Washington D.C.'s new woke, anti-American social studies curriculum

A recipe for self pity and personal failure

Relying largely on the work of Stanley Kurtz, I’ve been complaining for years about the College Board’s AP social studies courses. My complaints stem from recognizing the importance of how history and civics are taught to top high school students.

But an even more important issue is how these subjects are taught to all grade school and middle school students, and to high school students who don’t take AP courses. Other than complaining about Black History Month, I’ve written very little about this matter because, although I have plenty of suspicions, I possess little knowledge about it.

Now, however, the Washington Post has published an article detailing how social studies will be taught to D.C. public school students in grades K-12. The Post’s piece compares the existing social studies curriculum, which critics call “archaic,” with the new proposed curriculum, which “reflects a more modern understanding of history”— i.e., the modern left’s understanding of it.

The Post’s summary of the changes is an eye-opener. It shows that D.C. students are to be indoctrinated in woke anti-Americanism at every grade level, amounting to 13 years of schooling.

I had a difficult time trying to pick the grade levels to highlight. All seem about equally bad. In the end, I picked these examples:

Kindergarten: The old curriculum asks students to describe the events and people celebrated on national holidays, including D.C. Emancipation Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Columbus Day — which the D.C. Council renamed in 2019 as Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

The new curriculum outlines how students can understand their racial, ethnic, religious and gender identities. Students also identify different kinds of family structures, including single-parent, grandparent-headed, multiracial and LGBTQ+. Children begin learning the skills they need to have “respectful and productive” conversations.

Third Grade: Under the old curriculum students gain an understanding of their local economy, including what taxes are and the types of jobs and businesses that exist within a community. Children construct a timeline of key people and events in D.C.'s history since the late 18th century, and explain how D.C. was selected as the U.S. capital.

In the new curriculum, students discuss the importance of “affirming spaces,” which are safe places for people to express their identities. They explore how recent urban planning has affected the health and composition of various communities in D.C. Students will spend time learning about the city’s evolving history — from the role of D.C. during the Civil War, to the lives of formerly enslaved people who settled in the city, to the cultural impact of Black U Street and go-go music. Children are taught the impacts of early European colonization and the displacement of Indigenous nations, and the contributions of Piscataway and Pamunkey peoples to the D.C. region. Students also learn about the Home Rule movement and discuss how a lack of statehood affects residents.

Fourth Grade: The old standards ask students to identify the “entrepreneurial characteristics” of early explorers and the technological developments that made their journeys possible. They also discuss the “cooperation” that existed between colonists and Native Americans during the 17th and 18th centuries, as well as the religious and social institutions that evolved throughout the colonial era.

The updated curriculum includes the word “colonization,” which is absent from the old fourth-grade standards. Students explore the “impact of European colonization and oppression on the human rights of Indigenous Nations,” examining the legacies of explorers such as Christopher Columbus. Students will understand the lasting impact of the Europeans’ arrival in the Americas. They learn the significance of 1619 — the year that marks the dawn of American slavery — as well as the experiences of those who were enslaved. Students discuss the technological and cultural contributions of people of African descent.

Sixth Grade: The 2006 standards asks students to “acquire a framework for thinking geographically” by demonstrating the ability to locate continents, major bodies of water and other prominent features on Earth. Students explain migration patterns, as well as the world’s major religions and languages. The curriculum does not use the terms “climate change” or “global warming,” but students consider human-made threats to the environment, such as pollution, deforestation and urban sprawl.

The new standards ask students to consider who is harmed by border policies, how racism, privilege and bias affect the way resources are distributed (and how that distribution has influenced racism and imperialism) and “the extent to which a European worldview has dominated global society.” Students are also introduced to the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which address global challenges including poverty, climate change and justice.

Seventh Grade: Students. . .focus on U.S. history from the 15th century through Reconstruction. The term “European colonizer,” absent from the old standards, is introduced. Students discuss the “limitations of using European sources to understand the history and culture of Indigenous Nations.” Students understand the impact of Spanish colonization and resistance from Indigenous groups. They also learn about the experiences of enslaved and free Black people.

Seventh-graders also discuss the forces behind the movement for independence from Britain, the ideals of the Constitution, as well as the experiences of those who were denied full rights across the colonies. They discuss George Washington’s presidency, “including his legacy as an enslaver and as a leader who voluntarily relinquished political power.” Students begin to understand milestones including the women’s suffrage movement, Civil War, Reconstruction and rise of white supremacist groups.

Tenth Grade: In the new curriculum, students will continue to unpack Europe’s expanded influence in Africa, the Americas, Asia and Australia. Students are also asked to understand “Eurocentrism” and its lasting impacts on people of color, the invention of race as a social construct and how “primarily white men” fought for their rights “while simultaneously oppressing others.” Students understand the Holocaust, along with antisemitism in the 20th and 21st centuries. They explore how terms including “first/Third World” and developing/developed nation” are used to describe certain regions of the world.

Eleventh Grade: The new standards guide students from Reconstruction through present, asking them to consider whether early American history fulfilled the promises of the Constitution. Eleventh-graders examine the testimonies of formerly enslaved people after the Civil War and understand the “systematized tactics” and violence from “mostly white men” throughout the south to reverse the gains of Reconstruction. Students discuss the Jim Crow era and learn how Black Americans forged cultural and social identities for themselves. They will also examine westward movement, including the implications of Native American boarding schools and lives of Mexican and Chinese Americans. Lessons about the civil rights movement includes an assessment of its “unfinished work.”

The new curriculum seems well designed to cause students to see America as a deeply oppressive society with very little to recommend it, and to see themselves (if they are non-white) as victims who are owed favors and reparations.

Even assuming that students emerge from D.C.’s public schools with the proficiencies needed to succeed in life (a big assumption), the attitudes instilled by the social studies curriculum will conspire against their success.

Successful people rarely believe they are owed anything by anyone. They almost always believe they can get ahead through diligence and will not be thwarted by “the man” — a reality supported by the American experience, including the modern African-American experience, but seemingly erased from the new social studies curriculum.

Thus, the new curriculum doesn’t just present a grossly distorted view of the world. It presents a view that’s self-defeating to hold.

Slavery is the biggest sin to which blacks in America have been subjected. Jim Crow is the second biggest.

Public school education probably rates third place. With innovations like the new D.C. social studies curriculum, it will solidify that position.