What’s So Un-American about a Shared American Civics?

hy are our conservative friends deriding and denouncing the Educating for American Democracy proposal for the enhancement of civics teaching in K–12 schools? They claim it is a Trojan horse for the leftist ideology of the 1619 Project and for “action civics,” both of which all people of conservative temperament — and probably many non-“woke” liberals — see as misguided, the first for its distorted account of American history, the second for its eagerness to politicize the classroom and enlist young students as advocates of left-wing causes. To assess whether these critics of the national initiative are right requires understanding (1) the crisis that precipitated the proposal, (2) what precisely is proposed, (3) how it would be implemented, and (4) the costs of repudiating any such efforts to create a common American civics. But first, let us clarify what we are talking about. Read Full Article »