Many ideas central to American life--concepts like freedom, justice and equality of opportunity--occur in our founding documents. But others are embedded in our folklore, myths and legends. So that children might esteem hard work, for example, we give them stories illustrating its worthiness. Or at least we did until recently. Like many other traditional values, hard work is now coming under attack.

In his book The Radicalism of the American Revolution, the historian Gordon Wood makes clear that hard work was an important part of the American creed from the nation’s beginning. He points out that Parson Weems, one of our most effective myth makers, gave us not only George Washington the child who could not lie but also George Washington the man who worked from dawn to dusk. “Neither himself nor any about him,” wrote Parson Weems, “were allowed to eat the bread of idleness.”

The earliest immigrants noted how central the idea of hard work was to America. Jean de Crevecoeur wrote in 1782: “We are all animated with the spirit of an industry which is unfettered and unrestrained.” Foreign visitors commented on our industriousness. Tocqueville wrote that, in America, “to work is the necessary, natural, and honest condition of all men.”

The American idea that hard work was to be esteemed distinguished us from Europeans who admired their gentlemen of leisure. For us, hard work rather than idleness was the way to distinction.

In recent years, however, the message about hard work has become decidedly mixed. Caught up in the relativism that now characterizes so much of American life, the idea of hard work is considered by many to be another of those notions that the dominant forces in our society (i.e., white males) impose on the rest of us. It merely advances white-male interests--as any woman or minority foolish enough to buy into the dominant value system will find out.

This view is being advanced not just in academic journals and conferences but also in classrooms. Rita Kramer, in her book Ed School Follies, describes a professor at a Midwestern teachers college who tells her students that they need to correct the moral of such elementary school classics as Tootle the Train. This is a story about a talented but easily distracted young train who one day decides to put his mind to his train work and becomes one of the country’s most famous Flyers. As the professor sees it, this is a dangerous story because it teaches: “Work hard and you’ll make it.” As the professor sees it, we live in a closed society; and we are simply fooling children if we teach them about a meritocracy of work.

To cite another example: Rereading America is a widely used reader for teaching freshman English. It is assigned at such private universities as Duke and Emory as well as at such public institutions as the City University of New York and Northern Virginia Community College. Essay after essay in this anthology makes the case that the myth of individual opportunity is one of the traps that white males have laid for the rest of us.

A “transformative feminist” sees women betraying their commitment to nurturing as they “adapt to the realities of the masculine marketplace.” A Mexican-American claims that “the American dream . . . is governed not by education, opportunity and hard work, but by power and fear.” Another essay argues that “class standing and consequently life chances are largely determined at birth,” a scenario that makes it useless to work hard to get ahead. We do, of course, want young people to develop their critical capacities, to examine the ideas on which our society has been built. But they should also learn about men and women who have taken advantage of our society’s unparalleled social mobility and have succeeded through hard work and determination. If students only hear that hard work is for fools and dupes, sooner or later they are likely to accept that idea uncritically.

Indeed, many already have. In our inner cities, black youngsters who try to work hard and achieve are ridiculed and accused of “acting white” by their peers. In the suburbs, students from more affluent backgrounds act as though their lives will be privileged whether they work hard or not. Patrick Welsh, a high school teacher in Alexandria, Va., writes about one of his brightest students, who says: “It’s cool to wing it; to do the least work possible and get away with it.” Another good student tells Mr. Welsh: “It’s the American way--to get the best results with the least amount of energy expended.”

In a recent cross-national survey, high-school students in the U.S. and Japan were asked to rank factors that contributed to success in the classroom. Of the Japanese students, 72% listed hard work as number one. Only 27% of the American students put hard work first.

No doubt many factors contribute to the devaluing of hard work. Thinking that self-esteem is crucial, many parents and teachers hesitate to point out any student failing, even laziness. Americans place an unusually high value on the idea of innate ability, and emphasizing aptitude inevitably de-emphasizes the role that hard work plays in success. But if our students fail to see that hard work matters, it is also because time and again we are telling them that it doesn’t. If we want them to work hard, we will have to explain to them why they should.

And while we are at it, we should make the larger argument that there are many ideas to which we can all subscribe. The notion that values cannot transcend class, race and gender undercuts more than the idea of hard work. It calls into question whether there can be an American creed--a public philosophy for all of us. 

Lynne V. Cheney is a senior fellow at AEI.