The Idaho Legislature will soon decide whether to approve the newly revised K-12 social studies standards (Standards) developed by the State Department of Education (SDE) over the past year. Last session, the Legislature adopted Senate Concurrent Resolution 116, directing the SDE to create standards that emphasize the history of Western civilization, provide a factual history of our nation, emphasize our founding principles, and cultivate “patriotism and pride about the success of this great country.” Unfortunately, SDE seems to have missed the memo.
A close review of the proposed social studies standards reveals that the SDE was far more concerned with celebrating “diversity” than cultivating civic virtue. Among the Standards’ most questionable inclusions is a requirement on the origins of Sikhism, Hinduism, and Buddhism — despite these faiths representing less than 1% of Idaho’s population. They also seem to believe it is just as important for students to learn about the role of “indigenous people, women, African Americans, and immigrants” in the American Revolution as it is to learn about the contributions of George Washington or Thomas Jefferson to the founding of our nation.
Most troubling, however, is the Standards’ embrace of postcolonial ideology, the intellectual sibling of critical race theory (CRT). In a previous article, I explained what postcolonial ideology is and how to identify it in social studies curricula. While the presence of this new form of CRT in Idaho is troubling, it should come as no surprise. The subjects of American Indians and westward expansion are among the most sensitive and misunderstood topics in our history, making them prime targets for the leftist agenda. This being the case, it is our duty to remain vigilant against all attempts to sneak subversive propaganda into our children’s classrooms and call it out for what it really is — an attack on our national heritage and the American way of life.
The first indication of the Standards’ embrace of postcolonialism is its choice to replace “Columbus Day” with “Indigenous Peoples’ Day.” When the Idaho Freedom Foundation inquired why the Standards committee made this change, a representative from the SDE said it was done in conformance with a 2019 proclamation issued by Governor Brad Little in which he joined the likes of President Joe Biden and California Governor Gavin Newsom in recognizing Indigenous Peoples' Day. Yet despite Governor Little’s woke proclamation, Columbus Day remains the official legal holiday celebrated on the second Monday in October according to the law.
Far from an innocuous celebration of American Indian culture, the movement to adopt Indigenous Peoples' Day is a controversial and highly political attempt to reframe American history and suppress admiration for our national heroes. As helpfully explained by an article posted by Idaho State University, advocates of postcolonialism argue that Columbus Day “represents colonization and oppression” and must be replaced in order to “shift the narrative away from the perspective of European colonization.”
The next indication of postcolonial influence in the Standards is its frequent use of the politicized term “indigenous peoples” over traditional terminology. As explained in my previous article, in the parlance of critical theory, “indigenous peoples” is meant to invoke “an emergent, collective, (and) globalizing…sociopolitical identity” premised upon the shared struggle of all indigenous peoples against the global system of oppression imposed by the Western world. The Standards invoke this same understanding of the term by requiring students to “develop an awareness of the similar experiences of indigenous populations in the world.”
Postcolonial ideology believes that all indigenous peoples are victims of settler colonialism. As explained by the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) — the nation’s largest K-12 social studies organization and a major proponent of critical theory — “settler colonialism is a structure predicated on the seizure of Indigenous lands and resources…and the justification of American authority and rights to Indigenous lands.” The underlying presumption of this claim is that all settler colonial societies — including the United States and Canada — are unjustly occupying indigenous land. In turn, it is common for educational organizations to issue land acknowledgments, such as the one found in NCSS’ policy statement, which declares that “all education in the United States takes place on Indigenous lands.”
Idaho’s proposed Standards encourage the conclusion that white Americans unjustly occupy the North American continent by unnecessarily emphasizing that “American Indians were the first inhabitants of the United States” in its fifth-grade lesson on Westward expansion. The political motivation for this wording is indicated by the fact that a standard from the same grade already asks students to “describe the interactions between European colonists and established societies in North America.” Whereas one standard uncontroversially acknowledges the basic timeline of the human occupation on the continent, the other reads like a political statement, transforming the standard into a kind of land acknowledgment. In a similar manner, the proposed Standards refer to the settlement of Idaho as an “encroachment on tribal lands.”
The radical political aim of postcolonial ideology is implied within its name. It seeks to dismantle all existing settler colonial societies by supporting the efforts of indigenous peoples to reclaim their land, ushering in a postcolonial age free from the cultural and political oppression of Western society. In support of this aim, postcolonialism in K-12 social studies curricula either diminishes or denigrates the historical legacy of our nation’s greatest heroes while glorifying the “resilience and resistance” of American Indians against colonization. In a similar manner, Idaho’s proposed Standards ask students to “analyze the Tribal nations' resistance and adaptations to European colonization.”
Like CRT, postcolonialism believes that American society is fundamentally racist and oppressive. In accordance with this view, the NCSS declares that “social studies education has a responsibility to oppose colonialism and systemic racism.” The NCS thus advocates for social studies curricula to use “indigenous perspectives” to debunk “Eurocentric nationalistic origin myths,” resulting in distorted and biased depictions of our nation’s major historical events. In this light, the Standards’ reference to the “Nez Perce War” and “Battle of Bear River” as the “Nez Perce Flight of 1877” and “Bear River Massacre” is noteworthy for choosing names that automatically imply the United States was the villain of these conflicts.
Another example is how a core lesson from the previous social studies standards was amended to refer to westward expansion as the product of an “ideology,” implying that the principal motivation behind our ancestors settling the frontier was white supremacy. This reading is collaborated by the inclusion of another standard that asks students to “define ethnocentrism.” As defined by Oxford Bibliographies, “ethnocentrism is a term applied to the cultural or ethnic bias—whether conscious or unconscious—in which an individual views the world from the perspective of his or her own group” and is associated with “multiple forms of chauvinism and prejudice, including nationalism, tribalism, (and) racism.”
While some of these standards are rather innocuous when viewed in isolation, the problem is when they are taken as a whole. The purpose of content standards is to set a broad framework of core knowledge, school districts are then free to choose whatever curricula they like so long as it covers everything required by the SDE. As written, the proposed Standards effectively restrict curriculum options to those that embrace the tenets of CRT and postcolonialism.
When textbooks are required to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous People’s Day; to use the term indigenous peoples over traditional terms such as American Indian; to teach westward expansion as the product of an ideology; to have lessons on the dangers of “ethnocentrism;” and to celebrate the ”roles of Indigenous people, women, African Americans, and immigrants” in the American Revolution; schools are being mandated to teach history with a clear ideological bent.
Contrary to the guidance issued to the SDE to establish standards that promote “patriotism and pride about the success of this great country,” the proposed Standards instead are tainted by the subversive ideology of postcolonialism. The youth of Idaho deserve an education free from political indoctrination. The proposed K-12 social studies standards ought to be emphatically rejected and replaced with standards that are factual, rigorous, and patriotic, in-line with the vision laid out by the Legislature in Concurrent Resolution 116.
