A majority of American adults and teens want to help make the United States a better place to live, a survey from the America250 Foundation, the nonprofit arm of the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission, finds.

A survey of more than twelve hundred adults and more than three hundred teenagers conducted in May found that American adults are "united by classic American ideals," with 92 percent indicating that they wanted to help make the U.S. a better place to live, 83 percent saying they believed in the American Dream of working hard, and 79 percent saying they would rather live in the U.S. than elsewhere. Eighty-one percent of adult respondents associated America with freedom, followed by opportunity (80 percent), hard work (76 percent), and diversity (74 percent).

Conducted by Social Science Research Solutions, the survey found that American teens shared similar sentiments, with 77 percent saying they wanted to help the country become a better place to live. A majority of teens (87 percent) also indicated that they wanted to learn more about some aspect of U.S. history, government, or civics, including non-white history (46 percent), voters' rights (34 percent), the Civil War (30 percent), religion (29 percent), World War II (29 percent), the Great Depression (28 percent), and local government (26 percent).

According to the survey, just 31 percent of American adults believe U.S. history is taught in a fair and balanced way and that 90 percent think "a better job should be done teaching civics." Adult respondents also indicated they wanted to learn more about topics that are relevant to America today, including non-white history (47 percent), rights and responsibilities as a citizen (43 percent), migration and immigration (32 percent), lobbying (32 percent), how the U.S. government functions in the world (31 percent), and economics (30 percent).

"In spite of all the challenges we have endured this past year, we are encouraged that Americans are united in working toward a better future as we begin the official introduction of America250," said U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission chair Daniel M. DiLella."Our mission is to commemorate our 250th anniversary with inclusive programs that inspire Americans to renew and strengthen our daring experiment in democracy."

(Photo credit: Trent Yarnell via Unsplash)