DAVID WEBBER: How to frame the question 'How is America doing?'

Tuesday, March 5, 2013 | 6:00 a.m. CST

Naming something, or selecting a college course title, shapes its perception. In the case of a course title, it frames the topics discussed, the questions asked, the readings assigned, and the papers that will be written. I selected the course title “Is America in Decline?” because it is the question posed by prominent observers, including James Fallows’ “How America Can Rise Again” in the Atlantic Monthly and Fareed Zakaria in The Post-American World.

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