Hillsdale College Continues Expansion of Conservative Charter School Network
The New York Times examined efforts by Michigan’s Hillsdale College to combat “leftist academics” by expanding its network of “classical” charter schools and associated “1776 Curriculum.” Governor Bill Lee of Tennessee recently brought Hillsdale much national attention by inviting Hillsdale to open 50 charters using public funds from the state, including $32 million set aside for charter facilities, in an attempt to develop “informed patriotism” in Tennessee students, the Times reported.
Hillsdale College, which enrolls about 1,500 undergraduate and graduate students, was founded by Baptists and has infused its curricula with conservative ideals and values, according to Adam Laats, a professor of history at Binghamton University and expert on fundamentalist education, reported the Tennessean. In refusing to partake in federal financial aid programs, Hillsdale, in fact, exempts itself from many federal regulations, including those "banning discrimination based on sexual orientation,” The Atlantic reported in a profile of Hillsdale in 2016.
Hillsdale’s “1776 Curriculum,” promoted alongside its charter model, has been criticized for its infusion of conservative politics into issues like affirmative action and climate change and for its overall glossy spin on American history. One passage of the curriculum teaches that the civil rights movement “proved to be short lived,” giving way to programs such as affirmative action that “ran counter to the lofty ideals of the Founders,” the Times reported. In commenting on the curriculum, Glenn Branch, the deputy director of the National Center for Science Education, told the Times that the phrase “climate change” appears not once and that “global warming” occurs only once, at the sixth-grade level, referred to as “global-warming theory.”
In the past decade, according to the Tennessean, Hillsdale has grown its multifaceted K-12 charter program, helping establish 21 charters in 10 states. About 30 schools, all private or charter, have officially partnered with Hillsdale to use its free curriculum, the Tennessean reported. These charter schools are neither owned nor managed by the college. Instead, schools agree to use the Hillsdale curriculum, and the college then provides training and other assistance free of charge. By doing this, the Times reported, “Hillsdale seems to be trying to thread a needle—creating a vast K-12 network that embraces its pedagogy and conservative philosophy…while tapping into government money to run the schools.”
- A. Thomas