Our Speaker, Jeremy Adams

About Jeremy Adams, BHS Teacher, Author
  • Jeremy has been a teacher at Bakersfield High School (BHS) for 27 years.
  • He has tremendous energy and enthusiasm, Super Speaker!
  • His second career is as a writer. (More on this later).
Youth in America
  • Cell phones and Covid changed everything for students, including their behavior and values.
  • Anxiety is the most common word he hears among students.
  • They don’t want to watch movies because they can’t pay attention that long. If they do watch movies, they watch them at 1.5 speed with subtitles so they can also be on their phones.
  • Kids say we need to make the world nicer for them.
Adults in America
  • America is rampant with civic ignorance and decay.
  • Less than one third of the people in the US can name the three branches of government.
  • We need character, virtue, and wisdom back in our lives and schools.  Adults need to lead.
  • Adults in our society need to start adulting.
Recent data Jeremy shared that should frighten you or at least make you nervous
  • 40% of Gen Z characterizes the American Founders as “villains.”
  • 1 in 3 Gen Z view Obama Bin Laden’s ideas as “a force for good.”
  • Only 18% of young people are “extremely proud” of being Americans.
  • A mere 52% of American said they’d fight for the country if invaded.
  • 30% of Americans are broadly dissatisfied with their lives.
  • We have less confidence in our institutions than those of any other G7 Nations.
  • Barely a quarter of Americans say they are “satisfied” with democracy.
  • 43% of millennials believe that success is outside their control.
His second (simultaneous) career as a writer
  • Jeremy has written five books to date on civics, history, and teaching.
  • He said that Plutarch, who lived during the first and second centuries CE, made an impact on the Founding Fathers. They were inspired by the Greeks and Romans in his history books (Plutarch’s Lives, v. 1 and v. 2)
  • He maintains we need an American Plutarch today to shine the light on great people.
  • Jeremy is doing his part to that end in his book “Lessons in Liberty: Thirty Rules for Living from Ten Extraordinary Americans.” For example:
    • Daniel Inouye – “Patriotism doesn’t wait for perfection”
      “A revered Japanese-American senator who carried out daring missions in World War II, despite being subjected to shocking racial discrimination by the very nation he risked his life to defend.”
    • James Madison – “Always be willing to change your mind”
      “Perhaps the most under-appreciated person in American history, this Father of the Constitution and fourth president is present in almost every pivotal chapter in early American history. His secret? Always be the most prepared person in the room, don’t worry about who gets the credit, and finally, always be willing to change your mind.”
    • Arthur Ashe – “Change the world in your own way”
      “Famous as a tennis champion, Arthur Ashe was much more. He learned how to battle the likes of McEnroe and Connors, stand up again the atrocities of apartheid in South Africa, and modeled what it means to die with utter dignity and humanity. His life lessons are truly timeless.”
    • If this book interests you, as it did many at the meeting, you can go to the link from this QR code to purchase this book.  The link take you to the book on Amazon
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The wonderment of history is not in what they got wrong, but what they got right.