What boys lose when they stop studying history

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Every semester, I have the same realization.

I look across my classroom and see a room full of college students — young faces, some confident, many uncertain, all still figuring out who they are and what kind of lives they want to build. The class includes both young men and young women, bright and thoughtful students beginning to imagine their futures.

But my attention often settles on the young men. When I look at them, I cannot help thinking about the men who built the American republic and how young they were.

We often imagine the founders as older figures, seasoned statesmen and philosophers who arrived