Love Thy Neighborhood: How Public Schools Can Bring Us Back Together

What was once a nation of neighborhoods is fast becoming a society of enemies. The ties that once bound us, from families and churches to the mom and pop shops on Main Street, are giving way under the pressures of an ever-intensifying culture war. We are coming apart and what is there to bring us back together when we share so little in common any more. Little, that is, except the public schools. These grim concrete fortresses with their chain link fences and sullen inmates might seem like an unlikely place for hope. Indeed, for many Christians and conservatives the public school system is a threat, a place where their children face abuse and indoctrination. Even so, our schools offer unique and enormous value as America’s last truly common denominator, a shared space for the vast majority of American children. For those of us still hoping for a united American future, public schools are the best place to begin the work of restoring the old bonds of affection. Love Thy Neighborhood serves as a clarion call and a detailed blueprint for the actions necessary to reverse our country’s slide into disunity. Drawing on his unique blend of experience as a Christian homeschooler and public high school teacher, author Samuel Lively delves deeply into the past, present and potential futures of our public school system. In doing so, he reveals the abiding strengths of the system’s founding principles, its current threats and challenges, and the paths it offers to bring us back together. Timely, challenging and far-reaching in its applications, Love Thy Neighborhood is an indispensable resource for community-minded Americans.