The Brief

A decade ago, California schools introduced a new K-12 science curriculum that was hands-on, interactive and designed to prepare students for the challenges of the 21st century.

But since the state started testing students on the new Next Generation Science Standards in 2019, the first time ever California assessed students in science, test scores have barely budged, with stark gaps among some groups of students.

“In large part, science has not been viewed as a priority. It’s been moved to the back burner,” said Jessica Sawko, education director at the research and advocacy organization Children Now, and former head of the state’s association of science teachers. “But science needs to be a priority. How will we prepare our kids to make sense of the world around them?”

In 2019, three years after most schools began teaching the new science curriculum, only 30% of students met the standard on the state exam. Last year, the number had inched up to only 30.7%.

Wide gaps exist among student groups. Among students whose parents graduated from college, 42% met the standard, compared to 17% of those whose parents never went beyond high school. Fewer than than 21% of low-income students met the standard. Only 15% of Black students met the standard, compared to 61% of Asian students.

Delays and obstacles

There’s a few reasons for the stagnant scores, experts said. Pandemic school closures set achievement back significantly for all subjects, but it especially affected science because so much of the new science curriculum centers on hands-on projects, which were nearly impossible to conduct over Zoom.

And after the pandemic, schools focused their recovery efforts on literacy, math and attendance, the most glaring challenges as students returned to in-person learning. Chronic absenteeism, for example, soared from 10% pre-pandemic to 30% in 2022.

Another reason for the low science scores is accountability, Sawko and others said. For the first few years of the new science test, the scores were not posted on the state’s Dashboard — the primary means of publicizing students’ academic performance. The rationale is that the test was new and the state was still working out the kinks.

Last year, the results were posted at the bottom of the Dashboard in an area marked “informational purposes.” Unlike the other features of the dashboard, such as math and English language arts scores, science was not color coded to indicate the performance level of individual schools or student groups. The science results were solid gray.

When the new scores are released this fall, science will be color-coded on the Dashboard, but science still falls short of full accountability, advocates said. Low-performing schools won’t be singled out by the state for extra assistance, although that might change next year.

A science banner hangs in teacher Maryhien Pham’s eighth-grade science class at Lawson Middle School in Cupertino on Aug. 26, 2025.

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Teacher Emily Adams in her eighth-grade science class.

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A student uses a pipette during a hands-on exercise at Lawson Middle School in Cupertino on Aug. 26, 2025.

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Another obstacle has been teacher training. After California adopted the new standards, it didn’t invest any money in professional development until 2023. For many years, districts used their own funds or found private grants to pay for teacher training, but by fall 2020 at least 30%-40% of teachers had received no training in the new standards, according to a survey by the California Association of Science Educators. Teachers at low-income and rural schools received the least training.

In 2023 the state allotted $85 million to improve math, science and computer science education, but only about $1.5 million went to train teachers in science. The rest went to train teachers in math and computer science – which also recently got new standards – and to host family STEM nights and other activities. The money went to county offices of education to distribute locally.

The grant expires in 2027, and it’s crucial that the state continue that investment, said Shari Staub, co-leader of the California Math, Science and Computer Science Partnership.

“We are daily faced with public health challenges, climate challenges, equity challenges — all the things a scientifically literate population should be able to address, not just for California but for the world,” Staub said. “If we’re not investing in science, we are not preparing students for the world they are entering.”

Three-dimensional learning

The Next Generation Science Standards were created in 2011 by an education nonprofit called Achieve, with help from 26 states and dozens of science education experts. The idea was to make science more engaging and “three-dimensional,” as the authors put it, by combining concepts from multiple scientific disciplines so students could discover patterns and systems. Students would gain critical thinking skills and a solid understanding of scientific concepts, largely by doing hands-on projects rather than listening to lectures.

Many school districts in California have embraced the new standards and seen scores improve. In fact, California public schools — particularly those in tech hubs — have some of the top science programs in the country. California students routinely win the National Science Bowl, Science Olympiad and other national competitions.

For the most part, those districts invested their own funds early in the rollout to train their teachers. And they have strong support from parents, financial and otherwise. That amounts to PTA funds that teachers can use to pay for science field trips or extra help in the classroom, plenty of parent volunteers and an overall expectation that science education is a priority.

