Evidence Suggests Private Schooling No More Likely Than Public to Fuel Right ‐​Wing Militancy

Neal McCluskeyFor some people, a  considerable worry about private education is that it might foster right‐​wing hate and militancy. This concern can be seen in a series ofHuffPostarticles over the last few years sounding alarms about textbooks in some private schools, and inthis recent op ‐​ed attacking efforts to expand educational freedom in West Virginia. Says the latter:We have seen where this leads. In some Middle Eastern cultures, private schools called madrassas have been known to engage in religious and political indoctrination beginning at a  very young age, even including combat training with military weapons. These are the people who brought down the twin towers of the World Trade Center.Based on the rhetoric we are hearing from certain domestic terrorists, are we very far away from schools like that in America? Proud Boy Academy? Boogaloo Boot Camp?Even some folks generally favorable to educational freedom have worries. As Bonnie Kristianwrote recently inChristianity Today:On the one hand, if Stroop ’s broad verdict is right, I should have joined the Capitol mob. I am a product of Christian primary education—even used Abeka books. Still, I can’t argue with Stroop’s basic contention that the mushrooming visibility of Christian nationalism in American evangelical circles requires new scrutiny of Christian schooling. The question I keep returning to is this: Are our schools training Christians or Americans?Is there significant evidence that f...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs