On Wednesday, Sen. Spencer Deery, R-West Lafayette, introduced Senate Bill 257, which outlines his own desires for civic education in Hoosier schools.
Deery said he proposed the bill because research has shown Generation Z, people born after 1996, have a pessimistic view of the country’s founding fathers and documents. He calls this pessimism the “malicious man theory,” meaning Gen Z believes the U.S. government was founded only on the interests of the privileged and was designed to hold others back.
“In other words, [they believe] our founding ideals of liberty and equality are lies,” Deery told the House Education and Career Development Committee.
At the beginning of the meeting, Deery said that according to Indiana’s Constitution, public schools exist to prepare students for preserving the free government. He added that teachers should not be encouraging students to have pessimistic views of their country’s founding principles.
Deery said he wants K-12 schools to teach students that the founding fathers were good men who established honorable ideals for the country to grow into. Debates on the character of the founding fathers, in Deery’s opinion, should happen on college campuses.
“If the next generation is not cherishing the founding principles that we view and derive our liberties from, what’s going to happen to our country,” he asked committee members.
For clarification, Deery specified that topics like slavery and the Holocaust will continue to be taught in schools and used as examples of how the country fell short of its founding ideals.
Sen. J.D. Ford, D-Indianapolis, asked Deery how teaching the imperfect parts of history will be interpreted as non-pessimistic. He added people will have different interpretations of pessimism.
Deery said teachers should teach our nation’s shortcomings while also celebrating the growth of the country.
“Our founding fathers set the vision for what we should become,” Deery said. “We should not be teaching kids their founding fathers were villains.”
Ford followed up by asking how Deery’s bill will allow teachers to cover parts of the original U.S. Constitution, especially the three-fifths clause, which states that enslaved people only counted as three-fifths of a free person.
“Someone could look at your bill and say, ‘I don’t know if I should be teaching that,’” Ford said.
“I’m not saying that you can’t teach racial discrimination,” Deery responded. “It’s teaching that you should not foster a national identity that’s rooted in racial discrimination.”
Sen. Andrea Hunley, D-Indianapolis, said it seems like Deery is going after the art of teaching, not necessarily civics topics. She also said the bill undermines the expertise of the Indiana Civics Education Commission, which includes individuals who possess expertise in the art of teaching and civics curriculums.
“I just am having a really hard time understanding how we can write a bill that’s going to police how a teacher teaches,” she said.
Randy Hudgins, a social studies teacher at Warren Central High School, testified before the committee in opposition to the bill. He said the bill’s forbidden content puts a target on teachers’ backs, especially those who teach racial and gender discrimination.
Hudgins said he primarily teaches students who are not white and fears he will struggle to answer their questions without being accused of having a pessimistic view of the country’s founders.
He referenced his own children, who Hudgins hopes will have the opportunity to learn all aspects of U.S. history.
“I want them to learn the beautiful history of Americans—not some Americans, all Americans,” he said. “I want them to be taught the triumphs and failures as it will give them a greater appreciation of the incredible promise this country provides for their future and for the human race.”
Chris Lagoni is executive director of the Indiana Small and Rural Schools Association. He said he supports teaching a common civics curriculum based on the founding documents and state standards. He liked that the bill has a process for teachers who might not be meeting those standards.
Lagoni’s sole criticism was in wondering how administrators can prove that a teacher had ill intent while teaching about the flaws of the nation.
The meeting’s final testimony came from Ben Stanton, a regular citizen. He opposed SB 257 because he said it seems like the bill discourages teachers from teaching America’s flaws.
Stanton added that school administration would likely waste time investigating claims about teachers teaching the malicious man theory instead of working to improve the education experience for students and educators.
“Just let teachers teach,” Stanton said.
