AMERICAN VALUES: Do they still hold strong? This town questions their future

NOEL, Mo. – Some Americans in the middle of the country think the values they learned growing up are disappearing, though others said it depends on where you live. 

"I think overall they're alive and well," Noel Mayor Terry Lance told Fox News. "I think really the American value has come down to wanting a decent life and a better one for your kids."

But Travis said "they’ve been lost." 

"The values are gone, and it's nothing like it was in the ‘80s, ’90s and early 2000s," he said.

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Several values Americans have traditionally held have plummeted in priority over the past 25 years. In a 2023 Wall Street Journal-NORC poll, 27% of respondents said community involvement was "very important" compared to 47% in 1998. Only 30% said the same about having children, a steep decline from 59%. And 67% said hard work was "very important," down from 83% in 1998.

Some residents in Noel, Missouri, a small town in the Ozarks with a population under 2,000, described how they defined "American values." 

"American values is more emphasis on the family unit and your community," Dwight told Fox News. "Anything you can do to make your community better, your country better, is a great thing."

Janice said "feeding people, taking care of people and helping our elderly" were the most important values. One man, Jesús, told Fox News "having integrity" was essential.

Travis painted a picture of the kind of life he was taught to value while growing up.

"Going to work, coming home, being with your family, doing your chores at home, and when you go to bed at night you close your eyes, you say your prayers," he described. "Then you wake up, you do it again the next morning, and you know you've got the support of your family and the love of your family."

Residents in small-town Missouri define "American Values" as family, integrity and community.  (Teny Sahakian)

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Some believe traditional American values are more prominent in a small town like Noel than larger cities. 

"You get into a rural town, the living is much easier," Nate told Fox News. "There's no crime. You don't have all that big city stuff, and that's what people revert to. They're tired of the big city stuff, they want to go to the rural areas where life is simple."

Manuel said living in a small town is "like a little time capsule."

"Everything around the bigger cities, they change. Everybody has their own ways of thinking and their own values," he said. "Here, people are set in their own ways, and it's nice."

"We get to know our mayor here. You talk to the marshal," he added. "Bigger cities or corporations, institutions, they don't know who you are."

Several people, however, think traditional values are eroding. 

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"It used to be that Americans had a lot of values, that they took a lot of pride in homeownership and being good people," Jimmy said. "I think now there's not a whole lot of pride in things, and I think it's because the economy has gotten a little worse and prices are up for everything."

"It's hard to be happy and take pride when things are so difficult right now," she added. 

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John said the dissolution of the nuclear family is to blame. 

"The nuclear family, the community and everybody working together is a family value," he said. "When that's taught to the generations coming up, then they have respect for their neighbors, their property around them, and they take civic responsibility and pride in what they do."

"That's not done anymore because the nuclear family is in so many different directions," John added.