Brandy Shufutinsky is the newly appointed Director of the Education and National Security Program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. In this important conversation, we disciuss how today’s ethnic studies curriculum, originally intended to promote understanding among diverse communities, is instead fueling division, promoting an oppressor-vs-oppressed worldview, and teaching students that capitalism is synonymous with white supremacy and exploitation.
Brandy brings deep expertise to this topic, holding a doctorate in International and Multicultural Education from the University of San Francisco, an MSW from USC, and an M.A. in International Relations from the University of San Diego.
Today, at least 22 states mandate ethnic studies in K–12 education, 24 more have incorporated elements of it, and California has made it a graduation requirement. Yet there are no national standards for what’s being taught, and no real education on the dangers of communism, the importance of civics, or an emphasis on nurturing diverse opinions and critical thinking.
Brandy shares how you can get involved locally to push for rigorous standards, honest history, and an end to the ideological indoctrination in our classrooms. If we want to preserve a strong and free Republic, the way we educate the next generation must change.
Quotable Moments:
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“The ideology holds that I’m suffering from internalized oppression because I’m not willingly categorizing myself as part of the oppressed class.”
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“If you are, or simply appear to be white, you’re automatically put in the oppressor category.”
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“We cannot have the Republic we have today with an ill-informed, miseducated next generation.”
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“It’s easy to be a communist when you’re living in a capitalist society.”
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“We need to teach civics and the benefits of our system, but we also have to teach the dangers of the other.”
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