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America’s Schools Flunk Civics, Part 2

Both Democrats and Republicans have justifiably complained about the stunning failure of America’s educational system to provide adequate instruction in history and civics. But who is to blame? We continue our examination of the crisis.

A Center for American Progress study notes that “Civic knowledge and public engagement is at an all-time low…While the 2016 election brought a renewed interest in engagement among youth,4 only 23 percent of eighth-graders performed at or above the proficient level on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) civics exam, and achievement levels have virtually stagnated since 1998.5 In addition, the increased focus on math and reading in K-12 education—while critical to prepare all students for success—has pushed out civics and other important subjects.”

While both leftists and conservatives have noticed the troubling lack of knowledge regarding American history and civics, the pronounced trend towards the use of education for leftist indoctrination may well be to blame. A study by the National Association of Scholars  reveals that “A new movement in American higher education aims to transform the teaching of civics…What we call the “New Civics” redefines civics as progressive political activism. Rooted in the radical program of the 1960s’ New Left, the New Civics presents itself as an up-to-date version of volunteerism and good works. Though camouflaged with soft rhetoric, the New Civics, properly understood, is an effort to repurpose higher education.

“The New Civics seeks above all to make students into enthusiastic supporters of the New Left’s dream of ‘fundamentally transforming’ America. The transformation includes de-carbonizing the economy, massively redistributing wealth, intensifying identity group grievance, curtailing the free market, expanding government bureaucracy, elevating international “norms” over American Constitutional law, and disparaging our common history and ideals. New Civics advocates argue among themselves which of these transformations should take precedence, but they agree that America must be transformed by “systemic change” from an unjust, oppressive society to a society that embodies social justice.”

The studies findings include:

  1. Traditional civic literacy is in deep decay in America. Because middle schools and high schools no longer can be relied on to provide students basic civic literacy, the subject has migrated to colleges. But colleges have generally failed to recognize a responsibility to cover the basic content of traditional civics, and have instead substituted programs under the name of civics that bypass instruction in American government and history.
  2. The New Civics, a movement devoted to progressive activism, has taken over civics education. “Service-learning” and “civic engagement” are the most common labels this movement uses, but it also calls itself global civics, deliberative democracy, and intercultural learning.

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  3. The New Civics movement is national, and it extends far beyond the universities. Each individual college and university now slots its “civic” efforts into a framework that includes federal and state bureaucracies, nonprofit organizations, and professional organizations. Universities affiliate themselves with these national organizations’ progressive political goals.
  4. The New Civics redefines “civic activity” as “progressive activism.” It advertises progressive causes to students and uses student labor and university resources to support progressive “community” organizations.
  5. The New Civics redefines “civic activity” as channeling government funds toward progressive nonprofits. The New Civics has worked to divert government funds to progressive causes since its founding in the 1960s.
  6. The New Civics redefines “volunteerism” as labor for progressive organizations and administration of the welfare state. The new measures to require “civic engagement” will make this volunteerism compulsory.
  7. The New Civics replaces traditional liberal arts education with vocational training for community activists. The traditional liberal arts prepared students for leadership in a free society. The New Civics prepares them to administer the welfare state.
  8. The New Civics shifts authority within the university from the faculty to administrators, especially in offices of civic engagement, diversity, and sustainability, as well as among student affairs professionals. The New Civics also shifts the emphasis of a university education from curricula, drafted by faculty, to “co-curricular activities,” run by non-academic administrators.
  9. The New Civics movement aims to take over the entire university. The New Civics advocates want to make “civic engagement” part of every class, every tenure decision, and every extracurricular activity.”

Appropriate, unbiased education in the essentials of American history and civics is vital to the health, and indeed, survival of the United States as a constitutional republic of free citizens.  It’s a topic that must not be ignored.

Photo: Smithsonian Institution

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America’s Schools Flunk Civics

The excessive discord among American political factions, and the rejection of traditional  American values by a sizeable minority, may be fueled by the stunning inadequacy of the public education system, particularly in the teaching of civics and history. A fatal lack of knowledge about the meaning of the unique U.S. Constitutional form of government and the growing absence of historical memory warps the national dialogue.

Leftists and conservatives alike have worried about this issue. But what is to blame?

A Forbes article by George Leef reports that “A good many educators take seriously the idea that teaching is a political activity and accordingly feel justified in using their classrooms as platforms for spreading their social, economic, and philosophical beliefs. They want to act as “change agents” who will improve the world…Most of those educators have been imbued with a leftist cast of mind – hostile to capitalism, private property, and anything that stands in the way of their utopian visions of a just society brought about through government power. Instances like the recent ones at UC Santa Barbara (where a professor physically attacked a student who was peacefully protesting abortion) and Eastern Connecticut (where a writing professor went off on a rant about how evil Republicans are) are pretty common.”

