Education is a national security issue. America’s upcoming 250th anniversary is a time to ensure our youth understand what it means to be an American.
In recent years we haven't emphasized American history and civics in our schools like we have in decades past.
A study a few years ago found that 22% of millennials weren’t sure if they knew what the Holocaust was. And 67% had not heard of Auschwitz, the Nazi death camp where more than one million Jews and others were murdered.
And just this year, the Woodrow Wilson Institute found that only one in three Americans could pass a citizenship test.
Yes, education is a national security issue and right now we’ve got a real problem.
Fortunately, there is one state with a non-woke education chief who is doing something about this and challenging the other 49 states to follow her lead in time for America’s 250th anniversary.
Recently, South Carolina State Superintendent of Education Ellen Weaver announced that the S.C. Department of Education, in partnership with the American Battlefield Trust, will provide customized American Revolution War curriculum for K-12 students statewide.
The America Battlefield Trust, whose board I’m honored to serve on, is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving America's hallowed battlegrounds and educating the public.
The collaboration with the South Carolina Department of Education is a first-in-the-nation initiative that provides free, standards-aligned materials to South Carolina educators just in time for America's 250th birthday.
Superintendent Weaver announced the state-wide education initiative at the Edgewood Middle School in Ninety Six, South Carolina, just a mile down the road from the site of the South's first land battle in the Revolutionary War.
It's fitting that this educational initiative is beginning in South Carolina.
America's road to liberty really began in the Palmetto State when the tide was turned at the Battles of Cowpens and Kings Mountain.
The British retreat started then and culminated in General Cornwallis’ surrender at Yorktown.
In making the announcement, Superintendent Weaver told students, "I want you to remember that you are the legacy of these amazing American patriots, who bled and fought for our freedom right here on the soil of South Carolina, winning the American Revolution and setting us on a trajectory of freedom and continuous improvement."
The custom statewide curriculum is free of charge, includes a lesson plan carefully mapped to grade-level standards and is packed with multiple activities and resources such as virtual tours, information sheets and interactive maps.
Most importantly, this is a historical curriculum for the 21st century, a technology-forward way of teaching history unlike anything we adults would recognize from our school days.
Three-dimensional virtual tours, made even more profound when used with virtual reality goggles, transport students through place and time.
President Donald Trump has done an outstanding job with his "Salute to America 250 Task Force" in engaging and encouraging federal, state and local governments, the private sector, non-profits and education institutions to tell the American story and join in this historic celebration.
South Carolina's education initiative is fulfilling President Trump's vision and should be adopted by the other 49 states.
President Reagan reminded us that "freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction." He went on to say, "We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream.
"It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free."
In the 18th century, South Carolina took a leading role in the Revolution, as the Southern Campaigns turned the tide of the war.
Today, the Palmetto State is setting the tone in adopting a forward-looking attitude to history education for America's 250th.
These efforts will help ensure that this generation of young Americans understand what it truly means to be an American and that freedom is passed to the next generation.
I only hope other states follow suit.
Van Hipp is Chairman of American Defense International, Inc. He’s the former deputy assistant secretary of the U.S. Army and author of "The New Terrorism: How to Fight It and Defeat It." He is the 2018 recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Sept. 11 Garden Leadership Award for National Security. Read Van Hipp's Reports — More Here.
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