Across the country, public schools have become a key battleground for conservative lawmakers aiming to wage culture war. Republicans have prioritized attacking educational institutions as a means of entrenching their conservative social policy.
In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis has passed sweeping education reforms targeted at limiting the education of topics such as sexual orientation, gender identity, and racism, according to AP News. In Virginia, governor Glenn Youngkin ran his successful 2021 campaign primarily on parental rights in education and on the teaching of racial equity, according to ABC News.
The same is happening in Wisconsin, where state lawmakers are pushing for a civics education bill that emphasizes “patriotism.” A new bill was proposed to the Wisconsin State Senate at the beginning of January inappropriately imposes ideological bias onto the public education curriculum and represents yet another effort of the Republican state government to control public education in Wisconsin.
NIH grant further establishes UW as research, STEM institution
The bill, SB 898, originates from failing civics education in the state. Polling from Annenberg Public Policy Center sheds light on the deficiency. According to their polling, only 77 percent of adults knew at that freedom of speech is protected by the first amendment and 17 percent of adults did not know the three branches of government as of 2023.
But, there are obvious questions about the ideology of the bill as well as its effectiveness. The bill requires the teaching of oral accounts that demonstrate patriotism as well as accounts from victims of other nation’s governing philosophies. It also emphasizes the distinction between United States democracy and totalitarianism. Clearly, this curriculum contains inherent exceptionalism bias.
Tainting education with American exceptionalism will be extremely harmful. The strength of democracy is the exchange of ideas and healthy debate. Mandating ideology limits the ability of individuals to objectively assess the actions of our nation. Progress and improvement to the system cannot be made if we are limited in our ability to teach flaws in the American system.
It is ironic that the Republican Party is emphasizing a contrast between American democracy and totalitarianism. Donald Trump, the de facto leader of the Republican party and heavy favorite to win the 2024 Republican primary, attempted to overthrow that very system with the January 6th insurrection according to AP News.
In addition, objective assessments of our democracy do not align with the view lawmakers are pushing. Freedom House, a non-profit organization that grades “freedom” in a country based on several criteria within the categories of political rights and civil liberties, has graded the United States at 83/100 in their freedom index in 2023.
For context, many other democratic countries have scores that range from the mid nineties to perfect scores. Based on this report, the United States is not exempt from criticism of its institutions. For this reason, it is extremely important to teach a curriculum that recognizes flaws in our democracy so that we can improve.
This civics bill is only the most recent example of a worrying trend of Republican lawmakers attempting to push their ideology in public schooling in Wisconsin. The University of Wisconsin has also been within the sights of the Republican controlled state legislature.
Ultimately, these Republican sponsored bills across the country are merely efforts to control hidden behind flimsy disguises of educational improvement or parental rights. The new civics bill is touted as a mechanism for improving civics education, but in actuality could be more of a burden than a solution.
Republicans aren’t serious about marijuana reform. A State Supreme Court case might change that.
The Wisconsin state Department of Public Instruction testified against the bill, arguing that it places large requirements on schools without accounting for the effort required to fulfill such requirements, according to WPR. DPI is already working to revamp civics education in the state which would render the Republican bill largely irrelevant.
Given the context of the bill, Republican intentions are clear: a half-baked move to mandate ideology among public school youth.
Patriotism is something that should be earned by a government, not taught. By requiring a positive view of our government and founding, we limit objective criticism of the system. Contrasts between American democracy and totalitarianism, restrict our ability to see totalitarianism within our democracy. Our public schools should be free of mandated views or ideology and instead should equip students with the tools to develop their own.
Thompson Blade ([email protected]) is a sophomore studying economics and data science.
