Geoff W. Sutton Blog: Revising American History 1776 and Educational Psychology

One Martin Luther King, Jr. Day 2021, the White House released a report on American History called “The 1776 Report.”

The 1776 Report has caused a stir because of the ongoing battle over perspectives on American slavery and the implications for today’s racism. To meet the different challenges found in The 1776 Report, The 1619 Project, and a plethora of other writings, educators will likely need conflict management skills.

Whatever views educators may have about US history, it seems inevitable that some students and their parents will hold sharply different perspectives on the events in history and how those perspectives should inform current views on future laws and policies. It is easy to see how sharp disagreements could lead to an uncomfortable climate and difficulty having a civil discussion about different perspectives on the events of American history.

Here's one statement in The 1776 Report.

“The most common charge levelled against the founders, and hence against our country itself, is that they were hypocrites who didn’t believe in their stated principles, and therefore the country they built rests on a lie. This charge is untrue, and has done enormous damage, especially in recent years, with a devastating effect on our civic unity and social fabric.” (p. 10)

On page 17, school officials are advised of their moral duty.

“States and school districts should reject any curriculum that promotes one-sided partisan opinions, activist propaganda, or factional ideologies that demean America’s heritage, dishonor our heroes, or deny our principles. Any time teachers or administrators promote political agendas in the classroom, they abuse their platform and dishonor every family who trusts them with their children’s education and moral development.”

Not surprisingly, The 1776 Report has generated controversy.

Following are a few links to media coverage revealing a range of responses.

The complexities of analyzing historical documents are surely debatable by those who are experts in a field. I can only imagine the difficulty in deciding what counts as important history for US Students.

I hope that beyond the opinions about the facts and relevant contexts, students learn how to think about history and appreciate some degree of humility when it comes to human memories of events and how our minds filter information with cognitive biases.

As a psychologist, it is important to keep in mind that memories of past events are subject to errors. These errors are not necessarily purposeful distortions but simple the result of problems with the accuracy of human memory.

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