None of the top-performing schools were Title I low-income schools, but they weren’t all homogenous affluent schools, either. Some had 25% or more low-income students, large percentages of English learners and diverse student populations. They might have PTA support, but they don’t receive much extra money from the state because they don’t have large numbers of high-needs students.

Students Hasini Chandrasekhar, left, and Julie Lim fill out a worksheet during their eighth-grade science class at Lawson Middle School in Cupertino on Aug. 26, 2025.

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La Cañada Unified near Pasadena, for example, received only $13,700 per student last year from the state, about $5,000 less than the state average. But more than 77% of students met or exceeded the science standards last year, some of the highest scores in the state.

Each elementary school in the district has a science lab and an aide to assist with science projects. A summer camp called “STEM-nauts” pairs older students with younger ones for science-themed games and experiments. The high school offers five Advanced Placement science classes and a host of science-related extracurricular activities, including an astronomy club, neuroscience club and chemistry club. Students can do internships at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is a quarter-mile from the high school.

“In our district, the science kids are the cool kids,” said James Cartnal, assistant superintendent. “Science is part of the culture here. We work intentionally and very hard to make it that way.”

‘Think like scientists’

At Lawson Middle School in Cupertino, science is nearly everyone’s favorite subject. The science classrooms are boisterous places with students conducting experiments and trying to figure out solutions. The shelves are well stocked with beakers, scales and microscopes. Colorful tapestries of the periodic table hang from the ceiling. Anime renditions of the elements — including xenon, helium, germanium, cadmium — adorn the walls.

One recent afternoon, students in Emily Adams’ eighth grade science class did a lesson on measurements. Adams started by asking them why accurate measurements are important. Their answers: so astronauts know how much fuel is left in their rocketship; so truck drivers know if their vehicle will fit under an overpass; and so doctors know how much medicine they’re giving a patient.

Then they worked in groups to measure various objects, using an infrared thermometer, an electronic scale and other tools.

“This class is fun. I like all the labs, figuring out how things work in the real world,” said student Neil Dhaman. “P.E. is my favorite class, but this is second.”

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Adams said the class was typical, in that she spends about 10 minutes explaining a few main concepts and the students spend the rest of the class on projects related to the concepts. “I want them to focus on skills and critical thinking, not just regurgitate facts,” Adams said. “I want them to think like scientists.”

Cupertino is in the heart of Silicon Valley, home to the Apple computer headquarters and dozens of tech start-ups. Google and Facebook are a few miles away. Despite the lure of six-figure salaries in Silicon Valley, Cupertino Union School District has very little turnover among science teachers, a key reason the science scores are so high, said Marie Crawford, the district’s director of instructional leadership and intervention.

“The teachers know each other, work together, help each other out,” Crawford said. “It makes a big difference.”

Like La Cañada, Cupertino Union School District does not receive a lot of money from the state. Last year, the state provided $16,400 per student, far below the state average.

In teacher Maryhien Pham’s class, eighth grader Aanya Dhar and her classmates demonstrated how to find the mass of a marble by dropping it into a cylinder of water, and weighing the cylinder before and after. The answer: 3 milliliters.

“I might want to be a scientist when I grow up,” Dhar said. “I like learning about new things, experimenting, getting to know how things work.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

Think about all the things we do during the summer. We go outside more. We jump into bodies of open water. We bake under the hot sun. We light fires and cook over them.

This stuff is all fun, of course, but it's also risky.

Spare a moment to think about your safety this season, won't you? Here's how to protect yourself against drowning, heat exhaustion, tick bites and more.

Learn these 5 water safety skills 

Reported by Marielle Segarra 

According to the American Red Cross, at a minimum, everyone should know these five basic water safety skills.

First, make sure you are comfortable with jumping into water, submerging yourself completely and bringing yourself to the surface. Once you've returned to the surface, you should be able to float or tread water for one minute. When treading water, stay relaxed so you don't overexert yourself.

From there, you'll want to be able to turn around in a full circle and find an exit. Knowing how to get out of the water is "just as important as getting into the water," says Cullen Jones, an Olympic gold medalist swimmer and a water safety advocate.

Next, you should be able to swim 25 yards to an exit without stopping. You can use whichever stroke you're comfortable with. Jones adds that most pools in the U.S. are 25 yards.

Finally, make sure you can exit the pool or body of water without a ladder. Jones used the phrase "elbow, elbow, tummy, knee, knee" to teach his 3-year-old son this skill. (For more tips on how to become a strong swimmer, click here.) 

