The Daily Signal - Solving America's History and Civics Crisis

Episode Date: December 15, 2023

History and civics education in America is languishing. A troubling number of Americans can't even pass a U.S. citizenship test.  Pioneer Institute's recent poll findings on the topic are "pretty sobering,” explains Chris Sinacola, the organization's director of communications and media relations.  The Pioneer Institute, a think tank based in Massachusetts, offers solutions for how schools and educators can ignite a passion for American history and solve the civics crisis facing the country in a new book, “Restoring the City on a Hill: U.S. History & Civics in America's Schools.”  In Pioneer's poll, Massachusetts residents were asked questions drawn from the citizenship test.  The questions were about “things that new citizens, or aspiring U.S. citizens, need to know and they need to get 60% to pass,” Sinacola says, adding that “the average score among our citizens was 63%." "So you can say, 'Yay, we passed, we can all remain citizens,'” he says, but it is a bit of an “indictment” when some Americans don’t know how long a U.S. senator's term is or even how many members the Senate has. “It's a bit of a warning sign,” Sinacola says.  Sinacola joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to discuss America’s social studies crisis and how to correct the the course.  Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the Daily Signal Podcast for Friday, December 15th. I'm Virginia Allen. History and civics education in America is languishing, and a troubling number of Americans cannot even pass a U.S. citizenship test. The Pioneer Institute, based in Massachusetts, is working to correct this. And today, Chris Senecaola of the Pioneer Institute is joining the show to share about the brand new book, Restoring the City on a Hill, U.S. History and Civil in civics in America's schools. Stay tuned as we talk about the solutions that can fix this crisis of history and civics education in America's classrooms.

Hi, this is Rob Louis, executive editor of the Daily Signal and co-host of this podcast. Each day we strive to bring you news you can trust. We see it as our mission to cut through the liberal media spin and provide honest, thorough and responsible reporting on the most important issues of the day. But we can't do it without your help as we approach the end of the day. the year, the Daily Signal is counting on donations from listeners like you. We are the nonprofit news outlet of the Heritage Foundation and rely on generous gifts from our supporters. Please help us by making a tax-deductible year-end gift. You can do so by visiting dailysignal.com slash donate. Your gift will

ensure that we continue producing cutting-edge journalism and investigative reporting. Again, that website isdailysignal.com slash donate. Thanks for listening. We are grateful for your support. pleasure today to be joined by the Director of Communications and Media Relations at the Massachusetts Base Pioneer Institute, Chris Cinnacola. Chris, thanks so much for being with us today. Well, thank you, Virginia. It's a pleasure to be here. Well, congratulations on the new book. You will have a brand new book out called Restoring the City on a Hill, U.S. History and Civics in America's schools. And we're going to dive deep into this book, into the solutions that you will offer for a crisis right now that we're seeing within our...

schools related to knowledge of history and civics. But before we get too far into that, I want to ask you just to share a little bit about the work and the mission of the Pioneer Institute. Sure. Well, I'm glad to do so. So Pioneer was founded in 1988. We are a nonpartisan. I would think fair to say, slightly right of center think tank. And we focus on several areas, economic opportunity, which means limited government, low taxes, government transparency, and so forth. About half of our work is in education where we've really focused over the years on things like high standards, accountability, opposing common core, and promoting school choice of all kinds, really both in Massachusetts and across the country. We also have a very

active life sciences group, which is important to Massachusetts because we have a huge sector of life sciences in Cambridge and elsewhere doing all kinds of cutting-edge research. So in that sector, we try to do things like highlight the dangers of price controls and the inflation reduction act and so forth. And we're also doing some work in immigrant entrepreneurship, trying to show really the stories of people coming to America for the first time, first generation, entrepreneurs trying to get a piece of the American dream and reminding the rest of us why we all came here originally, I guess.

