Military and Corporate Leaders Launch National Leadership Program Based on WWII History

Over the past few decades, we have seen history and critical thinking seep out of our public-school curriculums, lowering the quality of education and placing barriers to the success of our youth. Without these learned skills, how can we then expect our children to have the capacity to lead and safeguard the very freedoms we hold so dear in the future? The most recent acts of antisemitism and protests on college campuses prove how the lack of understanding of our world’s history can be detrimental to our future.

Sadly, many of our youth cannot even see how the recent war in Ukraine and the attack on Israel are so very repetitive of what took place in our world not even a century ago. The challenges facing our youth who will become tomorrow’s leaders will be more complex, fast-moving, and interconnected than ever before. Academic knowledge alone will not prepare young people to meet these demands. They must understand our history so that they can then learn how to think critically, communicate clearly, act decisively, and lead others in the face of uncertainty. This must be based on strong values, ethical behavior, and character – all of which can be developed.

As our youth continue to become more and more isolated because of their dependence on technology and social media, they are losing key communications skills needed to succeed and to lead among their peers. Educational and immersive experiences will become more in demand and programs that focus on leadership, critical thinking, and social skills will be needed far more than ever before.

Although advanced technology and AI are one of the greatest tools of the 21st century, their creation and overuse have also caused a hindrance to the social and leadership skills that will decide who we become as a nation in the not so far future. Could the lack of understanding of our country and world’s history actually be a threat to national security and the very freedoms we all share in the Western World? The very foundation of this country is why our youth enjoy the very liberties they are born into and why they have greater access to technology and consumer goods than any other nation in the world. But have we gone too far and how without the needed skills to lead will they be able to safeguard all of these privileges we now have – all thanks to those that sacrificed and came before?

If our public school systems won’t answer the call to teach history along with communications and critical thinking skills, it then falls upon us as individuals and parents to ensure their future is better than ours. Isn’t that what all of our parents strived to do for us? I know my father did.

A friend and colleague once told me that I was the youngest WWII baby he had ever known. My father along with his identical twin were born in 1922. I was born in 1969. My father was French and answered General Charles de Gaulle’s call to arms in June of 1940 and joined DeGaulle’s Free French to fight the very tyranny of the Nazis. His identical twin joined the U.S. Navy a little over a year later and served in the Pacific Theater aboard the USS Shadwell. These two men were my heroes. They sacrificed so that we could have a better future and they taught me the importance of understanding history so that, if possible, it would not be repeated.

I have spent much of my life trying to honor them and all those that sacrificed for our freedoms. I have also spent the last five years working to ensure that the memories of the “Greatest Generation” that we owe all to live on among our youth.

Through Ambassadors to History, our collective way to answer the call so that our youth can become the strong leaders of tomorrow was to develop an immersive educational program that teaches character driven leadership, core communications and critical thinking skills all done through the eyes of history. Through the Normandy Leadership Program, high school students first learn character and servant driven leadership from the founders of Arizona State University’s Leadership, Diplomacy, and National Security Lab, Lieutenant GeneralBenjamin Freakley (U.S. Army Ret.) and Ambassador Michael Polt.

In the second block of the program, students are taught how to properly disseminate information along with core communications and interview skills teaching responsible sharing of information through social media platforms, all from global leaders in communications and public affairs.

The program then culminates in an immersive on the ground experience in Normandy, led by Colonel Derek Keller (U.S. Army SF Ret.), colleagues and corporate leaders. The Normandy experience allows high school students to visit key locations from D-Day and the Battle of Normandy along with American Battle Monument Commission sites, such as the Normandy American Cemetery on Omaha Beach. Throughout their experience students interview WWII veterans, survivors and their families along with military and political leaders from the United States and Europe.

If our public school system does not answer the call to ensure the security of our nation, the future of our children, and the very freedoms all fought so hard for, it then falls upon us to do so.

Monique Tapie is Founder of Shadwell Global Partners and Cofounder of Ambassadors to History.

This article was originally published by RealClearDefense and made available via RealClearWire.