{"id":140954,"date":"2025-09-08T05:10:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T05:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/140954\/"},"modified":"2025-09-08T05:10:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T05:10:11","slug":"trump-review-at-the-smithsonian-could-reshape-classroom-materials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/140954\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump review at the Smithsonian could reshape classroom materials"},"content":{"rendered":"

High school history teacher Katharina Matro often pulls materials from the Smithsonian Institution website as she assembles her lessons. She trusts its materials, which don\u2019t require the same level of vetting as other online resources. She uses documents and other primary sources it curates for discussions of topics like genocide and slavery. <\/p>\n

As the White House presses for changes at the Smithsonian<\/a>, she\u2019s worried she may not be able to rely on it in the same way. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want a partisan history,\u201d said Matro, a teacher in Bethesda, Maryland. \u201cWe want the history that\u2019s produced by real historians.\u201d<\/p>\n

Far beyond museums in Washington, President Donald Trump\u2019s review at the Smithsonian could influence how history is taught in classrooms around the country. The institution is a leading provider of curriculum and other educational materials, which are subject to the sweeping new assessment of all its public-facing content.<\/p>\n

Trump is moving to bring the Smithsonian into alignment<\/a> with his vision of American history<\/a>. In a letter last month to the Smithsonian Institution, the White House said its review is meant to \u201cassess tone, historical framing, and alignment with American ideals.\u201d It\u2019s part of Trump\u2019s agenda to \u201ccelebrate American exceptionalism\u201d by removing \u201cdivisive or partisan narratives,\u201d it said. <\/p>\n

Those opposed to the changes fear they will promote a more sanitized version of American history.<\/a><\/p>\n

In celebration of the country\u2019s 250th anniversary next year, the Education Department recently launched the White House\u2019s Founders Museum in partnership with PragerU, a conservative nonprofit<\/a> that produces videos on politics and history. Visitors to the museum in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, as well as the White House website, can read biographies on the signers of the Declaration of Independence and watch videos that depict them speaking.<\/p>\n

\u201cReal patriotic education means that just as our founders loved and honored America, so we should honor them,\u201d Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a PragerU video<\/a> introducing the project. <\/p>\n

The project mentions some signers favoring abolition and includes Phillis Wheatley, an enslaved woman who became the first published Black female poet in the U.S. But critics say it brushes over some of the nation\u2019s darker past.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose are the kinds of things that teachers are really leery of because they don\u2019t see partisanship in the sources that we\u2019re using as being good educational practice,\u201d said Tina Ellsworth, president of the National Council for the Social Studies.<\/p>\n

History teachers use supplemental resources over textbooks<\/p>\n

Like many other history teachers, Matro said she turns to materials from the Smithsonian because she doesn\u2019t have the time to create lessons from scratch or the budget to buy the latest books. She favors the museum\u2019s digitized collections to guide her classes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have to figure out \u2018is this real? Is this not real?\u2019 I can trust the descriptions of the artifact,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

More than 80% of history teachers report using free resources from federal museums, archives and institutions including the Smithsonian, according to an American Historical Association survey last year.<\/p>\n

The federal institutions\u2019 materials have been widely trusted partly because they are thoroughly examined by professionals, said Brendan Gillis, the historical association\u2019s director of teaching and learning. Some teachers have out-of-date history textbooks, and online resources from institutions like the Smithsonian can fill the gaps, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s been one of the most influential and profoundly important ways that the federal government has invested in social studies education over the last couple of decades,\u201d Gillis said.<\/p>\n

While education always has been part of the Smithsonian\u2019s mission, developing materials specifically for classrooms became more prevalent after World War II, said William Walker, a State University of New York, Oneonta, professor who has researched the Smithsonian\u2019s history. The museum organizes professional development workshops for teachers and offers materials ranging from worksheets to videos. <\/p>\n

Russell Jeung, an Asian-American studies professor at San Francisco State University and co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate, took part in a Smithsonian video series in 2020 meant to educate high schoolers and adults on racism and discrimination against Asians during the COVID-19 pandemic and other points in American history.<\/p>\n

Jeung said he expects the project will be shelved by the White House review.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the story will be told,\u201d Jeung said. \u201cBut the tragedy again and the loss is that we won\u2019t get the national recognition that we deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n

In recent years, many states have passed laws<\/a> adopting guidelines on how schools can address topics including racism, sexism and other topics. And professional groups say teachers will continue to adapt and find resources to put historical events in due context, regardless of what happens at the Smithsonian.<\/p>\n

\u201cEducation is always political, so we know that as social studies teachers, it\u2019s our job to navigate that terrain, which we do and we do well,\u201d Ellsworth said.<\/p>\n

Educators worry students will be turned off on history<\/p>\n

Michael Heiman, a longtime social studies teacher in Juneau, Alaska, said he typically had his students do a scavenger hunt of artifacts in a virtual Smithsonian tour. <\/p>\n

He said the exhibits always have been culturally inclusive and if that changes, he worries it would affect students of color he\u2019s taught, including Native American children. It could discourage them from pursuing careers in museum sciences or engaging with history at all, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are further quieting voices that are important to our country,\u201d Heiman said. \u201cWe are also restricting certain kids in those underrepresented populations to really understand more about their past.\u201d<\/p>\n

About a decade ago, graduate students of history professor Sam Redman at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, had the opportunity to collaborate with the Smithsonian National Museum of American History for a blog series commemorating the Americans with Disabilities Act. The exercise connected objects in the Smithsonian collection to the civil rights law. The experience for his students was \u201creally incredible,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Each year, he\u2019s heard students say they want to get a job in the federal government or work at the Smithsonian after graduation. But not this year. Redman said he hasn\u2019t heard a single student express interest.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a pressing concern, no doubt about it,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n

The Associated Press\u2019 education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP\u2019s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"High school history teacher Katharina Matro often pulls materials from the Smithsonian Institution website as she assembles her…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":140955,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,1927,87784,21964,3505,12,526,793,87785,10499,87786,3,111,5284,36124,87787,795,21,19,22,20,25,24,800,87788],"class_list":["post-140954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-ap-top-news","tag-brendan-gillis","tag-discrimination","tag-district-of-columbia","tag-donald-trump","tag-education","tag-general-news","tag-katharina-matro","tag-linda-mcmahon","tag-michael-heiman","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-san-francisco","tag-smithsonian-institution","tag-tina-ellsworth","tag-u-s-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-washington-news","tag-william-walker"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}