In February 1795, a young American named Hinton James set foot from Wilmington, North Carolina toward a little known chapel on a hill 150 miles northwest. By putting one foot in front of another, he established a track for what has become a rite of passage for nearly four million Americans each year.
James was the University of North Carolina's first student. While he did not create the University, he was the first person to show up for class, making William R. Davie's paper charter a reality in Chapel Hill. With this, a model for one of the United States of America's strongest defenses -- its public higher education system -- was set.
Today 45 Aspen Institute Franklin Project Ambassadors distributed across 25 states and 35 cities, including three in North Carolina, seek to establish another rite of passage for young Americans, a civic rite of passage: a year of full-time paid national service. We believe it should be a common opportunity and a cultural expectation for young Americans to do a "service year" between the ages of 18 and 28, and our goal is to create one million opportunities across the U.S. by 2023.
Why? We live in a rapidly evolving world driven by changes in demographics, globalization, and technology. Our challenges in the economy, education, energy and the environment, and health are outpacing the rise and distribution of effective solutions, and we need a surge of new energy to take advantage of this opportunity to lead rather than squander it as sedentary agitators.
U.S. citizens no longer have to walk, as James did, what Google Maps indicates takes 48 nonstop hours to school. Anyone can attend to world-class lectures at any time from anywhere with internet access and a smart phone. Yet our country's leaders can't seem to solve a basic math problem (as Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles point out), earn and keep our trust (84 percent of Americans disapprove of the job Congress is doing), or conduct the sausage making of governance that has defined our nation since its inception.
The result is an increasing number of unsolved, systemic challenges and a growing concern for the United States' global leadership and competitive future. While we act half awake, the world rises ready to eat us for breakfast. So what to do?
First, we should take comfort in the fact that we Americans are good at rising to an occasion. General Washington crossed the Delaware in the cold of Christmas night to change the direction of the American Revolution. Major General George Meade's Army of the Potomac advanced on Gettysburg to defeat the Confederate Army's invasion of the north. 250,000 Americans marched on Washington with Martin Luther King Jr. to expand American civil rights. At our best, we have faith in our future and we pursue it relentlessly mindful of the African proverb, "When you pray, move your feet."
Second, we should recognize that we have let our guard down. While three million Americans fought in the American Civil War and 12 percent of United States served in the armed forces during World War II, nearly two generations of Americans have not been obligated to serve at all since 1973. Today less than 0.5 percent of the U.S. population actively serves in the armed forces. The decline of duty has not only resulted in a disconnect between U.S. military personnel and American civilians, it's created a disconnect between Americans and service to each other.
Third, we should remember what the historian Paul Johnson tells us, "the creation of the United States is the greatest of all human adventures." We know the basic structure of a good story is a character who wants something and overcomes conflict to get it. We forget that our founding fathers pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honors to start our country. All great stories are told in conflict and our creation is continuous. As American citizens we are characters in this shared adventure, and this chapter's on us.
Finally, we must renew a commitment to our future from the inside out. Ariel Durant tells us that a great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within. That's why in 2012 when Bob Schieffer asked General Stanley McChrystal if the United States should have another draft, he said that we need more young Americans doing civilian national service. General McChrystal, chair of the Franklin Project, understands that at the top of the list of U.S. national security threats is a fiasco close to home which many of us interact with every day: the U.S. education system.
As a Franklin Project Ambassador and a North Carolinian, I am proud to say this is where North Carolina can continue to lead. In the past century North Carolinians have expanded early childhood education, developed a 50+ campus community college system, and created a 17-school UNC system not to mention North Carolina's many independent colleges and universities. None of this has unfolded overnight or with ease, as the recent film A Generation of Change attests, and we know we have a way to go.
The Franklin Project's national goal is for there to be one million opportunities for young people to complete a civilian service year by 2023. North Carolina's share, proportional to the electoral college, is 28,000.
There are 645,000 18- to 28-year olds in North Carolina. My fellow Ambassadors and I seek that one in 20 young North Carolinians will commit to grow as individuals and to defend our country through a year of full-time paid national service. There are 700,000 veterans in our state. Let's not let their attention to our national security rest in vain. Let's follow Hinton James' example and lead systemic change with new tools in a new time through education.
This post is part of a series produced by The Huffington Post and the Aspen Institute's Franklin Project in conjunction with Giving Tuesday. The series, which will run for the month of November, features pieces written by Franklin Project Ambassadors, local leaders who are working with community stakeholders in 25 states toward the Franklin Project's vision of making a year of national service -- a service year -- a cultural expectation, common opportunity, and civic rite of passage for every young American. For more on service year opportunities and organizations, visit https://serviceyr.org.