It's fair to say. You all are busy, right? We certainly are. We certainly are. in the area of education. Well, why do you think when we look at the landscape as it relates specifically to civics education and to history, why do you think we're at this point right now within the education system where those two elements specifically are really languishing? What's happened? Well, I think a number of things have happened over the years. I'm old enough to have had four kids

go through high school and college. And we always did a combination of things like homes. schooling and private schools, pro quo schools, what have you, as a vocational. And the reason for that, or at least one of the reasons, was a reluctance to settle for what we viewed as mediocrity. Not that the schools are terrible where we live, they're not. It's just that you look at the landscape and you think, is that all there is? Can't we do better than that? And I think for a lot of parents who look at that, they say, we think we can, you know, through a combination of tutors and enrichment programs online learning and so forth. And of course, those choices have really proliferated. But as to why and how we got here, I would say two main things. One is the real pernicious influence of left-wing progressive

thought in American universities for a very long time going back to, well, really the progressive era in the early part of the 20th century, but really picking up steam in the 1960s with the movement towards left-wing engagement and activism at the expense of teaching young people something about their history and the core values that they have. And the other factor, I think, is a reluctance on the part of teachers today to delve into those waters

because they're so fraught, it's so difficult to say anything, it seems, without being accused of something ending in ism. And when you look at math and English and, you know, trigonometry, those are areas where it's clear. There's a right answer and a wrong answer, sign and cosign and does the comma go here? Is this a clause and so forth?

That's fairly safe ground, right, for teachers. But as soon as you go into something about the meaning of the country and what the Civil War or why it started and who is on which side for what reason, everyone has an opinion and no one can seem to agree on the fact. So I think teachers are sometimes reluctant to go there and schools systems and departments of education may be somewhat reluctant to test it because it's so fraught and it's so filled with controversy.

So that may be one reason for the retreat from it. That does make sense. How do we move forward? Well, I want to talk about that more in a minute, but I think before we talk about the movement forward and the solutions, it would be helpful just sort of to have a fuller sense of the problem at hand. How much data do we have, how much knowledge do we have on how students in public schools across the country are faring when it relates to their knowledge of history, their civics knowledge? Right. I would say we have quite a lot, but we don't necessarily have enough or the right

kinds of data quite yet. And the reason I say that is that it's very easy to measure those quantitative topics that we discussed a few moments ago, the mathematics. When you look at the National Assessment of Educational Progress or SAT scores, which seem to be less of less popular over time, or PSATs, or GREs, or what have you, these are measures on standardized tests over time, and you can say, okay, so our knowledge, say, of mathematics among eighth graders has gone from this point to this point. There's been a decline here. There's been a gain here. There's been some, you know, even Stephen here. And that's all pretty easy to do.

But it's much harder to measure the qualitative things, the knowledge of history. Pioneer recently commissioned a poll, which was pretty sobering. We talked to Massachusetts residents about their knowledge of basic things about American history. These were questions drawn from the U.S. citizenship exam, things that new citizens or aspiring U.S. citizens need to know, and they need to get 60 percent to pass. Well, the average score among our citizens was 63%. So you can say, yay, we passed. We can all remain citizens.

But it's kind of an indictment of, you know, when you ask people, well, how many senators are there and they don't know or how long is the senator's term and they don't know, it's a bit of a warning sign. And look, I'm not a kind of person who looks at the glass and says it's half empty. I tend to think that a lot of young people and adults who may not be able to do really well on those tests, nonetheless, find their way forward, right, over time,

through a combination of things, whether it's their social media feeds, their friends, their trivia pub nights, this sort of thing. You know, people do read, they do engage, they watch the history channel, and they watch Netflix and so on and so forth, and who knows what are the channels. And they do get a sense,

and they do become curious about history. So they get what they need eventually. Not everyone is just going to the voting booth and pulling a lever for DR or GL or whatever the other letters are these days. Reflexively, I think they are generally thinking about it. But there are warning signs as well among young people. And we know that there's not enough emphasis on history. And the emphasis that there is is too often in the first place saying America has these problems and was founded in this way for these reasons, some of which simply isn't true.

And that's one of the purposes of our book and our work at Pioneer is to say to the nation at large, look, we don't deny that the United States has had a somewhat checkered history. There's a lot of problems with the country, warts in all throughout history. That's part of history, right? But if you don't understand the fundamentals of why the country was founded, what motivated the founders, you don't really get the full picture or appreciation for why it is that millions of people around the world are still trying to come here. here, which speaks volumes. It does speak volumes.

