AHA Executive Director Quoted in Inside Higher Ed Responding to “Patriotic Education” Announcement

Following Secretary of Education Linda McMahon’s announcement promoting “patriotic education” by adding it to her department’s grant-making priorities, AHA executive director Sarah Weicksel offered support for a more nuanced version of history education in an interview with Inside Higher Ed. Referring to the administration’s broader attempts to downplay some of the darker chapters of American history, Weicksel said, “That context tells us that the administration is interested in telling an uncomplicated celebration of American greatness. Doing that flattens the past into a set of platitudes that are not rooted in the broader historical context, conflicts, contingencies and change over time that are central to historical thinking.”