Jonathon Cole, writing in The Atlantic, notes that “While there surely are many varied causes for the current American political situation, one among those is the relative ignorance of basic American history…and what some refer to as “civics” among a large sector of our population. It is testimony to the failure of the country’s education system that a high percentage of the voting-age population is simply ignorant of basic facts—knowledge that is necessary to act reasonably and rationally in the political process. This void isn’t limited to those with little education or those without significant professional achievements. It is telling, for example, that in 2009, 89 percent of those who took a test on civic knowledge expressed confidence they could pass it; in fact, 83 percent would have failed.”

The American Bar Association has long worried about this issue.  In 2011, Mark Hansen, writing in the ABA Journal stressed that “Parents traditionally worry about what their children are learning in school, but it’s what those students are not learning that’s even more unsettling.”

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The Education Commission of the United States  conducted a comprehensive survey on the teaching of civics. Finn states that “We’ve known for a while—thanks to the National Assessment and other measures—that American primary-secondary students aren’t learning a heckuva lot of civics… NAEP assessed civics in 2006 and found that fewer than a quarter of high school seniors could supply a satisfactory answer to a question about the means by which citizens can change laws. uCenter surveyed American adults in 2014 and found that only 36 percent could name the three branches of the U.S. government…”

A 2017 study by the Annenberg Public Policy Center found that “Many Americans are poorly informed about basic constitutional provisions, according to a new national survey by the Annenberg Public Policy Center…More than a third of those surveyed (37 percent) can’t name any of the rights guaranteed under the First Amendment; Only a quarter of Americans (26 percent) can name all three branches of government. ‘Protecting the rights guaranteed by the Constitution presupposes that we know what they are. The fact that many don’t is worrisome,’ said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) of the University of Pennsylvania…”

That research is echoed by The Brookings Institute:  that asks “…do America’s young people have the tools they need to assess candidates for public office and influence the policy process? The statistics say no. According to a new book edited by David Feith, young Americans know little about the Bill of Rights, the democratic process, or the civil rights movement. Three of every four high school seniors aren’t proficient in civics, nine of ten aren’t proficient in U.S. history, and the problem is aggravated by a lack of civic education at the university level.”

The Report Concludes Tuesday, May 29.

Photo: Smithsonian Institute

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Hollywood’s Other Scandal Part 2

The New York Analysis of Policy and Government concludes its review of  China’s growing control over Hollywood, and how this impacts upon the very survival of American culture.

In May, Small Wars Journal’s  Darren E. Tromblay outlined the issue of China’s use of Hollywood. “China has a well-established respect for information warfare.  Chinese companies have made a variety of acquisitions in the United States that it can leverage to influence U.S. decision-making.  While certain aspects of this buying spree – telecom and media purchases – have made national headlines and prompted U.S. government inquiries, China’s entry into – and consolidation of its holdings in – the entertainment field provide a vector that has not been sufficiently scrutinized…Since 2012, Chinese entities have made a significant push into the U.S. film production and distribution industry.  Chinese involvement in this area creates two primary concerns.  The first of these is that, by gaining control of distribution, China can effectively diminish the impact of films that it deems to be objectionable to Beijing’s interests.  China may take offense at any number of themes – ranging from portrayals of the country as an aggressor to glorification of protest and civil disobedience – that have filled U.S. movie screens.  A second, complementary, concern is that China will develop the resources to produce content with thematic elements supportive of a “China solution”.  Sympathetic, non-Chinese-produced, portrayals have already entered American theaters (one need look no further than the recent Disney nature flick, “Born in China”) – it is entirely plausible that Chinese producers will be able to capitalize on these sentiments with their own content.”

In the broad marketplace of ideas, it could be speculated that American audiences should be able to see through Hollywood’s sellout to Chinese censorship.  The problem is that the ability to do so is hampered by a U.S. education system that has deemphasized the teaching of history and civics, and that has adopted anti-American curriculums that are, at times, even more hostile (and inaccurate) than those portrayed by China or other hostile regimes.

