‘This feels like fascism’: Arizona teachers push back on Trump’s ‘Patriotic Education’ agenda

Arizona teachers warn a federal plan to promote “patriotic education” could reshape how American history is taught — and who gets to define it, risking turning civics education into political propaganda. 

In January, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to promote ‘patriotic education’ in classrooms, among other orders like “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling” that intend to withhold funding from any schools that teach that the US is “fundamentally racist, sexist or otherwise discriminatory.” 

It directed government agencies, including the Department of Education, to produce an “ending indoctrination strategy” that would focus on uprooting instruction about transgender issues, “white privilege” or “unconscious bias” in schools, and to “prioritize federal resources, consistent with applicable law, to promote patriotic education.”

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Last month, the Trump administration announced the launch of a civics education coalition that includes the Education Department and more than 40 partner groups, all of which are closely aligned with the president’s political ideology.

The partner groups include the America First Policy Institute, a Trump-aligned nonprofit where Education Secretary Linda McMahon worked before joining the president’s cabinet, the Heritage Foundation, Moms for Liberty, a conservative parents’ rights group, Turning Point USA, PragerU, and a number of religious groups.

“These groups of people are not educators, they are not historians, they are political operatives, and I don’t believe anybody’s personal politics should be infused in direct classroom instruction,” said Marisol Garcia, president of the Arizona Education Association, the state’s largest education labor union, and a former eighth grade social studies teacher. 

The Trump administration will prioritize federal grant funding to “patriotic education” programs, promoting a civic education that “teaches American history, values, and geography with an unbiased approach,” according to McMahon. 

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While the Education Department can’t directly control school curriculum as it is left up to the individual states, it can use funding to pressure schools to use certain types of education or programs.

As it stands, school curricula are determined by the local community—it goes in front of a school board, where parents, students, teachers are part of deciding what type of curriculum is brought into the classroom to meet the needs of the community, Garcia said.

“I can’t imagine ever bringing a partisan based curriculum into a classroom,” Garcia said. “In fact, it goes against everything that educators believe in…we believe in offering students opportunities to understand history, to use first person accounts, first person pictures, to be able to teach students critical thinking skills.”

In Arizona, public schools have remained ranked last in the nation for public school funding—federal dollars make up roughly 20% of the state’s school funding.  

“It is imperative to promote an education system that teaches future generations honestly about America’s Founding principles, political institutions, and rich history,” McMahon said in a statement. “To truly understand American values, the tireless work it has taken to live up to them, and this country’s exceptional place in world history is the best way to inspire an informed patriotism and love of country.”

A step towards fascism?

The push to implement patriotic education by the federal government feels like fascism, said Beth Lewis, director of Save Our Schools Arizona, a nonpartisan public school advocacy group. Lewis also taught sections of civics to elementary school students.  

“As a former educator, as a parent, I refuse to think that making all kids feel welcome and safe in their classrooms is the same as having politics in the classroom,” Lewis said. “This feels like…some partisan version of patriotism being shoved down our kids throats.”

According to the proposal, “patriotic education” refers to “a presentation of the history of America grounded in an accurate, honest, unifying, inspiring, and ennobling characterization of the American founding and foundational principles.”

With the organizations the Department of Education has decided to partner with, teachers should expect to be handed a curriculum with a ”whitewashed” version of history that glosses over historical leaders and events that fought for civil rights, Lewis said.

Withholding funding is a tool of oppression, and Trump has already held back federal funding for public schools, Lewis said.  

For Chris Whitehead, a retired teacher of 30 years, who taught middle school history, civics, and geography in Mesa Public Schools, his goal was always to teach students to investigate, ask questions, and give them information to do further research—but never to change their minds or try to “indoctrinate” them. 

“We are the sum total of our history…if we don’t look at the reality of our history, then we are being hoodwinked,” Whitehead said. “Patriotic education sounds very like it’s going to be brainwashing.” 

It’s important for students, who are only becoming increasingly more diverse, to learn history that represents them, otherwise, they become disconnected and disinterested, Whitehead said. And when students become disinterested in civics, they don’t become voters, he said.

The partner groups tapped by McMahon, such as PragerU, have been criticized for misrepresenting the history of slavery and downplaying its place in American history. 

“It doesn’t go away because we don’t talk about it in the history books,” Whitehead said.

Already, the Trump administration has tried to eliminate the history of the Tuskegee Airmen, and of the Navajo code talkers, Garcia said. 

“It’s very clear to me that their intention is to not share accurate history,” she added.

Public comment on McMahon’s proposed discretionary grants priority for schools that prioritize patriotic education ends on Oct. 17. Public comments can be submitted here.

“I see a patriotic education is going back backwards, less inclusive, more racially-based, more agenda-based,” Whitehead said. “If it doesn’t include everybody, then it’s a one-sided patriotic history only for one group, one race or one ethnic group.”