This scene is taking place in a college class room and the class is discussing America being an exceptional country:  The class is giving all of the reasons why this country is so great when the Professor speaks up and replies – THAT IS NOT TRUE!  He continued:  WE USE TO BE – BUT NOT ANYMORE!   The Professor should have followed this with some thought-provoking questions like:

Why is this not true anymore – what caused the change – how can we turn things around?

But, that is  not happening because tenure is the name of the game.