The Economist - USA (2021-07-10)

26 United States The Economist July 10th 2021

are  inherently  responsible  for  actions

committed  in  the  past”.  In  May,  Idaho’s

Lieutenant  Governor  assembled  a  task­

force “to protect our young people from the

scourge  of  critical  race  theory,  socialism,

communism, and Marxism”.

It  is  unclear  how  widely  the  theory,  as

described  by  either  liberals  or  conserva­

tives,  is  being  taught  in  classrooms.  Ac­

cording to the Heritage Foundation, anoth­

er  conservative  think­tank,  43%  of  teach­

ers are familiar with crt, and only 30% of

that group view it favourably (about one in

ten  overall).  Even  so,  the  National  Educa­

tion  Association  (nea),  America’s  largest

labour union, recently issued a statement

embracing crt.

This contest over how to tell the nation­

al  story  may  seem  new,  but  it  is  part  of  a

century­old  fight.  The  battle  began  once

schooling became compulsory in all states

in 1918. In the 1920s David Muzzey, a histo­

rian, was branded a traitor for his textbook

“An  American  History”,  which,  according

to critics, undermined the American spirit

with pro­British distortions of the revolu­

tion and the war of 1812. According to Gary

Nash, a historian, an opponent of Muzzey’s

text claimed that American children would

now  sing  “God  Save  the  King”  instead  of

“Yankee Doodle Dandy” after reading it. At­

tempts to ban the book were unsuccessful:

it sold millions of copies.

Choose your own textbook

Other controversies followed. In the 1930s,

Harold  Rugg,  an  education  professor,  was

accused  of  “Sovietising  our  children”  by

conservatives,  who  claimed  that  his  text­

book  focused  on  American  social  ills  and

propagated  Marxism.  The  McCarthy  era

spurred  investigations  into  teachers  la­

belled as Communist sympathisers. In the

1970s textbook wars led to violence in West

Virginia, where protesters bombed schools

and  injured  journalists  over  books  with

controversial multicultural content. Liber­

als  have  also  attempted  to  censor  materi­

als. In the 1980s E.D. Hirsch, a literary critic

and professor, published a list of common

knowledge for American children that be­

came  a  New York Timesbestseller.  Liberal

critics  accused  Mr  Hirsch  of  prioritising

the achievements of white men and West­

ern European perspectives. 

Perhaps  the  most  analogous  fight,

though, was in the 1990s over voluntary na­

tional history standards. The optional cur­

riculum,  originally  conceived  under  the

George H.W. Bush administration and con­

tinued under Bill Clinton, was lampooned

by  conservatives.  Lynne  Cheney,  the  wife

of former Vice­President Dick Cheney, who

was  running  for  president,  declared  her

opposition  in  an  op­ed  in  the  Wall Street

Journal  entitled  “The  End  of  History”.  Mrs

Cheney accused the standards of “political

correctness”  and  lamented  the  lack  of

white  malerepresentationinthecurricu­

lum:  UlyssesS.Granthadonlyonemen­

tion  and  RobertE.Leehadnone,against

Harriet Tubman’ssix.TheSenatepasseda

resolutiontocondemnthevoluntarystan­

dards, killingthecurriculum.

“Theseattacksarealwaysconnectedto

what’s  goingoninpoliticsatthattime,”

says  Mr  Nash,whohelpedcreatethevo­

luntary  national standards. The Under­

standing  AmericaStudy,a nationallyrep­

resentative survey by the University of

Southern California,foundthatAmericans

are unitedontheimportanceofcivicsedu­

cation for children.Withlittlepartisandis­

agreement,a majorityofparentsagreethat

it  is  importantforchildrentolearnhow

the  government works(85%) andabout

voting requirements(79%).

But  political differencesemerge over

who shouldappearprominentlyinhistory

lessons.  Parentalopiniondivergesonthe

importanceoflearningaboutwomen(87%

of  Democraticparentsfavourthisversus

66%  of  Republican parents) and non­

whites  (83% versus60%). The divide is

greater ondiscussionsofinequality.A ma­

jority of Democraticparentssaidit wasim­

portant  forpupilstolearnaboutracism

(88%)  andincomeinequality(84%)com­

pared  with lessthanhalf ofRepublican

parents (45%and37%respectively).

Conservativestendtoarguethatpupils

should  learnoneunified,optimisticver­

sion of Americanhistory,andthatlearning

about  specificgroupsisdivisive.“Critical

race theoryisdestructivebecauseitadvo­

cates for racialdiscriminationthroughaf­

finity groupings,racialguiltbasedonyour

ethnicity  notyourbehaviour,andrejects

the fundamentalideasonwhichourfree­

dom is based,”explainsMattBeienburgof

the GoldwaterInstitute.Meanwhile,liber­

als are opentoa morefragmented,lessflat­

tering versionofthecountry’spast.

It is thisviewwhichseemstobegaining

ground. HowardZinn’s“APeople’sHistory

of  the  UnitedStates”(toldfromtheper­

spective ofwomenandracialminorities)is

also groupedunderthecritical­race­theo­

ry debate bytheGoldwaterInstitute:ithas

sold 2m copiessince1980.The 1619 Project

is  taught  inmanyschooldistrictsinclud­

ing  Chicago.Accordingtothenea, nine

states  andtheDistrictofColumbiahave

laws  or  policiesestablishingmulticultur­

al­historyorethnic­studiescurriculums.

Greg  Lukianoff,presidentoftheFoun­

dation forIndividualRightsinEducation,

a  non­profit organisation, urges liberal

Americanstotakeconservativeconcerns

seriously,orpotentiallyfacea “terrifying”

boost of far­rightnationalism.“Itisgoing

to  get  moreintenseaspolarisation gets

worse  andastrustgoesdown,”hesays.If

each successivehistorywargrowsmorein­

tense, he adds,“Wheredoweendupinten

to 20 years?”n

NewYork’snextmayor

Adams’s Apple

“S

ome peopletalk about police brutali­

ty.  I  want  to  tell  you  how  it  is  to  live

through  it.”  So  begins  the  video  that

launched Eric Adams’s mayoral campaign.

In the clip he stands outside the police sta­

tion in Queens where, when he was 15, po­

lice beat him and his brother. Despite this

experience, or maybe because of it, he later

joined the police force, eventually becom­

ing both a police captain and a prominent

internal critic of racism and brutality at the

nypd. In his campaign he blended a call to

reform  the  police  with  respect  for  the

badge and a pledge to crack down on crime,

and on July 6th, two weeks after the Demo­

cratic primary, he was named the projected

winner.  That  almost  certainly  makes  him

the next mayor, since Democrats outnum­

ber  Republicans  in  New  York’s  electorate

by seven to one.

In  the  city’s  first  election  by  ranked­

choice voting, the two candidates that rose

to the top of a crowded field were both rela­

tive  centrists.  Mr  Adams,  who  also  served

as a state lawmaker and Brooklyn borough

president,  won  by  just  8,426  votes,  or  1%,

over  Kathryn  Garcia,  a  well­regarded  bu­

reaucrat.  His  emphasis  on  fighting  crime

clearly  gave  him  an  edge.  While  progres­

sive  candidates  called  for  cutting  police

funding, Mr Adams argued that “the prere­

quisite for prosperity is public safety.” That

message  resonated  as  shootings  last  year

nearly  doubled  from  2019  and  violent

crime escalated even in well­policed areas

like  Times  Square.  According  to  one  poll

New  Yorkers  listed  crime  among  their

N EW YORK

Eric Adams has a practical streak that

ought to serve the city well

The joy of ranked-choice