Designate a "water-watcher" to prevent drowning

Reported by Marielle Segarra 

A designated "water-watcher" is an adult who is responsible for monitoring the water and the kids in it.

To take on this role, the water-watcher should be sober and focused. They should also have their phone nearby in case they need to call 911. After a set period of time, like 15 minutes, rotate water-watchers. It's also helpful if they know CPR and have a flotation device they can use in a rescue. (Take our quiz to test how much you know about kids and water safety.) 

Know the signs of heat exhaustion 

Reported by Clare Marie Schneider 

If you're out with a group of friends on a hot day, keep an eye on each other, looking for signs of illness. "Somebody may notice something in you that you don't notice," says Dr. Renee Salas, assistant professor of emergency medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Heat exhaustion is your body's warning sign that you're starting to overheat, Salas says. Generally, symptoms include sweating more than usual, weakness, dizziness, fainting, pale skin, nausea, vomiting and fatigue.

Pay special attention to seniors, children, people with certain preexisting medical conditions like heart disease and diabetes, and people on commonly prescribed medications to help manage blood pressure and mental health conditions. They are at higher risk of heat-related illness, Salas says.

If you or someone you know is experiencing signs of heat exhaustion, Salas recommends going into an air-conditioned room. If you can't find a cooler place, call 911, Salas says.

If you're still experiencing symptoms of heat exhaustion after removing yourself from the heat, seek medical care. (More tips on how to protect yourself against extreme heat here.) 

Do a tick check after spending time outdoors 

Reported by Pien Huang 

It's estimated that about 31 million people in the U.S. get bitten by a tick every year. Summer is peak tick season, and unfortunately, ticks can spread diseases, like Lyme. 

If you're spending time outdoors in the summer, especially in an area where ticks are common, like the Northeast, cover your skin as much as possible.

For instance, if you're going on a hike or working in the yard, you could wear long sleeves and long pants and tuck your pants into your socks. Then spray your clothes and your skin with an EPA-recommended repellent. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that you use permethrin on your clothes and DEET on exposed skin.

If you're hiking, stay on the trail and out of the tall grass.

When you get home, throw your clothes in the dryer if possible — that will kill ticks — and check your body for them right away. Generally speaking, the longer a tick is latched onto your body the more likely it is to spread disease. (Listen to our episode on ticks for more information on prevention.)

Grill in an open space, away from the house 

Reported by Ruth Tam 

Take precautions to prevent fire accidents. Before you light your grill, read your grill's manual. It'll give you crucial information about how and where to set it up safely. Avoid putting your grill against the side of your house or under a patio roof or someone else's balcony, for example.

"You want to have your grill in open air so there's a lot of space for the air to circulate and for the heat to disperse itself," says Jess Larson, founder of the food blog Plays Well With Butter.

If the fire seems like it's getting out of hand, don't panic. "When in doubt, just close the lid [and the vents] and have the fire die out on its own," says Larson. Cutting off the oxygen supply should kill the fire in a matter of minutes. And, just in case, "it's always a good idea to have a fire extinguisher on hand." (Read our story on grilling for beginners for more tips.)

The story was edited by Meghan Keane. The visual editor is CJ Riculan. We'd love to hear from you. Leave us a voicemail at 202-216-9823, or email us at LifeKit@npr.org.

Listen to Life Kit on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and sign up for our newsletter. Follow us on Instagram: @nprlifekit.

Copyright 2026 NPR

Published July 11, 2018 — This summer, the world's biggest sporting event has an American soundtrack. At every match of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, players have walked onto the field to the opening strains of "Seven Nation Army," the song first released in 2003 by The White Stripes.

More than 2 million people have heard it blaring over PA systems in stadiums across Russia. So have hundreds of millions of television viewers around the world. That arguably makes it the world's most popular sports anthem — which isn't bad for a song from a country whose men's national team failed to qualify for the quadrennial world championship this year.

"It's simple, catchy and aggressive, so it's perfect for a sports anthem," says Alan Siegel, a Washington, D.C.-based journalist who reported on how "Seven Nation Army" found a home in stadiums around the world for the sports website Deadspin.

