Schools Ought to be Teaching our Founding Principles

Tens of millions of children watched last month as Joe Biden swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. Yet more and more of America’s schools are grooming their students to do just the opposite: to ignore or despise the Constitution as an obstacle to “justice” and “progress.”

All the while, parents are left to guess and gamble about which kind of messaging their children will receive if they enroll at a given school. But thanks to newly proposed legislation, parents may soon gain the right to see for themselves — and to seek options accordingly.

To understand what’s taking place, consider the Tucson Unified School District, which serves over 40,000 students and is one of the largest public school districts in Arizona. When TUSD released its “American Government Week 1” pandemic learning materials in 2020, the single stated learning objective read as follows: “Students will be able to: [identify] components of a well-functioning constitutional republic, including concepts such as democratic principles, constitutional rights, and human rights.”

Read the rest of the op-ed at the Washington Examiner.

Matt Beienburg is the Director of Education Policy and Director of the Van Sittert Center for Constitutional Advocacy at the Goldwater Institute.