North Dakota governor Doug Burgum just signed a bill that bans the teaching of critical race theory in K-12 schools. Here are a few of the pertinent sections: Each school district and public school shall ensure instruction of its curriculum...
K-12 education
Apparently a lot of anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers are running for local school boards
Some are saying it’s a new front in the culture wars. Back in August, CNN ran a story about about a group called “Back to School-PA” that is throwing money at anti-mask candidates. In Delaware, a group called “Stand Up...
What is going on in the Central York (Pa) School District?
Watch: The list of materials include: A pro-“Black lives matter” blog post from a New Testament professor at Biola University’s Talbot School of Theology. Biola is a conservative evangelical school in Los Angeles. An anti-racism article at the website of...
Chris Rufo of the Manhattan Institute and Ralph Richard Banks of Stanford debate critical race theory
Some of you may remember Chris Rufo as the guy who triggered Donald Trump’s opposition to critical race theory. Ralph Richard Banks is a Stanford University law professor. Joan Coaston, the host ofThe New York Times‘s podcast “The Argument,” moderated...
For the first time in American history, advocates of patriotic education are claiming their curriculum is based on fact
This is a fascinating essay by Timothy Messer-Kruse of Bowling Green State University. It covers Josh Hawley’s “Love America Act” and Hillsdale College’s 1776 Curriculum. For most of the last two centuries, patriotic schooling was not a partisan issue. Both...
A Missouri legislative committee held a hearing on teaching race and racism. No Black parents, teachers, or scholars testified
Seriously? Here is Summer Ballentine at the Associated Press: A Missouri legislative committee on Monday held a hearing on how educators teach K-12 students about race and racism without hearing from any Black Missourians. No Black parents, teachers or scholars...
Critical race theorist: “CRT is a pretty good lens for understanding why the campaign against it has been able to spread so fast”
Gary Peller, a constitutional law professor at Georgetown University, is “astonished” that his academic work is getting such attention. Here is a taste of his piece at Politico: As a law professor closely associated with the critical race theory movement...
Souderton, Pennsylvania debates “critical race theory”
A recent school district meeting on critical race theory in Souderton, Pennsylvania reveals just how crazy this entire debate has become. Based on Kenny Cooper’s reporting of the event at the website of WHYY (Philadelphia’s public broadcasting television and radio...
Scholars respond to legislative efforts to restrict education about racism in American history.
I currently serve as Vice President of the Conference and Faith and History. (I become president in the Fall). I am proud to say that the Conference is one of the scholarly organizations who are condemning laws limiting teaching on...
Mitch McConnell petitions Education Secretary to remove the 1619 Project from federal grant programs
The 1619 Project is in the news again. Here is Ryan Nobles at CNN: In a letter obtained by CNN, the Republican leader asks Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to abandon curriculum in American schools that McConnell argues tells a revisionist history of America’s...
Sam Wineburg: Why history can’t be about telling our children lies
Sam Wineburg is one of our favorite writers, authors and thinkers here at The Way of Improvement Leads Home. Listen to our conversations with him in episode 4 and episode 52 of The Way of Improvement Leads Home Podcast. Anyone...
Trump announces members of his “President’s Advisory 1776 Commission.” There are no American historians.
As COVID-19 cases reach record heights and our country faces unprecedented cyber-attacks, Donald Trump is making appointment to his 1776 Commission. Trump established the commission by executive order on November 2, 2020 and Joe Biden is likely to eliminate it...
Sam Wineburg on how anti-Blackness gets whitewashed in U.S. history textbooks
Yesterday Stanford’s Sam Wineburg, author of Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts and Why Study History (When It’s Already on Your Phone), dropped an amazing Twitter thread on race in American history textbooks. Here it is: Listen to our interviews...
The Trump White House does American history
On Thursday, Constitution Day, Donald Trump announced something called the “1776 Commission.” Here is a taste of his speech: Today, I am also pleased to announce that I will soon sign an Executive Order establishing a national commission to promote...
Thinking historically about Trump’s Mount Rushmore speech
A lot of conservatives liked Trump’s speech on Friday night. I am told that The Wall Street Journal gave it a positive review. I commented on the speech here, but I thought I would say a few more things about Trump’s...
Out of the Zoo: National History Day
Annie Thorn is a sophomore history major from Kalamazoo, Michigan and our intern here at The Way of Improvement Leads Home. As part of her internship she is writing a weekly column titled “Out of the Zoo.” It focuses on life as...
The Role of History Educators in a Time of Crisis: Building Bridges Between Historians and K-12 History Teachers
Sari Beth Rosenberg is writing for us this weekend from Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association in New York City. She is a U.S. history teacher and writer in New York City. Sari helped write the new social studies...
Whose Afraid of the 1619 Project?
Interviews with historians James McPherson, Gordon Wood, and James Oakes at a socialist website are firing-up the political critics of The New York Times‘s 1619 Project. The latest to attack the project is Max Eden of the conservative Manhattan Institute. In...
24 Hours With Kansas History Educators
This weekend (Sunday and Monday) I made my first visit to Wichita, Kansas. The Kansas Council of History Education (KCHE) invited me to deliver the keynote address at their annual meeting. It was held this year on the campus of...
Thoughts on Attorney General William Barr’s Notre Dame Speech
I find myself in agreement with a lot of Barr’s speech. Watch and decide for yourself: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqknuqy2lo0&w=560&h=315] Here are a few quick thoughts: Barr is correct about the founding father’s view of the relationship between religion and the American...