Well, you mentioned the book, Restoring the City on a Hill, U.S. history and civics for America's schools. And one of the things that you all recommend in the book is that within our school system that young people should be required to pass a U.S. citizenship test. And I thought that was really interesting. And, of course, you just mentioned that. But it seems practical that we have so many various standardized tests that kids take in schools. why not make that a requirement for them to pass a U.S. citizenship test?

Has that ever been floated before within the public school system? I don't know that it has. I think it's something that the book offers, which is a fresh take and a fresh look at this. But it is, after all, a test that millions of new Americans face every year. And as I said earlier, they tend to do very well on it. Of course, the reason for that seems fairly obvious. They're motivated to do so, right? I mean, if you say to a young person, oh, you can have more screen time if you eat your carrots and peas.

Well, they're going to eat those carrots and peas, and they're going to get that screen time. This, of course, is at a much higher level and a much more serious endeavor, becoming a citizen of one of the greatest nations on Earth. And I know a young woman who recently took it, and she was very worried about it. And she was practicing and studying hard and went in all nervous and got like a 99%. And one of the, I think the examiner said to her, relax, believe me. you're doing far better than most to apply for this. So that motivation is very important, and it also speaks to the motivations. I think it's the same spirit that brought the pilgrims to this country,

that brought all the groups to this country over time, the great migrations from Europe. And those migrations continue today, right? We see new immigrants coming to America from all over the globe. And I'm talking here, of course, about the legal process of immigration, know the folks who really want to be here, they want to assimilate, they want to become part of their adopted nation. And they're here for those same reasons. They are motivated to become part of something greater than themselves. If you would, share some of the other solutions that you offer in the book, Restoring the City on the Hill.

How can we practically be a part of the solution, whether we're in a classroom and we're able to serve and teach students or even as parents? in the home with kids. Right. So in Massachusetts specifically, and you know, you always feel a little bit funny about this coming from Massachusetts, we have a long history here of offering candidates for president and trying to tell the rest of the country how to think and live and be governed. But so I think we should make it clear that we're not saying this is an absolute must. This is the only way that one could do it. But we've tried to distill some of the wisdom through the ages, the book is based upon a whole number of previously published white papers that Pioneer has done some real deep research into many areas of education. So among the

recommendations here in Massachusetts is one very fundamental one, which is that we would like to see the state impose or promulgate a high-stakes test as part of what we call our Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System Testing or MCAS. It's the high school requirement. And right now, there's a science, a math, and an English component, but there is no social studies or history component. They are piloting one for eighth grade next spring to see how it goes. But since education reform in Massachusetts, it's in 1993, this has been on the drawing board, and the state has never implemented it. So that alone sends a terrible message to young people, you know, that the state can pass a law, which it then does not enforce its own law. And we think that if you test it and hold students accountable, they will come out with a diploma, which means something more than what it means right now.

There is that assurance to potential employers, to colleges, wherever they may go in life, that this student knows this material, at least to some level. And it's not a particularly arduous bar. You know, this is a 10th grade level that we're talking about. So it's not like they need to be rocket scientists. So that's one local recommendation for Massachusetts. Some of the others that we have in the book are speak to the process of creating strong standards in your state, whether your state has weak ones or has ones, which we've seen in places like Connecticut, which just promulgated some really not very good standards that are filled with, I guess, woke is probably the shorthand today.

But we're saying to folks, have an inclusive process. have a process that's driven by parents. You know, the power of a few parents to go to their local school board and make a fuss just can't be overestimated. It's just amazing how public officials will respond when a few determined people decide to speak up and exercise their constitutional rights. It's a great thing to see. So we're urging states to do that sort of thing.

You know, get involved. Contact your local school board or your state. Find out what the standards say. and look, if you don't agree with them, make some noise. Tell them, you know, this is, it's okay to talk about things like, you know, we cite in the book Howard Zinn's work, you know, well known for his people's history of the United States. Sold millions of copies. I get it. I have a copy right here in my library. And, you know, it's not a terrible book.

There's a lot of good information in there, a lot of interesting information. But it's not the whole story. And he comes at history, as so many on the left do from a, oh, blame America First perspective, of work. Here's what's wrong with the country. Well, I come at history from the other point. Here's what's right with the country. Here's why we founded this nation, you know, and why it's important to understand that part of the story first. And then when students are older and have that background and understanding, they can delve all they want into the other stuff. They're going to anyway in college. This is sort of what happens, as we've seen in schools today, right?

