Summary
We support:
- The development of a voluntary national U.S. History and Civics K–12 curriculum
- A curriculum grounded in the principles of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution
- Teaching U.S. history in a way that is honest, age-appropriate, and balanced between accomplishments and failures
- Adoption of such a curriculum at the state level if it achieves broad public support
- Age-appropriate sex education in middle and high school, with transparency and parental opt-out provisions
- The teaching of evolution without mandates to include “intelligent design”
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Background
U.S. History and Civics Curriculum
Inevitably, publicly subsidized or publicly provided education puts the state in the position of deciding what will be taught in schools. This has resulted in a number of controversies, most recently about the teaching of American History and Civics. This controversy has also had an impact on the teaching of biology, specifically evolution. It has also affected other, traditionally less controversial subjects, like mathematics.
This is not a question that can be resolved by allowing parents, teachers, or school administrators to decide on curriculum. If all education was paid for and provided privately that might be an option, but there is little support for that approach. At a minimum, we need to provide a U.S. History and Civics curriculum that is politically acceptable at the state level. Ideally, we should have a nationally acceptable U.S. History and Civics curriculum for K-12 education. We think that it is possible to accomplish this objective, but not if any of the parties hope to use the K-12 History and Civics curriculum as an opportunity to press their own narrow agenda.
So what can the vast majority of Americans agree on as the basis for a national curriculum for U.S. History and Civics? We suggest the following:
1. The United States of America, unlike most other countries, is not based on a common ethnicity or religious affiliation but on a set of ideas. Those ideas are laid out in our Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States, including the Bill of Rights and the other key amendments.
2. America has been at its best when it has lived up to those ideals. We have been at our worst when we have abandoned them.
With that in mind, we should be able to deal honestly with our history including the pre-colonial and colonial eras, the American Revolution, slavery, the Louisiana Purchase, the Mexican-American War, the Civil War, Reconstruction, the Jim Crow Era, racial discrimination (both inside the South and more generally), World War I, the Great Depression, World War II, and the Cold War against the Soviet Union. America played a heroic role during some of these periods. In others, there is much to reflect on that is disappointing.
We do not support the use of Critical Race Theory (CRT), or similar frameworks, as a basis for K–12 curricula. In our view, organizing instruction around a single interpretive lens—particularly one that emphasizes power dynamics between groups—risks distorting history and social analysis. K–12 curricula should instead reflect a balanced and broadly accepted understanding of U.S. history and society.
At the same time, we find that it is inappropriate to teach an overly idealized view of U.S. history that fails to note the important failures in our past. Without at least reflecting on these failures, we stand too high a chance of repeating them. We believe that it is possible to do that reflection, in an age-appropriate fashion, that will also leave students with a sense that, at its core, America is a good place, when it lives up to its noble ideals.
Teachers will, of course, insert their own views into classroom discussions. The important point is that the sanctioned curriculum reflects a point of view that a broad and durable public consensus of Americans can accept.
The Teaching of Evolution and Intelligent Design
We also have had conflicts over school curriculum in the sciences. One of these conflicts concerned the teaching of evolution and “intelligent design.” We do not believe that there is a defensible alternative theory to the theory of evolution. We oppose legislation at the local, state, or federal level that bans the teaching of the theory of evolution or requires the teaching of “intelligent design.” At the same time, we believe that teachers may express their own views, provided they clearly distinguish them from the established curriculum.
Prayer in Schools
We believe in freedom of and from religion. Publicly funded education should not coerce religious participation by students or teachers.
On the Separation of Church and State
We believe that, despite some of the atrocities carried out in the name of religion, religion can be a source of comfort and good in society. However, we also believe that one of the reasons why religious belief flourishes in the U.S. relative to most of the rest of the developed world is because of, and not in spite of, the separation of church and state. We believe that when individuals arrive at their religious views without coercion from the state, they embrace those beliefs more intensely. From a governmental point of view, America is, and we believe should remain, a secular state. Those who believe that religion should play a more prominent role in life are free to use all the powers at their command, other than the inherently coercive power of the state, to promote their views.
Sex Education in Elementary and Secondary Schools
We support age-appropriate sex education at the middle and high school levels in public schools. We believe that students in these grades are already thinking about these issues and it is appropriate to address them in the classroom. What is considered age-appropriate may differ between one community and another and we accept that this issue should be resolved at the local or state level.
Having said that, we believe that by high school, students should receive factual instruction about sexual reproduction, sexually transmitted diseases, contraception, abortion, and variations in sexual orientation and gender identity. We believe it is possible to present this material without being pornographic or appearing to promote any kind of behavior other than responsible personal choices and tolerance.
We also believe that the curriculum on these issues should be publicly available. This may make life more difficult for public school administrators, but transparency is better than conspiracy theories fed by social media. If transparency is combined with the option for parents to opt out of sex education classes, or particular portions of the curriculum, for their children it may diffuse anger over the issue.
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