by Larry Sand
Chad Aldeman, a Virginia-based researcher who focuses on education-related issues, recently detailed the educational experience of his daughter, who completed sixth grade in June. He writes that her teachers didn’t use textbooks, assign homework, or expect kids to study at home for tests, didn’t teach kids to sound out words, and didn’t drill times tables. He also mentions that there were no spelling tests, students didn’t practice handwriting of any kind, cursive or otherwise, and didn’t learn the 50 states and their capitals, let alone world geography.
Aldeman is very concerned by this shift, arguing that her educational experience has “reduced instructional time devoted to science and social studies and emphasized isolated skills such as critical thinking or reading comprehension over teaching students a coherent body of knowledge and facts.”
The scenario spelled out by Aldeman is hardly an isolated case, as traditional pedagogical fads have replaced tried and true methods. Additionally, political causes in education are frequently front and center to the detriment of traditional learning. In a 2022 statement, the National Council of Teachers of English declared: “The time has come to decenter book reading and essay-writing as the pinnacles of English language arts education.” Instead, teachers are urged to focus on “media literacy” and short texts that students feel are “relevant.”
In many places, the curriculum has taken a Marxist turn. In New York City, students now receive lessons critical of capitalism, that black Americans should receive reparations, that student loans are equivalent to “debt peonage,” and the feasibility of abolishing the police.
In Evanston, IL, the district is loaded with Critical Race Theory bilge. Schools there are committed to equity and to “identifying practices, policies, and institutional barriers, including institutional racism and privilege, which perpetuate opportunity and achievement gaps.”
One of the many new trends in education is the teaching of ethnic studies, which means different things in different locales. In the state of Washington, where ethnic studies is a graduation requirement, its main goal is to “dismantle white supremacy.”
In California, many parents in Palo Alto are furious about the school district’s plans for an upcoming ethnic studies class, saying they’re worried the curriculum is too political and will push left-leaning political activism on impressionable high school students.
The sciences have also been infected with politics. As described by Wenyuan Wu, Executive Director at the Californians for Equal Rights Foundation, The Next Generation Science Standards, released in 2013 and adopted by 44 states to varying degrees, are the culprit behind our failing K-12 science education. “By replacing scientific rigor with ‘inquiry-based learning’ and by radicalizing the science education profession with political imperatives of ‘diversity’ and ‘equity,’ the NGSS has shortchanged students and degraded science.”
Civics, notably, has taken a big hit. The Annenberg Constitution Day Civics Survey, released annually to celebrate Constitution Day (Sept. 17), finds that in 2023, only 66% of Americans could name all three branches of government, 10% named just two, 7% knew only one, and 17% couldn’t name any. When respondents were asked to name the rights guaranteed by the First Amendment, 77% named freedom of speech, but just 40% knew that freedom of religion is included, 33% named the right to assembly, 28% knew freedom of the press, and a paltry 9% mentioned the right to petition the government.
In a similar vein, the results of the NAEP U.S. history and civics test, last taken in 2022, reveal that just 13% of eighth graders met proficiency standards for U.S. history, meaning they could explain major themes, periods, events, people, ideas and turning points in the country’s history. Additionally, about 20% of students scored at or above the proficient level in civics. Both scores represent all-time lows on these two tests.
There are glimmers of hope on the horizon, however. In Texas, where tradition still prevails, children may read stories from the Bible in elementary school, according to a redesigned curriculum. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick clarifies that this will “get us back to teaching, not necessarily the Bible per se, but the stories from the Bible.”
The program’s adoption is voluntary and will go before the state board of education this fall. The naysayers are fearful that, if implemented, it could cross a line into proselytizing for Christianity.
But as Robert Pondiscio, a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, importantly discloses, “The state’s curriculum, dubbed Bluebonnet Learning, isn’t the only thing that’s ‘Bible-infused’; so is English. Our language is redolent with concepts, phrases, and allusions drawn directly from the Bible and other touchstones of Western thought and culture that speakers and writers assume their audiences know and understand. Knowing these things is critical to reading comprehension.”
Pondiscio continues, “Everyday language is peppered with references to biblical stories and phrases, many of which are used by English speakers of all faiths—or none at all: Good Samaritan, prodigal son, forbidden fruit, pearls before swine and countless others. Scrubbing biblical references from school curriculum may seem like a step toward inclusivity, but given how deeply such phrases and allusions are embedded in the language, such an effort would more likely impose a form of illiteracy on students, leaving them unprepared to engage with the world around them and at risk of a lifetime of verbal disadvantage.”
In Louisiana, Gov. Jeff Landry has signed a bill requiring public schools, colleges, and universities to display a state-approved version of the Ten Commandments in classrooms. He asserts, “If you want to respect the rule of law, you have to start from the original law given, which was Moses. He got his commandments from God.”
Not surprisingly, within days of Landry’s signature, a lawsuit was filed by the ACLU, which claims that the law violates the establishment and free exercise clauses of the First Amendment.
Shortly after the Louisiana lawsuit was filed, Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters was undeterred and ordered schools in his state to begin teaching the Bible, which includes the Ten Commandments, in classrooms. “Immediate and strict compliance is expected,” his order stressed.
Another bright spot is the Miami-Dade school district in Florida, where a tentative plan seeks to return schools to the foundations of Western civilization, known as the “back to basics” education model, where the focus is on Judeo-Christian principles. Under the plan, educating students through the works and texts of the classical era will be emphasized.
Also worth noting is that significantly more K-12 students today are receiving a classical education than just a few years ago, and this growing trend is accelerating nationwide. In classical education, students receive a content-rich, traditional curriculum, including the use of classical books and art.
Keri Ingraham, a Senior Fellow at Discovery Institute, reports that an analysis by Arcadia Education shows that classical school enrollment for the 2023-2024 school year is estimated at over 677,500 students spread among 1,551 schools. “Nearly 39% of those students receive classical education by way of at-home learning, co-ops, or microschools. Another 34% attend a Christian evangelical classical school. Over 18% attend a classical public charter school, and almost 9% attend a Catholic classical school.”
While polarized curriculum disputes have been raging for some time now, the Cato Institute notes that 2023 was a record year for school-based culture wars.
Living in a diverse country, however, it’s not really surprising. As such, there really is only one good way to make everyone—except the teachers’ unions—happy: parental freedom.
Aside from getting the government out of schools entirely, we must augment universal choice, whereby parents, using state education funding, can send their children to any school—public or private—that reflects a curriculum that is in line with their values. There is no better way forward.
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Larry Sand, a retired 28-year classroom teacher, is the president of the non-profit California Teachers Empowerment Network—a non-partisan, non-political group dedicated to providing teachers and the general public with reliable and balanced information about professional affiliations and positions on educational issues. The views presented here are strictly his own.