It's true. That's very true. Absolutely. Well, I think that gets to the point of is, Is there enough desire to bring about the needed change, right? I mean, you have, of course, folks like yourself at the Pioneer Institute who are seeing, okay, we have these gaps in the area of civics and history and we need to fill them. But, of course, at the end of the day, there has to be a movement to either pressure the hand of those in authority in public schools or for those in charge in public schools themselves to recognize. we have to change something. Something is a miss here. And so how do we go about, whether it's fostering that desire within the leadership of our schools or really rallying parents and individuals in communities to apply needed pressure to our school systems?

Yeah, it's an excellent question. And it makes me think back to the days when we were homeschooling our children and met many of families who were doing the same. And folks would choose that, call it school choice, in the broadest sense, for any number of reasons, some because the schools were, in their view, havens of secular godlessness and so forth. For us, that wasn't quite it. We just wanted a really great academic experience that we didn't think we could get anywhere else. But the quandary that you find yourself in is that a lot of the most active and engaged parents are the ones who are opting out of the district public schools, the traditional red brick public schools. And, you know,

critics on the left, and they're not completely wrong in this will say, well, you know, you're opting out, you're taking the best and brightest students away from us and making it that much more difficult for us to achieve our goals. And my response to that is, well, you may have a point, but we have waited for generations for schools to reform themselves. You know, Massachusetts passed in the 1993 Education Reform Act. It was a grand bargain, a lot more money for public schools in exchange for accountability, high-stakes standards in testing, and a system of public charter schools, which have flourished in Massachusetts, but which remain far short of their potential because of caps on enrollment.

So they were intended to be, I guess, rivals, but also examples of excellence and freedom. And the hope was that district public schools would look across town and see the new charter school opening up and working and posting great grades and say, hey, maybe we could imitate that model or maybe we could work with them. And instead, what we've seen is a lot of opposition, denial, and strife, and efforts to squelch them and to stop others from opening. So against that backdrop, you say to parents who have these children entrusted to them for a few short years, precious years of their lives when their minds are sponges, and they say, well, we're not going to wait any longer. You know, we've waited for generations for you to change and you haven't done it.

Yeah, I think back there was a book, Jonathan Kozel wrote in 1967, I believe, about the destruction, I think the title was the destruction of the Negro child in the Bosnia Public Schools. That book was revolutionary at the time. It was a call to action. This is a guy who has gone on to write many of the books. And what are we? 50 plus years later, nearly 60 years later, and if you look at the Boston public schools today, pretty much the same conditions apply. Academically, they are, with the exception of the exam schools, dismal places to send your children, and parents of whatever background are trying all they can to get their children out,

either get them to a charter school or scrape together the money to go to a Catholic school or to a private school if they can afford it, or through the METCO program, allows students from the inner city to go to one of the better schools in the suburbs or outside of Boston. So it's really, it's a question of what do you expect parents to do? Wait forever? No, their children will grow up. They don't have time to wait any longer. And that's why they're choosing micro schools and homeschools and charter schools and all kinds of alternatives.

Now, all that said, the vast majority of America's whatever million school children, children remain in traditional district public schools. And a lot of parents are intent on keeping them there for very good reasons, economic reasons, reasons of distance, time, cost, and so forth, or a sincere belief that these institutions, which are, after all, the descendants of Horace Mann and the common school movement, are very important to democracy. And I agree with that role, with that viewpoint. They do play that role. They're very important for democracy. But we have to reform them. We have to do better than we've done. And it's sad that we have not done so. It is sad. The book is available for purchase on Amazon. You can also find it on the Pioneer

website. Again, the title is Restoring the City on a Hill, U.S. history, and civics in America's schools. And encourage everyone to check out the Pioneer Institute website. That's pioneer institute.org. but Chris, thank you for your time today. Really appreciate and appreciate the work that you all are doing at the Pioneer Institute to address these issues within our education system. Oh, thank you, Virginia. It was a pleasure. And with that, that is going to do it for today's episode.

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