Trump Signs Executive Order To Establish Patriotic Education In Schools On Eve Of Election

On Monday President Trump railed against the "Anti-American radicals" and vowed to implement "patriotic education." Trump, who was trailing in polls a day before the election, took to Twitter and announced that he had signed an executive order establishing a federal 1776 Commission for that purpose. Just signed an order to establish the 1776 Commission. We will stop the radical indoctrination of our students, and restore PATRIOTIC EDUCATION to our schools! he wrote on the eve of Election Day. Moments later, during a campaign rally in Scranton Pennsylvania, he boasted about the order saying, “I just signed that executive order to teach your students pro-American values."

"The recent attacks on our founding have highlighted America’s history related to race. These one-sided and divisive accounts too often ignore or fail to properly honor and recollect the great legacy of the American national experience — our country’s valiant and successful effort to shake off the curse of slavery and to use the lessons of that struggle to guide our work toward equal rights for all citizens in the present," says Trump's order. "In recent years, a series of polemics grounded in poor scholarship has vilified our Founders and our founding. Despite the virtues and accomplishments of this Nation, many students are now taught in school to hate their own country and to believe that the men and women who built it were not heroes, but rather villains," it continued.

"Viewing America as an irredeemably and systemically racist country cannot account for the extraordinary role of the great heroes of the American movement against slavery and for civil rights — a great moral endeavor that, from Abraham Lincoln to Martin Luther King, Jr., was marked by religious fellowship, good will, generosity of heart, an emphasis on our shared principles, and an inclusive vision for the future," it says adding that the federal commission will be encouraging a patriotic view of history. However, some Democrats have promised to resist this initiative. "A restoration of American education grounded in the principles of our founding that is accurate, honest, unifying, inspiring, and ennobling must ultimately succeed at the local level. Parents and local school boards must be empowered to achieve greater choice and variety in curriculum at the State and local levels."

Simultaneously, the White House also provided a message in the matter and promised to punish dissenters who "seek to destroy America’s heritage by tearing down our monuments," reports NY Daily News. "Unfortunately, some versions of American history offer a misconstrued and one-sided account of our founding in an effort to paint America as a systemically racist country," read the statement. Furthermore, it noted, "Restoration of patriotic education relies on State and local education leaders and parents, who must be empowered to choose an education that fits their values and meets their child’s needs." 

The executive order comes after Trump's announced the idea back in September responding to the defacing and removal of colonial and revolutionary figures during national anti-racism and anti-police brutality protests following the killing of George Floyd by Minnesota police in May, reports New York Post. The original instructs the Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to establish the commission within 120 days, with up to 20 presidentially appointed members who are to serve for two years. Additionally, the ex-officio seats will be given to "the secretaries of education, state, interior, defense and housing, and urban development," per the news outlet. 

During Trump's September 17 speech, he said that Democrats and the New York Times’ slavery-focused “1619 Project” promoted an inaccurate account of the US history by over-emphasizing race. "We are here today to declare that we will never submit to tyranny. We will reclaim our history and our country for citizens of every race, color, religion, and creed," he said at the time, according to the New York Post. "The left has warped, distorted and defiled the American story with deceptions, falsehoods, and lies. There’s no better example than the New York Times’ totally discredited 1619 Project."