What's behind Trump’s push for ‘patriotic education’?

President Trump last week said his administration would be taking action to promote a “pro-American curriculum” in U.S. schools in an effort to counteract what he called “left-wing indoctrination” in education.

Speaking at the National Archives Museum, Trump said he intends to sign an executive order to create the “1776 Commission” to encourage schools to teach a positive view of American history. The commission’s name appears to be a dig at the 1619 Project, a series of essays published last summer by the New York Times Magazine that argue slavery and racism are foundational elements of American history. Trump also took aim at critical race theory, an academic discipline focused on systemic racism.

In his speech, Trump called these views an “ideological poison” that threatened to erase the “miracle of American history” from U.S. education. The 1619 Project offers a free curriculum that has been utilized by some schools. Earlier this month, Trump threatened to defund schools that do so. Federal agencies were also recently barred from holding diversity trainings that rely on critical race theory.