Thread by @tzimmer_history

The 21st-Century History Wars #GEST535

Here’s a recap of Week 3, last week’s class: A look at the conflict over National History Standards in the 1990s, and an attempt to figure out how to relate the History Wars to the current wave of the anti-“CRT”/ education bills.

The general idea last week was to explore broader contexts in which to situate the current conflict over history education, specifically, and establish a framework for what is happening currently. Three broader contexts stood out. #GEST535

The first context is the general conflict over public education. The conservative critique of public education has a long history – in many ways, it’s been an important part of the modern conservative project since its inception. #GEST535

Both major strands of the modern conservative movement, the libertarian and the traditionalist, have focused on public education since at least the 1950s. The libertarian argument has used the language of efficiency and “choice” to advocate for privatization. #GEST535

Traditionalists have always suspected public education to be a Trojan horse for the forces of liberalism and secularism. Since the 1990s, in particular, conservatives have embraced the idea of “parental rights” as a way of undermining public education. #GEST535

Conservatives seem to have basically developed two somewhat contradictory ideas of how to handle the “problem” of public education: Either you get rid of it by way of privatization, or you install a regime of all-encompassing surveillance in the classroom. #GEST535

These ideas are contradictory because one insists on the state being taken out of education, the other wants it to be omnipresent. However, the forces behind these ideas are united in the political project of countering the supposed liberal dominance of public education. #GEST535

On this general conservative critique of public education, the latest episode of the @KnowYrEnemyPod is excellent and immensely clarifying. #GEST535

https://twitter.com/matthewsitman/status/1488662014977351689

The second context for the current History Wars is the broader conflict over race and racism in education. We talked about the current anti-“CRT” crusade and why the fight against a decades-old legal theory has suddenly become the rallying cry on the Right. #GEST535

We also discussed how “CRT” relates to history / the historical profession. If conservatives are actually objecting to the acknowledgment that racism has shaped the systems and structures of American life, then yes, basically all recent historical scholarship is suspect. #GEST535

The third context is the longer-term conflict over history and what stories of the past to tell inside and outside the classroom more specifically. This goes back much further than the 90s – but there was a direct precursor in the form of the 90s History Wars. #GEST535

In those 90s History Wars, specifically the fight over National History Standards, the conservative criticism basically boiled down to the idea that “liberal” history was unpatriotic, subversive, and deliberately destroying the foundations of national unity. #GEST535

As Newt Gingrich put it in “To renew America” in 1995: Liberal history education was undermining that “clear sense of what it meant to be an American,” which had supposedly allowed the nation to flourish from 1607 to 1965 (note the dates!). #GEST535

In Gingrich’s understanding, from 1607 to 1965 (again, note the dates, and when things supposedly went off the rails) “America had one continuous civilization built around a set of commonly accepted legal and cultural principles.” #GEST535

Those who were targeted by that critique explicitly refuted the idea that they were trying to undermine unity. As social historian Gary Nash, chiefly responsible for the National Standards, put it: The mission was to “promote greater unity among Americans.” #GEST535

This, Gary Nash believed, should be done by establishing a more inclusive view of American history that elevated the perspectives of people and groups besides white male heroes. Here’s Nash again: #GEST535

“The KKK and McCarthyism are somber episodes in American history. But will not students be taught valuable lessons and indeed be uplifted by learning how most Americans put the KKK and McCarthyism behind them? This is not dismal history but dismal history overcome.” #GEST535

“Dismal history overcome” – that’s a perspective that is maybe not the same, but seems eminently consistent or at least compatible with liberal ideas of progress from the 90s through the Obama era. #GEST535

Conservatives tried to frame the 90s History Wars as a conflict between a patriotic version of history that could provide the basis for national unity – and a subversive history that destroyed the national foundation. #GEST535

However, it seems more adequate to understand the 90s History Wars as a conflict over national unity – but on whose terms? A white nationalist unity history vs a multiracial, pluralistic re-telling intended to create a new model of national unity. #GEST535

In that way, both sides actually shared the idea that the teaching of history had an important role to play in the creation of national unity – that history was supposed to contribute to the national project. #GEST535

From now through the end of the semester, recaps of what we’re reading and discussing will come shortly after the meetings, usually sometime in the middle of the week. That way, it should be possible to follow along with the course basically in real time. #GEST535

Next up, probably tomorrow or Thursday: A recap of today’s Week 4 discussions of the 1619 Project. We tried the near-impossible – drown out the noise surrounding it, ignore (for now) the reactions, and discuss the history and politics of the 1619 Project itself. #GEST535

As always, here’s the original #GEST535 thread that contains all the general information on the course, the ideas and questions behind it, and links to all the different spin-off threads I’ll be posting throughout the semester:

https://twitter.com/tzimmer_history/status/1489305230051270665