Education is at war and the battle being fought is how American history should be taught to the nation’s youth. Should students learn about white privilege through critical race theory (CRT), how slavery shaped our nation and still does so today, courtesy of the 1619 Project, or receive patriotic teaching through the 1776 Curriculum? The line in the sand has been drawn, but the 1776 Curriculum is gaining a little traction.
“If history and science have taught us anything, it is that passion and desire are not the same as truth.” ~ E.O. Wilson
It seems as though it would be simple to decide what to teach our children, right? Facts and the truth should be the first things that spring to mind for any educator. The problem is that reality can be manipulated by agendas and the truth becomes a matter of teaching ideology instead of facts.
Every year, educators review subjects and decide what should be added to or deleted from the curriculum. This is necessary since teaching about the past must evolve because history is made each and every day. What is in the textbooks of 50 years ago would not include such historical events as the September 11 terrorist attacks, the fall of the Berlin Wall, Roe v. Wade (then and now), Richard Nixon and Watergate, the birth of the internet, COVID pandemic, and, of course, the mystery objects recently shot down by US military – just to name a few.
However, scholars and administrators decide which events, people, and politics should become obsolete or idealized and the history taught to our children is a product of these choices. This becomes problematic when, as critics argue, the subject matter promotes racism and division, focusing on blaming a race of people for society’s woes.
“If you don’t know history, it’s as if you were born yesterday. If you were born yesterday then any leader can tell you anything.” ~ Howard Zinn
Although CRT has been a part of the educational system for a while now, it only recently gained attention during the pandemic, when children were forced to learn from home and parents realized just how much indoctrination was going on behind classroom doors. Concerned about what their children were learning, they were called “domestic terrorists” for daring to speak up.
While CRT’s method seems rooted in demonstrating that white people are bad and need to atone for their sins, the 1619 Project focuses on slavery and how it shaped America. Both schools of thought seem to have a generalized theme: reframing history to focus on slavery and people of color. To combat the propaganda in schools, former President Donald Trump commissioned the 1776 Report – a teaching of “patriotic history.” – and the idea has been catching on.
Education at War and the 1776 Curriculum Gains Ground
“Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history.” ~ Abraham Lincoln
In Pennsylvania, the Pennridge School Board voted to put a pause on the district’s diversity, equity, and inclusion plans. Now, the members are looking at adopting Hillsdale College’s 1776 Curriculum, similar to Trump’s report, because, as the school says, the teachings demonstrate how the founding principles of the US make it “an exceptionally good country.”
First released in 2021, Dr. Kathleen O’Toole, assistant provost for K-12 education at Hillsdale College, said at the time, “It comes from years of studying America, its history, and its founding principles, not some slap-dash journalistic scheme to achieve a partisan political end through students. It is a truly American education.” You can read a copy of the curriculum here. O’Toole said the 3,000-page resource pack provides lessons and reference materials so that students can learn and make informed decisions, that the teaching is evidence-based:
“It’s not about pushing a particular agenda. It’s not about making sure students have access to a specific narrative. It’s about giving them the evidence so they can go about learning what happened in American history, and then once they understand what’s happened, and have read the associated documents, then they can make a judgment for themselves about what it means and whether it’s good or bad.
“We’re not afraid of asking hard questions.”
A good example of how the 1776 Curriculum is taught in schools is Ms. Carmen Burgess’ 11th grade history class at St. Johns Classical Academy, a public charter school in Fleming Island, FL. There is a poster of “In God We Trust” that sits under the American flag and portraits of Founding Fathers decorating the classroom. Ms. Burgess wears the same school uniform as her students. She assigned the students to read aloud from Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter From Birmingham Jail,” then asks the class: “How should we determine if a law is just? Which virtue is shown in Dr. King’s letter? Which virtues were denied to Dr. King and the other protesters?”
“Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” ~ George Santayana
Not all Pennridge parents are happy about the proposed change. The Philadelphia Inquirer quoted Laura Foster as saying, “They’re setting this framework where you’re pulling out the reality of our history. This is going to perpetuate this place of white privilege that lives in Upper Bucks County.”
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Sean Wilentz, a history professor at Princeton University, criticized both the 1619 project and the 1776 Curriculum, saying the later was a distortion of facts. “The Hillsdale 1776 Curriculum fundamentally distorts modern American history into a crusade of righteous conservative patriots against heretical big-government liberals. It has no place in any school system that values education over indoctrination.”
James Grossman, executive director of the American Historical Association, called the 1776 Curriculum a “bunch of nonsense,” saying, “They’re trying to inculcate a certain notion of what it means to be an American” by leaving out a lot of details on progressives such as President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal, providing “very little on what the programs actually bring to people, other than a sense of entitlement and dependence on the state.” He claims the method tries to connect the Founding Fathers with conservative policies, such as securing the nation’s borders.
The truth and facts need to make a comeback and perhaps the best way to do this is to incorporate parts of all three of these methods of teaching history instead of focusing on just one. After all, slavery is a big part of our ancestry and has helped to shape our country, but that is only a part of it. Studying the roots of racism can help to identify the events happening today, but in reverse. Erasing history because it’s painful or makes one angry doesn’t change the fact that it happened, but presents an opportunity to learn from it. However, some fear that what Chuck Palahniuk said may be our future: “We’ll be remembered more for what we destroy than what we create.”
.jpg&w=1920&q=75)
