Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., has agreed to speak at this summer’s
Conservative University conference, Accuracy in Academia (AIA) has announced.
A former civics teacher, state legislator, and U.S. Department of Education official in the Reagan administration, Rep. Tancredo was first elected to the U.S. Congress in 1998. He represents the citizens of Colorado’s Sixth Congressional District.
A hero to conservatives, Rep. Tancredo is widely regarded as the leading immigration-reform advocate in Congress. Less publicized—but of great interest to AIA—are his efforts on the educational front.
In response to the decline of history standards in American public schools, Rep. Tancredo has authored a nonbinding resolution calling on schools to ensure that “all young people who graduate from high schools do so with an understanding and appreciation of the values, contributions, and accomplishments of Western civilization.”
“In recent years, some in our public education system have turned their backs on the notion of instilling in our students a sense of pride and appreciation for American history and Western civilization,” says Rep. Tancredo, himself a former public school teacher.
“Instead, many classrooms have become places openly hostile to these ideals, with teachers and textbooks espousing venomous and anti-American rhetoric to de-emphasize the importance of our collective, historical accomplishments.”
Explaining the impetus for his resolution, Rep. Tancredo points to numerous instances in which schools have downplayed Americans’ common history and heritage. In 2002, for example, the New Jersey Department of Education issued revised history standards that omitted, among other subjects, the Pilgrims, the Mayflower, and the Founding Fathers. (State officials eventually reversed course after widespread protests from citizens.)
Rep. Tancredo’s Western civilization resolution has already attracted more than a dozen co-sponsors, including Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., who will also be speaking at Conservative University this July.
Other conference speakers include activist and author Star Parker, historian Burt Folsom, author Kenneth R. Timmerman, economist George Ayittey, writer Joel Mowbray, and many more authors, scholars, and activists. The conference will take place on July 16 and 17 at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
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