One of the central themes of this election season has been the growing resistance of the American people to political correctness.
In a recent poll by Rasmussen, 7 out of 10 Americans said they thought political correctness was a problem in America today. Indeed, the sense that political correctness has run amok is so widespread and deeply felt that Donald Trump has made it a central focus of his presidential campaign.
There is no shortage of good reasons for reining in political correctness when it comes to our political debate, where it is too often used to shut down important discussions. But there’s another area where political correctness is perhaps even more threatening to our democracy: in many of our history classrooms.
In America, our knowledge of history defines our understanding of who we are and where we’ve come from as a country. If political correctness prevents us from learning the truth about our nation’s past, the past disappears.
Unfortunately, the tendency to tell a revisionist or politically correct version of American history has trickled down into our schools at every level. Parents of high schoolers, middle schoolers and even grade schoolers have good reason to worry about what their children are being taught and not being taught in school.
In many classrooms today, students are learning a version of our history that encourages them to doubt the very things that make us American. For example, some academics have promoted the idea that our Founding Fathers risked their lives out of greed and self-interest and intended the Constitution to “evolve” over time.
These ideas are as untrue as they are damaging, but they’ve made their way into our textbooks and classrooms nonetheless. And if the history we teach in our schools has become revisionist, politically correct, and often, an overly critical version of American history, it’s no wonder students aren’t interested in learning more.
This certainly seems to be the case. The results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress show that students score worse in American history than in any other subject — at every grade level and often overwhelmingly so. Just 20 percent of fourth-graders, 18 percent of eighth-graders and 12 percent of 12th-graders are at grade-level proficiency in American history.
Amazingly, the longer students are in school, the less familiar they become with American history.
Each of us has a responsibility to help the next generation know who we are, where we’ve come from, and what it means to be American.
And with surveys showing discouraging results at every grade level, it’s more important now than ever to find creative ways to introduce young people to American history.
It’s crucial that we pass our love for America on to our children and grandchildren.
This is the goal of my New York Times best-selling children’s series featuring Ellis the Elephant. In my latest book, "Hail to the Chief," Ellis the Elephant discovers America’s greatest presidents and learns how they have led our country throughout American history.
Throughout our history, Americans have chosen some exceptional leaders -- tough and energetic figures who have inspired our nation. We have also selected some unlikely presidents, who offered unique leadership when it was urgently needed.
Ellis the Elephant discovers one such example in Andrew Jackson, who rose from humble beginnings to rock the political establishment in Washington, D.C. with his populist campaign for president.
Jackson was a tough, blunt, and strong-willed leader with no political background who came to office promising to shake things up. Indeed, some might find themselves drawing comparisons between Andrew Jackson and Donald Trump today.
As our country prepares to choose it’s 45th president, take time to share the true history of our nation with the young Americans in your life.
Callista Gingrich is the author of "Hail to the Chief" and president of Gingrich Productions.
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