{"id":45167,"date":"2025-03-06T22:30:11","date_gmt":"2025-03-06T22:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?p=45167"},"modified":"2025-03-06T22:30:11","modified_gmt":"2025-03-06T22:30:11","slug":"aha-oah-statement-on-executive-order-ending-radical-indoctrination-in-k-12-schooling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?p=45167","title":{"rendered":"AHA\u2013OAH Statement on Executive Order \u201cEnding Radical Indoctrination in K\u201312 Schooling\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The American Historical Association and the Organization of American Historians (OAH) have released a joint statement on the presidential executive order <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/presidential-actions\/2025\/01\/ending-radical-indoctrination-in-k-12-schooling\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u201cEnding Radical Indoctrination in K\u201312 Schooling.\u201d<\/a> The executive order \u201cgrossly mischaracterizes history education across the United States, alleging educational malpractice.\u201d \u201cThe executive order\u2019s narrow conception of patriotism and patriotic education does more than deny the actual history of American democracy; it also undermines its own goals of a rigorous education and merit-based society,\u201d the statement reads. \u201cWe reject the premise that it is \u2018anti-American\u2019 or \u2018subversive\u2019 to learn the full history of the United States with its rich and dramatic contradictions, challenges, and conflicts alongside its achievements, innovations, and opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To date, 37 organizations have signed on to the statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>AHA\u2013OAH Statement on Executive Order \u201cEnding Radical Indoctrination in K\u201312 Schooling\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The presidential executive order \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/presidential-actions\/2025\/01\/ending-radical-indoctrination-in-k-12-schooling\/\">Ending Radical Indoctrination in K<strong>\u2013<\/strong>12 Schooling<\/a>,\u201d signed on January 29, 2025, grossly mischaracterizes history education across the United States, alleging educational malpractice\u2014teachers supposedly \u201c[i]mprinting anti-American, subversive, harmful, and false ideologies on our Nation\u2019s children.\u201d The order uses this caricature to justify sweeping and unprecedented federal interventions in public education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This inflammatory rhetoric is not new. For the past four years, the same largely fabricated accusations have provided justification for efforts by some state legislatures to prohibit \u201cdivisive concepts\u201d in history and social studies education, along with other extreme restrictions that the Organization of American Historians (OAH) and American Historical Association (AHA) have separately and jointly opposed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Taken together, this state legislation and executive order not only disregard the training, ethics, and lifelong work of history teachers; they also demean American students by assuming that patriotism can be ignited only by triumphal stories and that our students are incapable of forming complex opinions about their nation\u2019s past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The sweeping claims of \u201cradical indoctrination,\u201d moreover, are almost entirely unmoored from the reality of history education in thousands of classrooms across the United States. The AHA recently published <a href=\"https:\/\/www.historians.org\/teaching-learning\/k-12-education\/american-lesson-plan\/\"><em>American Lesson Plan<\/em><\/a>, the most comprehensive study of secondary US history education undertaken in the 21st century. The AHA surveyed over 3,000 middle and high school US history educators, conducted hundreds of interviews, and analyzed thousands of pages of instructional materials from geographically diverse school districts of all shapes and sizes. The report delineates what is actually taught in secondary school history classes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This careful research revealed a landscape of public education dramatically different from the \u201cindoctrination\u201d alleged in this executive order and \u201cdivisive concepts\u201d state legislation. AHA researchers found dedicated history teachers, professionals who are primarily concerned with helping their students learn central elements of our nation\u2019s history. Nearly 100 percent of the teachers surveyed rated \u201cdeveloping informed citizens for participation in a democratic society\u201d as a goal for their history courses, and 94 percent identified this as an important or very important outcome. This examination of the lesson plans and materials they use in the classroom corroborates these findings. Developing critically informed citizens to participate in our democracy is the opposite of indoctrination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This executive order, however, mandates ideological instruction and the politicization of history grounded in ahistorical thinking. The order draws upon the deeply flawed and roundly debunked 2021 report of the \u201cPresident\u2019s Advisory 1776 Commission\u201d\u2014a panel devoid of experts in the history of the United States\u2014which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oah.org\/advocacy-statement\/statement-on-white-house-conference-on-american-history\/\">the OAH<\/a> characterized in 2020 as a partisan attempt to \u201crestrict historical pedagogy, stifle deliberative discussion, and take us back to an earlier era characterized by a limited vision of the US past.