Siegel says that the first thing you'll notice hearing the song at a sporting event is that instead of Jack White's impassioned vocal line, fans sing the song's central guitar riff. "It's just, 'Ohh, oh-OH-oh-oh ohhhh, ohhh,' and that's it, just over and over and over. It just gets hypnotic."

It's a simple musical phrase: just five different pitches, spread out over less than an octave. "And with the exception of the second note, the notes are all in sequence in the scale — like consecutive steps on a ladder," explains Nate Sloan, co-host of the podcast Switched On Pop. "It's very egalitarian, the kind of riff that's the first thing you figure out when you're learning how to play guitar."

The minor key gives it an intimidating ring. "Those last two notes — from the flat six to the five — have a lot of weight in musical history. You hear them a lot in laments, which form a genre going back to the baroque," Sloan says. The rhythm compounds that feeling: "By holding on to that first note, it generates a feeling of suspense. Then you get the almost machine-gun rapid fire of the next four notes, and they're syncopated, on the off-beats. ... That gives the riff an urgency that makes it much more memorable."

"Seven Nation Army" didn't catch on right away: The song only made it to No. 76 on the Billboard Hot 100 after its release in March 2003 (though it did top the Alternative Songs chart). Its life as a sports anthem began six months later, when fans of the Belgian soccer team Club Brugge KV traveled to Italy for a UEFA Champions League match against one of the giants of European football, A.C. Milan.

"Some supporter groups were having some drinks before the match, and 'Seven Nation Army' was playing," Siegel says. "And then Brugge, which is not a traditional power, ended up upsetting Milan." The Belgians sang the riff as their team eked out a 1-0 victory, then brought it home as an unofficial club anthem.

Three years later, Club Brugge played host to another Italian team, A.S. Roma, and the tables turned the other way: The Romans headed home with a 2-1 victory — and a brand-new stadium anthem that they'd learned from the Belgians. That summer, Italian fans made the "Seven Nation Army" riff their own in the run-up to the 2006 World Cup, where they would score again.

"At that point, it sort of becomes the anthem of the Italian national team — and Italy wins the World Cup," Siegel says. "So it just takes off there."

Within a year, the song had made its way from European soccer to American football, starting with fans of Penn State's Nittany Lions. (Siegel says it was introduced by an executive in the school's athletic department who had heard fans singing it during Italy's championship run.) From there, other universities picked it up. NFL fans started singing it. NBA and NHL teams blared the recording during games. And music publishers sold thousands of arrangements for marching bands.

Within a few years, the song had entered the pantheon of stadium jams, alongside Metallica's "Enter Sandman" and Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger." But Sloan says "Seven Nation Army" has something that those anthems lack: singability.

"It's a folk melody," he says. "The riff has been deracinated and transformed into this instantly translatable chant."

Today, many soccer fans use the "Seven Nation Army" chant to sing the praises of players — especially those with five-syllable names, which notch neatly into the riff's last five notes. "We'll do it with Maxi Moralez, our No. 10, " says Neil Govoni, a supporter of the Major League Soccer team New York City FC. "And when [Italian player] Andrea Pirlo was here, that was also used for him. That cadence works a lot with many different players."

Professional soccer players disagree on whether chants make a difference down on the pitch. NYC FC defender Sebastien Ibeagha says he is too busy to listen when he's playing: "Half the time I don't really hear them," he says. "I can't say I've heard one yet that I've really picked up on. Sometimes I don't even know what they're saying, 'cause they're just so loud."

But two-time Olympic gold medalist and World Cup champion goalkeeper Briana Scurry says fan chants make a big difference to professionals."A lot of players might say professionally, 'Oh, we don't hear it,' " Scurry says. "But we do. We're human. It's a big energy boost. To have your home fans chanting together — it's very powerful and a moving experience."

Part of that power comes from hearing so many fans chant together in unison — an experience Sloan likens to being "a tuning fork in a sea of tuning forks."

"This is how people sang for a long time, especially before the advent of notation when music was strictly an oral tradition," he says. "Technology has eroded that in many ways, because so much music is now recorded. The moments today that allow us to access that more ritual and more social role of music are rare — like when we're singing 'Happy Birthday' or 'Auld Lang Syne.'

