In a week where it was reported that Mr. Trump made disparaging remarks about the nation’s bravest, the revelations that he openly chose to “play down” the severity of the Coronavirus, and the Whistleblower report that detailed his hand-picked choices at Homeland Security cherry-picking intelligence that favored the Liar in Chiefs divisive campaign themes, it may have been forgotten that the Chief Executive Demagogue/White Nationalist is waging a war on history.
This week, the Stable Genius signaled that he would work to cut off federal education funding to states that incorporate the 1619 project into its history curriculum.
The 1619 Project concerns putting an increased emphasis on the coverage of slavery in United States History and the contributions of Blacks in American culture.
That is of course too much history for the KKK Endorsed Candidate (a person who displays historical ignorance at regular intervals) who has repeatedly lavished praise on Confederate Generals who betrayed the Union during the Civil War.
Unfortunately, this is an old story on the right dating back to Pattrick Buchanan and his allies’ wars on the National History Standards in the 1990s and fringe elements decrying attempts by the College Board to broaden the Advanced Placement American History Curriculum.
Jeanne Casteen, the Democratic Nominee for Maricopa County School Superintendent, commenting on Mr. Trump’s position, wrote:
“Unfortunately, this does not surprise me. There is an unwillingness among Trump and his base to confront the ugly history of the United States. Federal funding is mostly reserved for special education programming and Title I services, however, and it seems this is an empty threat. It’s being used to fuel the fires of racial division with his supporters as he’s done so many times in the past.”
Children, and adults, need more exposure to history, not just the sanitized “white men did it” version that the right would have everyone memorize and recite.
For example, people need to know:
- about the contributions of the Founding Fathers but also their motives for forming the country and how they expected to govern it.
- all the repercussions of Westward Expansion including the point that there were already Native American Nations living on the land the new United States wanted.
- the causes and effects of the Civil War and Reconstruction and how it shaped the nation to this day.
- that the nation’s leaders were capable of both great achievements and also profound misjudgments.
People need to know both the positive and negative aspects of the American Journey. It is a disservice to the idea of fostering an informed citizenry if that does not occur.
Children need more than two years of history in high school. They should have four so they are exposed to a fuller picture of what transpired in American and World Society.
More history courses that probe the Human Experience in depth should be required in K-8 and college as well.
They do not need to learn the History of the United States and World according to Donald Trump.
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