College students throughout America have exhibited an inexplicable degree of tolerance towards overbearing university officials and professors who have all too frequently acted to suppress differences of opinion toward the prevailing campus orthodoxy. These young scholars bear little resemblance to their parents’ or grandparents activist generation, who brought to life the “Free Speech” movement in the 1960s and were outspoken in their views. The American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) notes that “Many schools stifle free speech on campus. ACTA partnered with the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education to assess the state of free speech on campus. Of the institutions that have ratings from FIRE, less than 4 percent receive a “green light” rating for not threatening free speech. Nearly two-thirds (64 percent) garner a “red light” rating, meaning the institution has at least one policy that “clearly and substantially” restricts freedom of speech.”
Why do college students tolerate this? It may have much to do with what they were—and were not—taught in high school, as well as the odd version of American history and civics that they are given in college. Across the nation, parents, pupils, and others have become deeply concerned over a growing reliance on curricula that provides little reference to topics such as the ground-breaking rights provided in the U.S. Constitution, including free speech, and dwells on biased, highly critical views of the American experience.
The problem may be getting worse. The College Board, a private organization which sets the tone for setting course guidelines and administers the SAT exams and advanced placement courses, is exerting greater control of what high schoolers are being taught. What they are prescribing has been described as unduly critical of America.
Recently, the scholarly publication The Federalist described the College Board’s latest guidelines:
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“The redesigned Framework usurps state curriculum standards by unilaterally decreeing what students should know with no public input or consent. State standards across America, while including the dark events in American history, also celebrate our nation’s founders, core values, and heroic servicemen and women. In contrast, the College Board’s “required knowledge” inculcates a consistently negative view of American history that focuses on identity group grievances, conflict, exploitation, and examples of oppression.”
ACTA has reported on the disappointing state of college education: “Only 22 institutions (2 percent) receive an “A” grade for requiring at least six of seven subjects that are essential to a liberal arts education: literature, composition, economics, math, intermediate level foreign language, science, and American government/history. The average institution requires about three courses—meaning most students are graduating from college without exposure to such fundamental courses as American history, basic economics or literature. In too many places, graduates aren’t expected to have any more knowledge of these pivotal courses than a twelfth grader.”
America’s educational system is dangerously close to producing a generation that is unfamiliar with their Constitutional rights, and holding an incorrect and highly derogatory view of their own country.