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The fight over what gets taught in our public schools has taken a troubling new turn. This time, it’s not about gender ideology and it’s not a revisionist take on America’s founding — it’s about rewriting recent American history.
Virginia has passed HB333, a law requiring all teachers and instructional materials to describe January 6th as an unprecedented, violent attack on democratic institutions carried out for the purpose of overturning the 2020 election. New York is pushing similar legislation. These laws don’t invite students to examine the evidence and think critically; they mandate what conclusions students must reach.
What January 6th actually involved was a vast majority of peaceful Americans — parents, veterans, business owners, retirees — who gathered in Washington but never entered the Capitol building or committed an act of violence. Despite this reality, hundreds were arrested, held in solitary confinement without due process, labeled domestic terrorists, and subjected to the largest criminal investigation in American history. Some weren’t even present that day.
Several brave voices and organizations have arisen to tell the truth about this fateful day. They have documented the broken families, lost livelihoods, and traumatized children left behind by what many rightly called political imprisonments. President Trump pardoned hundreds of these defendants upon taking office, acknowledging that politics, not justice, drove their prosecution.
Now Democrat controlled states want schoolchildren to be taught a one-sided version of these events as settled fact. This is the same media and political class that called the Black Lives Matter and Antifa riots “mostly peaceful”! They demand we treat January 6th as an unprecedented insurrection. The double standard is staggering.
Historian and former teacher Kevin Levin called Virginia’s law a horrible idea. He pointed out that not only does it “set a precedent for government control over historical narratives, it also bypasses the state’s curriculum standards.” When the state mandates how historical events must be understood, it controls not just what is taught but what students are permitted to think. And he warns that once one party establishes this precedent, every future legislature will feel justified doing the same. He’s right!
History requires honest examination — not government-approved conclusions. When states start legislating what students must believe, we’ve crossed a dangerous line.
Watch for this to spread! Stay informed and sign up at PhyllisSchlafly.com, that’s PhyllisSchlafly.com and join us again for the Phyllis Schlafly Report.
