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Hillsdale College and a Call for Violent Revolution in Service of Christian Nationalism

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Hillsdale College and a Call for Violent Revolution in Service of Christian Nationalism

Larry Arnn expands influence as states continue adoption of history curriculum

Andy Spears
Nov 28, 2022
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Hillsdale College and a Call for Violent Revolution in Service of Christian Nationalism

theeducationreport.substack.com

I’m pleased to note that The Education Report has surpassed 1800 subscribers! Thank you! I’d love to start 2023 with more than 2000 readers. If you’re already a subscriber, please forward to friends you think would be interested. Also, take a moment to consider the subscription options - while The Education Report is offered free as a way to promote a vigorous defense of public schools, your paid subscription helps support my work. If you’re already a free subscriber, just click on the button below to become a paid supporter! I appreciate all of you who read, share, and support this work.

I’ve written quite a bit about Hillsdale College and their attempts to force a Christian Nationalist vision on America’s public schools. They do this through Hillsdale-affiliated charter schools AND through something they call the “1776 Curriculum.”

The Education Report
Hijacked: Hillsdale College Takes Over Social Studies in South Dakota
Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn is trying his best to become the next Jerry Falwell - an evangelical kingmaker in the Republican Party. He already has acolytes in Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee. Hillsdale’s antics in South Dakota further expose the school’s aggressive agenda and broad reach…
Read more
6 months ago · Andy Spears

In a recent issue of Hillsdale’s newsletter - Imprimis - President Larry Arnn talks about the current “culture wars” and notes that the battle for public schools has “not yet” necessitated violence.

I have said and written many times that the political contest between parents and people who make an independent living, on the one hand, and the administrative state and all its mighty forces on the other, is the key political contest of our time. Today that seems truer than ever. The lines are clearly formed.

***

As long as our representative institutions work in response to the public will, there is thankfully no need for violence.

What does this mean? Does it mean that in states like Tennessee, where political pushback caused Hillsdale to pause its attempt to establish charter schools, violence may eventually be necessary?

The Education Report
Early Withdrawal: In Tennessee, Hillsdale Pulls Out Ahead of Climactic Meeting
Hillsdale College has been working to expand its Christian nationalist vision to Tennessee ever since Gov. Bill Lee called for evangelical exceptionalism in his January State of the State address. Three charter schools affiliated with Hillsdale were rejected in Madison, Rutherford, and Montgomery counties. Hillsdale’s American Classical Academy submitte…
Read more
6 months ago · Andy Spears

Does it mean that as long as Hillsdale is allowed to insinuate its worldview by way of curriculum adoption, Christian Nationalists need not resort to violent overthrow of public schools?

gray cross
Photo by Ernest Brillo on Unsplash

A recent story out of Virginia indicates that Hillsdale’s curriculum may have found favor from that state’s Governor, Glenn Youngkin.

“The standards are full of overt political bias, outdated language to describe enslaved people and American Indians, highly subjective framing of American moralism and conservative ideals, coded racist overtures throughout, requirements for teachers to present histories of discrimination and racism as ‘balanced’ ‘without personal or political bias’, and restrictions on allowance of ‘teacher-created curriculum’, which is allowed in all other subject areas,” Dr. James J. Fedderman, VEA’s president, said in a statement.

Fedderman claimed that the draft appears to be taken largely from Hillsdale College’s “1776 Curriculum,”

It’s not exactly clear how Hillsdale plans to achieve Arnn’s end goal of a complete revision of history in a Christian Nationalist view - it is clear, though, that Arnn and his minions are working diligently across the country to make it a reality.

Arnn notes what he sees as the “real” problem:

But we do have children being turned against their country by being indoctrinated to look on its past

When children in public schools are given historical facts, they often raise uncomfortable questions, Arnn seems to suggest. The solution? Rewrite history in a way that allows the dominant groups to avoid uncomfortable questions.

Hillsdale is ready to rescue Christian Nationalists from pesky questions and challenges from young people learning the truth.

The irony here, of course, is that Arnn is positioning his movement as somehow outside the dominant power dynamic. As if white, Christian men have somehow been slighted in an accurate retelling of history.

If only we can convince schools to rewrite the history books, Arnn seems to be saying, we can hold on to our unfair and unwarranted advantage just a bit longer.

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Hillsdale College and a Call for Violent Revolution in Service of Christian Nationalism

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