A National Association of Scholars report   on the issue of public education’s “New Civics” outlines why young Americans are already primed to be susceptible to foreign propaganda that portrays America as an evil nation. It found that:
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“What we call the  ‘New Civics’ redefines civics…Rooted in the radical program of the 1960s’ …Though camouflaged with soft rhetoric, the New Civics, properly understood, is an effort to repurpose higher education. The New Civics seeks above all [dedicated] to …elevating international ‘norms’ over American Constitutional law, and disparaging our common history and ideals…Because middle schools and high schools no longer can be relied on to provide students basic civic literacy, the subject has migrated to colleges. But colleges have generally failed to recognize a responsibility to cover the basic content of traditional civics, and have instead substituted programs under the name of civics that bypass instruction in American government and history.”

A Federalist study agrees. “…a retired AP teacher named Larry Krieger took a look at the new APUSH [Advanced Placement U.S. history] guidelines that had started to circulate. He has examined the AP tests for decades because he coaches for the exams (and, not incidentally, has won awards from College Board for his AP teaching). What he saw alarmed him. He teamed up with American Principles Project fellow Jane Robbins, who is nationally known for her incisive criticism of Common Core…’The new Framework inculcates a consistently negative view of the nation’s past. For example, the units on colonial America stress the development of a ‘rigid racial hierarchy’ and a ‘strong belief in British racial and cultural superiority.’  Third, they noted that the new framework ignored pivotal figures and events in favor of less-important individuals and events that reinforce a leftist narrative of U.S. history: “It excises Benjamin Franklin, James Madison, and the other founders from the nation’s story. George Washington’s historical contributions are reduced to a brief sentence fragment noting his Farewell Address. Two pages later, the Framework grants teachers the flexibility to discuss the architecture of Spanish missions, suggesting it merits more attention than the heroes of 1776.” Krieger also conducted a meticulous dissection of the anti-American themes and anti-knowledge gaps in the extensive new curriculum framework. These include emphasizing exploitation, racial conflict, and economic determinism, and omitting the Pilgrims, all Revolutionary War battles, Alexis de Tocqueville, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and much more.”

Emmet Tyrell, editor of the American Spectator,  has repeated an oft-heard refrain: “Culture trumps politics.” From the anti-American bias of the nations’ educational system to the new reign of Chinese values in our entertainment, the United States is in danger of losing its identity within a generation.

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Hollywood’s Other Scandal

The biggest story in Hollywood surpasses even the Weinstein scandal.

Recently, a rather boring, third rate science fiction film, Geostorm, opened. It featured an absurd plot, miscast actors, and a woeful script.  The movie’s premise was that an American official plotted to use advanced weather control technology to wipe out enemy nations, even though no war was underway.

Why should you care? That basic concept, that the U.S. is a malevolent nation, is becoming increasing common, both on television programs and feature movies.  It is not a coincidence that these concepts have become increasingly prevalent as Hollywood increasingly is financed by China. NBC’s  Ronan Farrow reports that “If you got to a movie theater right now, there’s a pretty good chance that the film you see will have been partially financed in China.” Beijing has not been subtle about using its monetary muscle to induce the famously “for sale” chieftains of Tinsel Town to spread its propaganda.

Business Insider notes that “Chinese outbound capital has begun to have substantial influence in Hollywood. Hollywood is increasingly a destination for media investment by Chinese companies in individual projects, in US-based offices, and even entire studios. Alibaba reportedly invested in the 2015 Hollywood film “Mission: Impossible—Rogue Nation.” The China Film Group has been linked as an investor to the record-breaking “Furious 7” movie. Chinese entertainment and technology firm LeTV established its US offices in Los Angeles in 2015. In April 2015, Chinese film studio Huayi Bros. made an agreement with American motion picture company STX entertainment to co-produce and co-distribute 12 to 15 films. In January 2016, the Dalian Wanda Group acquired American studio Legendary Pictures, making it the first Chinese firm to own a Hollywood studio. Rather than made in China, Hollywood studio productions will also increasingly be made by China—or rather, by Chinese companies investing in Hollywood.”
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The Washington Post’s Ana Swanson  has written that “China has never been shy about its desire to acquire “soft power” – the kind of cultural and economic influence that can’t be wielded by military might. And Hollywood has often been a partner in its project…These deals have sparked concern over whether China’s expanding influence in Hollywood could lead to more pro-Chinese propaganda in U.S. films. The Chinese government tightly controls media content, and Hollywood studios have been known to alter films to feature China or the Chinese government in a more flattering light to gain access to the country’s lucrative film market…”

Last year, the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee expressed concern about foreign media entities “which may receive funding and/or direction from a foreign government with the intent to serve propaganda goals and censor content in the United States.”  Its basic finding that to appease China, and in the hopes that its films will be allowed by Beijing censors to be shown in the lucrative Chinese market, Hollywood is following Chinese censors guidelines in producing films.

