The events of Sept. 11 brought us face to face with determined foes who loathe democracy and religious liberty. Their attack has raised questions that few Americans have seriously considered since World War II and the early years of the Cold War: What does it mean to be an American? Are we, as citizens, willing to sacrifice to defend this nation's ideals and institutions?

In answering these questions, we find ourselves pondering a word now rusty with disuse. That word is "patriotism," which means love of one's country and devotion to its welfare.

Young people, especially, need to reflect on patriotism, for they will soon hold the future of our democracy in their hands. Currently, however, our schools are not in a position to lead the discussion. Most educational groups have urged teachers to mark Sept. 11 with lessons that stress the need for enhanced "tolerance" and "diversity." Few have called for lessons about America's founding principles, or the cost at which our freedom was won.

But calls for tolerance and diversity will not prepare students for the challenge they now face. For if our children are to preserve their heritage of freedom, they must understand why it is so precious -- and so rare. They must learn to love their country -- in short, to become patriots. Our goal is not to make them knee-jerk supporters of the status quo, but public-spirited citizens who cherish their birthright and resolve to pass it on to future generations.

How can our schools encourage patriotism?

If students are to become patriots, they must understand -- and embrace -- the principles of liberty, equality and justice on which this nation is founded. In addition, they must develop the qualities of character that mark true citizens: courage, responsibility, gratitude to forebears and a self-sacrificing devotion to the common good. As educators (and parents), our task is to help young people see that America is worthy of their love, and to help them become worthy of their heritage as U.S. citizens.

To achieve this goal, we must change the way that our schools teach history, government and literature. Most schools use standard-issue textbooks in history and government classes. Unfortunately, these texts are generally dry, lacking in detail, monotonous in style, and politically tendentious. Students can never grow to love America by reading such books. But patriotic sentiment is likely to develop if we tell America's dramatic story in a way that engages young people's imagination, excites their gratitude, and reveals what is at stake in the American experiment.

America's story consists of two major components: principles and people. Our challenge is to bring both to life for students. In teaching principles, we should make liberal use of original documents, as well as the stirring rhetoric of the Revolutionary and Civil War eras. The Declaration, the Constitution, the Federalist Papers, the great speeches of Washington, Patrick Henry and Lincoln all eloquently capture the essence of the American creed.

But teaching young people to be patriots requires something more. It requires what the ancient Greeks called a paragon, or character ideal. Many of today's students have difficulty distinguishing between a celebrity and a hero. We must acquaint them with America's great statesmen, lawgivers, military heroes and social crusaders, and lead them to say, "I want to be like that."

Our students need to hear the stories of George Washington at Valley Forge and of Nathan Hale's last words. But they should also hear the voices of ordinary Americans, like Union soldier Sullivan Ballou, who wrote movingly of his love of country to his wife before the battle of Bull Run. Novels and stories are another powerful source of patriotic sentiments. My own children have thrilled to "Johnny Tremain," and I still remember how moved I was at reading Edward Everett Hale's "The Man without a Country" in ninth grade.

Today's affluent students generally take America's economic freedom for granted. For this reason, they need to hear the stories of immigrants like Elie Wiesel, Frank Capra and Jaime Escalante -- who endured great hardships for a chance to live the American dream. Students should also read the inspiring stories of African-Americans, like Frederick Douglass and George Washington Carver, who -- despite a heritage of slavery -- overcame extraordinary obstacles to achieve success.

Abraham Lincoln may have put it best in his description of the patriotism of the great statesman Henry Clay. Clay, said Lincoln, had "loved his country partly because it was his own country, but mostly because it was a free country; and he burned with a zeal for its advancement, prosperity and glory, because he saw in such, the advancement, prosperity and glory of human liberty, human right and human nature." This is the lesson that we must teach our young people.

-- Katherine Kersten is a senior fellow of the Center of the American Experiment in Minneapolis.  This column is an expansion of an article she did for the Fordham Foundation's Web site on school resources for Sept. 11.