MLive story on Hillsdale College and their new high school Western Civilization curriculum fails to mention they partnered with the Trump Administration on teaching US History

On Saturday, MLive posted an article entitled, Hillsdale College and publisher to release Western civilization curriculum for high schools. The article is short and only cites someone from Hillsdale College, who states:

“For too long, the study of Western Civilization has been sidelined in our schools,” O’Toole said. “The Golden Thread Curriculum has been created by some of the best history teachers in America, and with it, high school teachers and schools across the country can lead students in understanding and perpetuating our cultural inheritance.”

More importantly, the MLive article is essentially a slightly altered version of a Press Release from the far right Hillsdale College, which you can read here.

The MLive article not only demonstrates lazy journalism, it fails to provide a critical voice or perspective about Hillsdale College and their new curriculum.

Hillsdale College

Hillsdale College has a long history of practicing and promoting far right values. The former President of Hillsdale College, George Roche, was also on the advisory board of the US affiliate of the World Anti-Communist League, according to Scott and Jon Lee Andersen’s book, Inside the League: The Shocking Expose of How Terrorists, Nazis, and Latin American Death Squads Have Infiltrated the World Anti-Communist League.

Hillsdale College has hosted forums over the years with speakers such as Manuel Ayau, a member of Guatemala’s Amigos del Pais, a group linked to the death squads in Guatemala. Hillsdale also houses the late John Bircher Clarence Manion’s tape collection, with lectures from former Nicaraguan Dictator Anastasio Somoza Hillsdale’s magazine, Imprimis, which provides a forum for anti-minority views.

In another book by Russ Bellant, The Coors Connection: How Coors Family Philanthropy Undermines Democratic Pluralism, the author writes:

“Longtime Hiilsdale President Roche is opposed in general to social engineering plans, among which he includes affirmative action and public education. Roche has attacked the Civil Rights Restoration Act as frightening federal intervention. He calls affirmative action “the putrid backwash of all the tired social engineering schemes and complains that its advocates are so hypersensitive that a school’s unwillingness to set up advanced bongo drum programs is called racist.”

Bellant goes on to say:

“The selection of contributors for Hillsdale’s monthly magazine, Imprimis, also relfects the school’s far right political views. In one issue, Gerda Bikales, a founder and former executive director of the English Only organization, US English, condemned the advocates of cultural diversity and bilingual education. She attacked the skilled language planners and other militant advocates who promote bilingual education, as well as those who aggressively pursue diversity and cultural pluralism.”

Hillsdale College and US History

A major reason why it is deeply problematic that the Hillsdale College curriculum for high school on US History is because Hillsdale College has partnered with the Trump Administration on crafting a very specific narrative about US History. In fact, the White House wrote earlier this year in preparation for the 250th anniversary of the founding of this country under the heading The Story of America:

The White House Task Force 250 has partnered with Hillsdale College to create a video series that tells the remarkable story of American Independence. It highlights the stories of the crucial people, places, and events that resulted in a rag-tag army defeating the mightiest empire in the world and establishing the greatest republic ever to exist.

A second major reason why the Hillsdale College curriculum is dangerous for students and parents is that Hillsdale College is one of the organizations involved in crafting Project 2025, which GRIID wrote about two years ago.

Lastly, it is worth citing from a GRIID article in 2022, which critiqued an interview that Doug DeVos did with Dr. Larry Arnn, the President of Hillsdale College. The President of Hillsdale College engages in what most scholars refer to as American Exceptionalism. American Exceptionalism is the idea that the US as a country is unique and special and should be seen as a model for the rest of the world. This sentiment is reflected in the conversation between Dr. Arnn and Doug DeVos, since neither of them mention anything about the US genocidal policies directed at the First Nation’s people that lived here way before the Europeans invaded these lands.

The Hillsdale President does acknowledge slavery, but just in passing. Interestingly enough, Dr. Arnn then spends a great deal of time talking negatively about the 1619 Project, stating:

You know, the New York Times has done that fright­ful 1619 Project. And they claim that the move­ment of the found­ing of Amer­i­ca from the colonies for­ward was in the direc­tion of per­pet­u­at­ing slav­ery.

The President of Hillsdale College then cites Gordon Wood as the leading US Historian, so as to contradict the claims made by the 1619 Project. This theme is not really explored by DeVos or his guest, since both are not interested in a serious exploration of the more honest history that the 1619 Project explores, particularly as it related to the centuries long practice of systemic racism in the US and how it has impacted the Black community in particular.

While DeVos and his guest make backhanded comments about Critical Race Theory, they fail to mention that Hillsdale College has developed their own curriculum to counter the 1619 Project. The Hillsdale project is called The Hillsdale 1776 Curriculum, which is a very sanitized and whitewashed version of US history.

We all should be very concerned about the narratives that the Hillsdale College curriculum will create, which is a deeply conservative narrative rooted in White Supremacy and American Exceptionalism.