"At a moment when music education and arts education is at such a crisis point, I find any moment of public group singing is exciting," he adds. "It might get people interested in music who might not otherwise be — like, 'Maybe I'll join the choir!' "

Govoni agrees in principle, but he's over "Seven Nation Army" as a chant — especially after all the exposure at this summer's World Cup. Fan culture, he says, is a living thing that's always changing: "There are some songs that we sang in the first season that aren't really sung as much anymore, because we come up with new ones gradually."

As far as sporting events worldwide, however, Siegel says The White Stripes' riff hasn't worn out its welcome just yet.

"To be honest, I started to get tired of hearing it," he says. "But at every major soccer tournament, you start hearing it again. It's got a life of its own. It ebbs and flows, but you're gonna hear it."

Daoud Tyler-Ameen adapted this story for the Web.
Copyright 2026 NPR

The state of California is walking back protections meant to keep destructive golden mussels out of Lake Oroville, one of the largest and most important reservoirs in the state.

The move follows a new state-funded risk assessment that the invasive species poses a lower risk to the lake, which water managers say changes the state’s calculus on costly and difficult measures aimed at keeping the invaders at bay.

No state agencies or scientists have found mussels in Oroville yet. But invasive species experts say the revised policy of the Department of Water Resources increases the likelihood that golden mussels will invade Lake Oroville and hitch a ride on boats to other lakes. They disagree, though, about whether preventing such an incursion is even possible.

”California is under an epidemic of golden mussels,” said Anthony Ricciardi, a professor of biology and the director of the Bieler School of Environment at McGill University. “Like in any epidemic, you got to control the key hubs — or else the war is lost.”

Reopening Lake Oroville

California water managers first discovered golden mussels invading California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta in October 2024 — marking their first detection in North America.

The voracious and rapidly spreading mussels can encrust surfaces so thoroughly that they choke off water supplies and damage dams and power plants.

They are now invading critical infrastructure in the Delta. And the very pumps, canals and aqueducts that keep water flowing to much of the state are funneling the larvae to irrigation districts and water suppliers downstream.

San Joaquin and Kern Counties have declared states of emergency, and state officials are updating key facilities along the state’s nature-defying water delivery system to reduce mussel damage.

With summer weather coming in hot, state water managers said that they are ending a program to prevent mussels and their larvae from stowing away on boats to invade Lake Oroville, one of California’s largest reservoirs.

The department now no longer requires inspections and decontamination for boats launching at Lake Oroville and nearby reservoirs — the Thermalito Forebay and the Thermalito Afterbay.

The Department of Water Resources says lakes and launches upstream in the Feather River watershed didn’t take similar precautions, raising the risk that golden mussel larvae would wash into the reservoir on river flows regardless of the boat inspections.

The cost of the inspection program for the lake was also around $7.5 million to start it up, and $6.5 million per year to continue it. Installing UV treatment to prevent mussels from settling in the pipes at powerplants downstream from Oroville, by contrast, would cost an estimated $1 million.

“We severely impacted recreation at that lake,” said Tanya Veldhuizen, special projects section manager in the California Department of Water Resources’ environmental assessment branch. “We also evaluated the risk to our infrastructure and what it would take to mitigate mussels — and that was much lower than expected.”

Cold water, fewer mussels? 

The decision reflects the findings from a new risk analysis the department commissioned for these reservoirs and related hydropower and fishery hatchery facilities, as well as for the Upper Feather River Lakes.

Conducted by a Canada-based consulting firm specializing in aquatic invasive species, the assessment reports that, while surface temperatures are warm enough for the mussels to survive in shallower water at Lake Oroville, they’re too cold lower down for the mussels to reproduce at depths greater than 60 feet below the surface.

Unlike the Delta, the waters at Lake Oroville are also low in nutrients, Veldhuizen said. Between the scarce food, cold temperatures, and water levels that drop enough to dry out mussels on the shoreline, Veldhuizen said she doesn’t expect the mussels to reach nuisance levels.

The department also expects cold water released from the reservoir will slow the growth of any larvae that reach the Feather River Fish Hatchery and the Oroville-Thermalito Complex powerplants downstream.

But Oroville’s shoreline, boats and docks remain at risk — and that’s what worries Ricciardi.

“That's where the action is. The boats will be moving them,” Ricciardi said — because boats and aquatic weeds clinging to vessels and their trailers can ferry mussels from one lake to another.