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The executive order\u2019s narrow conception of patriotism and patriotic education does more than deny the actual history of American democracy; it also undermines its own goals of a rigorous education and merit-based society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is neither history nor patriotism. An uncomplicated celebration of American greatness flattens the past into a parade of platitudes devoid of the context, conflict, contingency, and change over time that are central to historical thinking. We instead support our nation\u2019s educators as they help students learn how past generations fought to make the United States a \u201cmore perfect union,\u201d in the words of our Constitution. As they teach the history of how people in the past chose to devote, risk, and in some cases even lose their lives challenging our nation\u2019s most glaring imperfections, they teach our youth resilience, courage, and pride. They also teach them history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We reject the premise that it is \u201canti-American\u201d or \u201csubversive\u201d to learn the full history of the United States with its rich and dramatic contradictions, challenges, and conflicts alongside its achievements, innovations, and opportunities. History education that is rooted in professional expertise and integrity can inspire patriotism in American students through deep and honest engagement with our nation\u2019s past and prepare them for informed civic engagement. Teachers want students to grapple with complex history. This history includes the rich legacy of freedom and democracy built into the nation\u2019s foundation. It also includes legacies of contradictions to those principles present at the nation\u2019s founding and beyond. It includes the struggles of Americans across nearly 250 years to enlarge that legacy\u2014to end slavery, to end prejudice against immigrants from across the world, to end poverty, to build a nation where everyone has the freedom to pursue their dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The AHA and the OAH advocate for the importance of history in American public life and for education that prepares our nation\u2019s students for informed citizenship and work. Like all histories, American history is complicated and fascinating; learning about our past should stimulate discussion and debate rooted in evidence and professional scholarship. For that to happen, we must let our teachers do what they do best: teach without interference or ideological tests. And let our students learn <em>how<\/em> to think, rather than <em>what<\/em> to think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The following organizations have signed on to this statement:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>African American Intellectual History Society<br>African Studies Association<br>American Association for State and Local History<br>American Association of University Professors<br>American Journalism Historians Association<br>American Studies Association<br>Association of Ancient Historians<br>Association for Computers and the Humanities<br>Association for Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies<br>Association of University Presses<br>Berkshire Conference of Women Historians<br>Conference on Asian History<br>Coordinating Council for Women in History<br>Florida Freedom to Read Project<br>Freedom to Read Project<br>Historians for Peace and Democracy<br>Immigration and Ethnic History Society<br>Labor and Working-Class History Association<br>LGBTQ+ History Association<br>Midwestern History Association<br>National Council for the Social Studies<br>National Council of Teachers of English<br>National Council on Public History<br>Network of Concerned Historians<br>North American Conference on British Studies<br>New England Historical Association<br>New England History Teachers Association<br>Oral History Association<br>Peace History Society<br>Polish American Historical Association<br>The Reacting Consortium<br>Social Welfare History Group<br>Society of Textual Scholarship<br>Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations<br>Society for Historians of the Gilded Age &amp; Progressive Era<br>Society for the Study of Early Modern Women and Gender<br>Society for U.S. Intellectual History<br>Society of Architectural Historians<br>Western History Association<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.historians.org\/news\/aha-oah-statement-on-executive-order-ending-radical-indoctrination-in-k-12-schooling\">https:\/\/www.historians.org\/news\/aha-oah-statement-on-executive-order-ending-radical-indoctrination-in-k-12-schooling<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6012,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-novosti","category-rasprave"],"acf":{"facebook_opis":""},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/AHA.png?fit=240%2C120&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":53227,"url":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?p=53227","url_meta":{"origin":45167,"position":0},"title":"Gostuju\u0107a predavanja Paula A. Rahea u Zagrebu","author":"Branimir Jankovi\u0107","date":"13. svibnja 2026.","format":false,"excerpt":"Profesor Paul A. Rahe s Hillsdale Collegea u Michiganu (Sjedinjene Ameri\u010dke Dr\u017eave) odr\u017eao je sredinom svibnja 2026. na Hrvatskom institutu za povijest predavanje \"The American Revolution: Historiographical Approaches, Contemporary Directions, and Research Methodologies\", na Filozofskom fakultetu u Zagrebu predavanje \u201cPost 1945 Reinterpretations of History; Cold War vs. Contemporary US Training\u2026","rel":"","context":"U &quot;Novosti&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Novosti","link":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Predavanje-FFZG.jpg?fit=1200%2C766&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Predavanje-FFZG.jpg?fit=1200%2C766&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Predavanje-FFZG.jpg?fit=1200%2C766&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Predavanje-FFZG.jpg?fit=1200%2C766&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Predavanje-FFZG.jpg?fit=1200%2C766&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":53443,"url":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?p=53443","url_meta":{"origin":45167,"position":1},"title":"The Routledge Handbook