A Report  by the U.S. China Security Review Commission found that “China’s strict regulation of entertainment imports, including foreign films, violates the country’s World Trade Organization (WTO) commitments, as determined in a 2007 WTO decision calling for China to open its film market to foreign films. After years of noncompliance and inaction, China partially opened its film market in 2012 following a deal with the United States. The deal allowed for the import of 34 films each year—up from the previous limit of 20 films—in exchange for a temporary suspension of further U.S. WTO actions against China’s film importation policies. During Chinese President Xi Jinping’s September 2015 visit to the United States, the Motion Picture Association of America and China Film Group reached two new film agreements, which could increase market access for foreign films in China. Based on recent history, however, promises that China will further open its film market should be viewed skeptically. Chinese box office sales have increased alongside China’s standard of living, resulting in China surpassing Japan as the world’s second largest film market (behind the United States) in 2012. If global film market growth rates remain consistent over the next few years, many experts expect China to surpass the United States as the largest film market in the world as early as 2018. Hollywood relies on China’s film market for revenue, but the process to get films into China is arduous due to strict and opaque regulation of film imports. China’s regulations and processes for approving foreign films reflect the Chinese Communist Party’s position that art, including film, is a method of social control. As a result of these regulations, Hollywood filmmakers are required to cut out any scenes, dialogue, and themes that may be perceived as a slight to the Chinese government. With an eye toward distribution in China, American filmmakers increasingly edit films in anticipation of Chinese censors’ many potential sensitivities.”

The Report Concludes Tomorrow.

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How to lose a nation

The United States is not a nation based on a common ethnicity. With citizens from across the globe, its people are united not by race by a devotion to values and laws deriving from a history of a struggle for freedom and the fulfillment of the principles of the Constitution.  But what if knowledge of that history was lost or distorted? What if the citizens lacked accurate knowledge of their Constitution?

That may well be occurring. According to the Nations Report Card.Gov Proficiency in US history among America’s eighth graders is a dismal 18%. Civics knowledge is a horrendous 23%.  Geography is not far behind at 27%.

It’s not just ignorance of the facts as a whole.  There is disturbing evidence that outright lies defaming America are being taught in our schools.

In a Wall Street Journal article,  Lynn Cheney describes a New Advanced Placement History Exam that describes President Reagan’s “tear Down that wall” speech, in which he urged the Soviet Union to remove the Berlin Wall, as evidence of “increased assertiveness and bellicosity” on the part of the US.

Eagle Forum reports that:  “The most widely used history textbook in U.S. public schools is A People’s History of the United States by the late Howard Zinn. It has sold a million and a half copies since it was published in 1980. It is required reading in many high schools and colleges…

“This history textbook by Howard Zinn is a very leftwing version of U.S. history, full of … propaganda. It is based on the thesis that America is not a republic but an empire controlled by a few white men. Its heroes are anti-establishment protestors…

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Deeply biased views against the American experience are widespread in U.S. schools. The Blaze reports that “In many Texas public schools, the Boston Tea Party is now being taught as an example of an act of terrorism.

“Here’s an excerpt from a Texas school system’s World History / Social Studies lesson plan. It purports to be helping teachers become more efficient, but many people are upset with the content of the lesson and the lack of parental review. In this specific instance, teachers are instructed to read the story to their classes as if it were a news report that had just happened within the past hour:

“News report: New Act of Terrorism: A local militia, believed to be a terrorist organization, attacked the property of private citizens today at our nation’s busiest port. Although no one was injured in the attack, a large quantity of merchandise, considered to be valuable to its owners and loathsome to the perpetrators, was destroyed. The terrorists, dressed in disguise and apparently intoxicated, were able to escape into the night with the help of local citizens who harbor these fugitives and conceal their identities from the authorities. It is believed that the terrorist attack was a response to the policies enacted by the occupying country’s government. Even stronger policies are anticipated by the local citizens.”

There is some push back against this disturbing trend. In one Midwestern state, former U.S. Supreme Court Justice  Sandra Day O’Connor and former Senator John Glenn are working together to launch iCivics Ohio  to provide an accurate understanding of the American experience.

But institutional efforts will be insufficient.  This is a task that should, indeed, must be undertaken by every parent concerned for the future of the nation. Reviewing the textbooks, lessons and other material provided to their children to uncover anti-American bias, politically motivated lies about U.S. history, and blatant propaganda is an essential endeavor.