Key facts
- The Department of Defense will offer a new course on Western civilization and Christianity in its schools for military families starting this fall.
- The course is part of an effort by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to promote patriotic values and classical learning.
- The curriculum utilizes a textbook titled "The Golden Thread: A History of the Western Tradition, Volume I: The Ancient World and Christendom."
- The textbook and its associated lesson plans, developed with Hillsdale College, have been criticized by some historians and educators for potentially misrepresenting historical events and portraying Islam as a threat.
- The initiative also includes hiring classical learning teachers and bringing in new academic chiefs with connections to conservative educational movements.
The Department of Defense is set to introduce a new course focused on Western civilization and Christianity in its schools for military families this fall. This move is part of a broader effort by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to steer the education system toward patriotic values and classical learning.
The Department of Defense Education Activity oversees approximately 160 schools in 11 countries, serving around 70,000 students. These schools have been viewed by conservatives as potential sites for educational reform, given their federal operation.
The planned Western civilization course will utilize a textbook from Encounter Books, a conservative publisher. The textbook's suggested lesson plans were developed in collaboration with Hillsdale College, a conservative Christian institution known for creating educational materials for K-12 schools.
However, historians and educators who have reviewed parts of the textbook have expressed concerns. They suggest the text conflates Western civilization with Christianity and presents Islam as a threat, with one professor noting it might serve as a "Trojan horse for classical Christian education."
This initiative aligns with a wider trend of conservatives embracing classical learning, particularly as they advocate for greater emphasis on patriotism and a particular framing of American history. Hegseth himself has previously written in favor of classical Christian education, viewing progressive influences as detrimental to American values and Western Civilization.
Classical education, generally, emphasizes liberal arts, critical thinking, and imitation of great thinkers. Critics, however, argue that some approaches within this movement overemphasize Western texts while neglecting achievements from other regions like Asia and Africa.
The textbook's introduction states that ignorance of Western history leaves citizens "unarmed against the general hostility to their own tradition." It also asserts that early Christianity promoted humane cosmopolitanism, while characterizing Islam as inherently more violent and invoking events like the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks and 9/11 to support this view.