some bads that the markets produce. you write about prostitution.

should that be for sale? to answer your question? >> so i do not have a easy way of answering this. i this i that the questions are more complicated than people have thought. so what i have tried to do in my book is take some infutureive reactions that people have to different kinds of markets. so most people react differently even if they think that prostitution should be legal. they think there is something different about selling sex and selling apples or cars. they think there is something different about selling organs and they may think there something different filling health care. so i try to see whether there are features of the markets that concern us. not about what we should do about them but if there is away of understanding why we react differently to these markets than other markets. i have developed in my book a theory about that. the a little bit of a complex thoery. there are four different dimensions that i