Fish and Game Warden Mark Rose and Allee, a Belgian Malinois, who was trained to sniff golden mussels at Thermalito Forebay, in Oroville in June 2025. The dog sniffs watercraft in an attempt at detecting the golden mussel and preventing its spread into California lakes.

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And adult mussels can actually survive even in very cold water, says Demetrio Boltovskoy, a retired researcher formerly at Argentina’s National Scientific and Technical Research Council. One study in China found they can live for weeks at near-freezing temperatures.

Still, Boltovskoy said that while he isn’t specifically familiar with Lake Oroville, reducing precautions may be reasonable.

“No matter what precautionary measures you take, sooner or later it will spread,” he said. “I don't think that stopping their range expansion is actually feasible at all.”

But invasive species experts are sharply divided on the subject. That’s true especially in California.

Last year, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife told CalMatters that invasions delayed translated to money saved. This year, the wildlife department directed inquiries about the new Oroville strategy to the Department of Water Resources.

“There’s so much to protect yet,” Martha Volkoff, environmental program manager for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Invasive Species Program, said last summer. “Yes, it’s a lot of work, but the long-term savings — to the environment and to all the other ways that it costs us — is investment well spent, even if we just delay new introductions.”

Relying on boaters: Clean, drain, dry

The responsibility now rests more heavily with boaters to ensure their boats are clean, drained and dry — especially when leaving an infested body of water, like the Delta.

If state water managers detect mussels at Lake Oroville, she said, the department will begin inspecting boats as they leave the lake.

It's a strategy already in use at other infested lakes, including Castaic and Pyramid.

Managers of other Northern California lakes told CalMatters they will continue their inspection programs, including at lakes Folsom, Tahoe and Berryessa.

Drew Gantner, manager of water resources at Solano County Water Agency, which oversees the mussel program at Lake Berryessa, called the Oroville decision concerning.

“If Lake Oroville does surrender its program and becomes infested with golden mussels it creates an increased risk for all waterbodies,” Gantner said. “At that point, any watercraft travelling to Berryessa (or anywhere else) from Lake Oroville would essentially be no different than watercraft coming from the Delta.”  

Ricciardi agreed that the stakes extend well past Oroville’s dam and downstream facilities.

“There is another thing about invasions. They often surprise you,” Ricciardi said. “Sometimes invaders don't act the way they're supposed to act.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters — sign up for their newsletters — and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

Some years ago, we were living in South Jersey, outside of Philadelphia. We had friends visiting, so we decided to take them to Independence Hall, where, as all Americans know, the Declaration of Independence was signed. As a Brit, I was excited to see the actual origins of American democracy.

We’d joined a tour, and I was admiring a particularly lovely wooden molding on the wall when I heard the guide say, “And that was when the British surrendered.”

I stopped in my tracks. Excuse me? You see, we, the British, do not surrender. You may have heard that, via our publicist Winston Churchill. We do not surrender on beaches. Or fields, or streets or hills, or any manner of geographic landmark.

I turned to my American husband. "What’s this place he’s talking about, Yorktown?" He stared at me in faint disbelief. “Um, you’ve heard of it, right? It’s where the British lost their final battle?” I shook my head. Nothing. Why did I not know this?

I mean, I had a pretty good British education. I remember learning that the American colonies had declared their Independence, but I thought that was because of the cost of tea or something — and not wanting to be judged for how posh your accent was. But the idea that Britain actually fought to keep those damn colonies — and LOST — well, that was a shock to my system.

From what I remember in the school text books, it was “America declared independence, never mind, we still ruled a lot of the world, let's move on.”

Yet as my American daughter went through school over here, U.S. history was a constant theme. The colonies, George Washington, the Civil War. What you choose to teach your children, that’s the way a country passes on its values.

What I learned in England was a lot about kings, like an Alfred who burnt the cakes, or a Henry who kept on marrying women.

Which makes me realize how much myth-making all countries do. And as an immigrant, to move from one mythology to another rattles all the marbles in your brain. How could this thing, that is so important to millions of your new co-patriots, be reduced to nothing in your childhood textbooks?

But the longer you live here, the more it shifts. And as you absorb more American history and go through Fourth of July holidays, the more you appreciate what was sacrificed to bring the nation into existence.

If I ever get to go back to Independence Hall, I hope I'll have a very different reaction. I’ll be much more aware of the import of what happened and the bravery and determination behind it.

And for that, as a comparatively new American, I am truly grateful.