of the History and Sociology of Ideas","author":"Branimir Jankovi\u0107","date":"18. svibnja 2026.","format":false,"excerpt":"Edited by Stefanos Geroulanos and Gis\u00e8le Sapiro The Routledge Handbook of the History and Sociology of Ideas establishes a new and comprehensive way of working in the history and sociology of ideas, in order to obviate several longstanding gaps that have prevented a fruitful interdisciplinary and international dialogues. Pushing global\u2026","rel":"","context":"U &quot;Knjige&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Knjige","link":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?cat=8"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Ideas.jpg?fit=350%2C498&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":52679,"url":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?p=52679","url_meta":{"origin":45167,"position":2},"title":"CfP: CHOSEN NATION(S): HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL INTERPRETATIONS OF EXCEPTIONALISM, BUDAPEST, 10TH\u201311TH JUNE 2026 (DEADLINE: 1ST MAY 2026)","author":"Branimir Jankovi\u0107","date":"27. travnja 2026.","format":false,"excerpt":"The Ludovika University of Public Service (NKE) and the Jewish Theological Seminary \u2013 University of Jewish Studies (OR-ZSE) are pleased to announce a joint academic conference on \u201cChosen Nation(s): Historical and Cultural Interpretations of Exceptionalism\u201d, to be held in Budapest, Hungary. Chosen Nation(s): Historical and Cultural Interpretations of Exceptionalism Keynote\u2026","rel":"","context":"U &quot;Novosti&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Novosti","link":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/hsozkult.png?fit=1006%2C241&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/hsozkult.png?fit=1006%2C241&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/hsozkult.png?fit=1006%2C241&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/hsozkult.png?fit=1006%2C241&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":52643,"url":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?p=52643","url_meta":{"origin":45167,"position":3},"title":"BRACEWELL TRAVELLING SCHOLARSHIP\u202fFOR PHD STUDENTS (DEADLINE: 30TH APRIL 2026)","author":"Branimir Jankovi\u0107","date":"24. travnja 2026.","format":false,"excerpt":"The Bracewell Travelling Scholarship\u202fis funded by a gift from SSEES Emeritus Professor of History Wendy Bracewell, whose research examines South Slav history, and travel writing in eastern Europe. The Scholarship honours the long tradition of mutual curiosity between the UK and eastern, central and southeastern Europe by supporting PhD students\u2026","rel":"","context":"U &quot;Novosti&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Novosti","link":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Bracewell-Travelling-Scholarship-.webp?fit=980%2C700&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Bracewell-Travelling-Scholarship-.webp?fit=980%2C700&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Bracewell-Travelling-Scholarship-.webp?fit=980%2C700&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Bracewell-Travelling-Scholarship-.webp?fit=980%2C700&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":52677,"url":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?p=52677","url_meta":{"origin":45167,"position":4},"title":"CfP: NAVIGATING THE PAST, FACING THE PRESENT: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES IN RE-PRESENTING CONFLICTS AND VIOLENCE IN MEMORY AND EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS, WARSAW, 22ND\u201324TH OCTOBER 2026 (DEADLINE: 30TH APRIL 2026)","author":"Branimir Jankovi\u0107","date":"27. travnja 2026.","format":false,"excerpt":"The conference and graduate workshop (October 22-24, 2026, Warsaw) addresses the representation of history in public and institutional contexts, with a focus beyond the often-studied field of \u201cmemory culture\u201d. Rather than emphasizing the politicization of memory and cultural institutions, the discussion shifts toward new methods, media, and challenges in historical\u2026","rel":"","context":"U &quot;Novosti&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Novosti","link":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/hsozkult.png?fit=1006%2C241&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/hsozkult.png?fit=1006%2C241&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/hsozkult.png?fit=1006%2C241&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/hsozkult.png?fit=1006%2C241&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":52837,"url":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?p=52837","url_meta":{"origin":45167,"position":5},"title":"&#8220;European Culture(s) of Remembrance: Greece in Focus&#8221;, Thessaloniki (Solun), 3\u20139 October 2026","author":"Filip \u0160imunjak","date":"8. svibnja 2026.","format":false,"excerpt":"The call for participants for the fourth seminar of the \"European Culture(s) of Remembrance\" project is now open. The seminar will be held in Thessaloniki from 3 to 9 October 2026. The seminar will bring together 20 European multipliers in history teaching or historical civic education to explore Greek culture(s)\u2026","rel":"","context":"U &quot;Novosti&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Novosti","link":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/European-cultures-of-remembrance.jpg?fit=1200%2C848&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/European-cultures-of-remembrance.jpg?fit=1200%2C848&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/European-cultures-of-remembrance.jpg?fit=1200%2C848&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/European-cultures-of-remembrance.jpg?fit=1200%2C848&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/European-cultures-of-remembrance.jpg?fit=1200%2C848&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45167"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45168,"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45167\/revisions\/45168"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}