"If I am not able to read, write, and reflect on issues that define citizenship, how can I teach my children to do so? By not teaching our children the art of learning, we are raising a culture that is unable to engage in reasonable discourse. As the world gets smaller and smaller, we will need to preserve our most noble American qualities as they mingle with ideas and customs from other parts of the world. This requires a citizenry that can step back from the daily strain of living and examine life in a larger perspective. We can assess and act upon lessons learned from the downfall of Rome or the persecution of the Sudanese or the building of the Berlin Wall without having personally lived through them. It also requires a citizenry that can intellectually engage the parliaments of the world, as did antislavery advocate William Wilberforce or Benjamin Franklin, and sacrifice personal power, as did Washington or Gandhi."