Are current standards in schools dividing Americans?
A recent column in the Kitsap Sun by James U. Behrend spoke to false claims of indoctrination, disregarding the concerns of educators and historians. Thousands of schools and major school districts today use the curriculum from the 1619 Project, a long-form journalism narrative by The New York Times based on the anniversary of the beginning of American slavery. According to the 1619 Project, our Revolutionary War was over slavery, "ignited by a November 1775 British offer of freedom to Blacks who fled slavery and joined British forces." Major historians spoke to the inaccuracy of this narrative. George Will pointed out in a column, writing: "That offer came after increasingly volcanic American reactions to various British provocations: After the 1765 Stamp Act. After the 1770 Boston Massacre. After the 1773 Boston Tea Party. After the 1774 Coercive Acts (including the closure of Boston’s port... And after, in 1775, the April 19 battles of Lexington and Concord, the June 17 battle of Bunker Hill, and George Washington on July 3 assuming command of the Continental Army."Hundreds of thousands of youth today are learning about our Revolutionary War, the war that freed us from colonialism, was actually fought to preserve slavery in public schools across this nation. Polls are showing only 35 percent of our educated youth are proud to be Americans today. Martin Luther King used our founding principles to unite us and move forward, we are being moved sideways today.
Mick Sheldon, Kingston
This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Are current standards in schools dividing Americans?
