Thread by @Salon

1/ (thread) #EXCLUSIVE: In part two of a three-part investigation into @Hillsdale, @kathrynajoyce examines #HilldaleCollege’s multifaceted and far-reaching role in shaping and disseminating the ideas and strategies that power the right.
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2/ In 2011, @Hillsdale president Larry Arnn began offering snippets of the institution's curricula to the public with a series of free online courses on subjects like the Constitution, the Bible and, more recently, "American Citizenship and Its Decline."
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3/ Imprimis, #Hillsdale's publication, churns out essays adapted from speeches given at school events, including topics on "gender ideology," "the Great Reset" and "The January 6 Insurrection Hoax" (which includes a defense of an #OathKeeper arrested for the Capitol assault).

4/ In 2018, when Donald Trump proposed a kids-in-cages stance on immigration, Imprimis argued that Trump was taking a "stand on behalf of the nation-state and citizenship against the idea of a homogenous world-state populated by 'universal persons.'"
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5/ Around that time, Hillsdale began offering online courses, and expanded into primary and secondary education. #HillsdaleAcademy, a private K-12 academy, already existed on campus.
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6/ Students memorized Bible verses and attended weekly prayer services and daily flag ceremonies as part of the school's "advocacy of ceremony and pageantry in transmitting principles, strengthening traditions and making children feel part of something greater than themselves."

7/ Academy-approved books came with a warning to use only original editions, since later versions might "contain revisionist forewords and introductions" that could sway "impressionable children unequipped to recognize and discount the politicization of literary scholarship."

8/ In 2010, Hillsdale launched #BCSI, which intended to spread an adapted model nationwide. Kathleen O'Toole, Hillsdale assistant provost for K-12 education, says BCSI's conception of classical education "is what we used to do in this country back when education was working."

9/ BCSI’s "chief architect" believes classical education teaches "students that true freedom and happiness are to be obtained through limited, balanced, federal, and accountable government protecting the rights and liberties of a vibrant, enterprising people."

10/ Hillsdale's newest K-12 offering, the #1776Curriculum, has been widely embraced by Republican state and local elected officials.
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11/ The #1776Curriculum depicts America's founding fathers, even those who owned slaves, as closet abolitionists, while the reformers of the late 19th to early 20th century Progressive era were promoters of "group rights" whose activism was fundamentally anti-American.

12/ The #1776Curriculum also suggests that systemic American racism was effectively ended by the civil rights movement of the 1960s, and that the ideals of that movement were "almost immediately turned [into] programs that ran counter to the lofty ideals of the Founders."

13/ 53 schools around the country are either operating as full BCSI "member schools" or implementing its curriculum.
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14/ Check back tomorrow for the final installment where @kathrynajoyce examines the long-term goal of the entire #Hillsdale-driven educational universe.
salon.com/2022/03/16/com…