The Florida Exit Exam in American History indoctrinates children into a progressive and revisionist model critical of America, Part II.

By Dean Kalahar

Last year it was brought to your attention that a crisis in education was being manufactured.

Florida is currently moving forward with the creation and implementation of exit tests in the public schools. This is an important reform effort and Florida should be applauded. In a turn that can only be called outrageous however, the process for developing these tests has been hijacked. In teaching American history, the exit exam process is being used as a legal tool for student indoctrination into a progressive and revisionist model that is critical of America.

While exit exams are a vital tool in evaluating student knowledge acquisition,they force very specific aspects of curriculum into being taught as accurate and factual. Teachers, who will now be evaluated and paid according to the exitexam’s specific details and student performance therein, are all but forced into teaching children “what to think

This report is a more detailed followup to thatinitial finding.The good news is the early predictionshavebeen confirmedand legitimized. Thebad news is the exit examis worsethanpreviouslydetailed.

What exactly will the exit exam focus on? Copies of the sample questions and key concepts to be tested have been released by the state. In short, out of the 18 sample questions given, all but 3 had a distinctive bias toward a worldview that portrays America in a negative way.

The test focus seems to be on making sure Florida’s schoolchildren believe that America has been a nation of bigots, racists, greedy collusive poverty creating capitalists, war mongering imperialists, anti-immigrant, segregating, discriminating, and disenfranchising racists and farmers; and that kids should be an anti-war peace loving through diplomacy, diversity and immigration seeking, tolerant through racial identity politicking citizens of big government spending through redistribution of wealth and regulation providing Medicare, minimum wage, civil rights and affirmative action powered by the auspices of globalization and the United Nations.

The proof is not hidden from view but is easily seen in the documents the FDOE has issued. An analysis of the sample questions and key concepts underscore a negative if not hostile view of American Exceptionalism. Even when the topics of questions are appropriate, the questions are packaged in a way that takes liberty with selective facts to offer an anti-American interpretation of history that is at best not balanced and at worst an outright distortion of the truth.

Sample question topic: tone/angle of question

African American oppression: American bigotry, racism

Monopolies oppressing workers: anti-capitalism

Child labor oppression: anti-business

US was forced into WWII: neutrality, peace, anti-war protest, immigration

International peace: anti-war, isolationism, pro League of Nations, U.S.is imperialistic

Harlem Renaissance: Race inhibits success in America, passive resistance, racial tolerance, celebrate racial identity

Franklin Roosevelt and Depression: Government as care giver, prexpanded executive branch/government, increased regulation, increased federal spending

Cold War with USSR: Alliances based on political philosophies created the problem

Cold War with China: Diplomacy works

GI Bill of Rights: Government provides the means for economic success, anti-business, anti-farmer

Great Society: Government provided Medicare, minimum wage, civil rights, reduced poverty, monitor race relations

Jackie Robinson: America is bigoted and racist, redistribute wealth

Brown v. Board of Ed: America segregates, discriminates, disenfranchises. Pro affirmative action and racial quotas

Oil and US foreign policy: Oil guides our decisions in Middle East, US over consumes oil

Immigration: Debate on immigration is over “foreign-born people in US” not illegal immigration

210 of the 264 curriculum concepts that make up the exit exam standards are legitimate and do not raise much concern if taught historically and honestly. But that means that 54 standards or 20% of the curriculum that has been chosen is suspect at best. This begs the question, with a history as rich as America’s, why would any part of the curriculum raise an eyebrow? The answer, it’s a deliberate attempt to infuse an anti-American worldview so as to indoctrinate students.

The exit exam also conveniently fails to include the principles that built America into a great nation. Most notably freedom, private property, representative democracy, opportunity, free will, entrepreneurialism, and capitalism to name a few. Of course critics will say that it is impossible to get everyone to agree on the 200+ concepts that should be on the test. But one does not need to have a PhD. to determine that some historical facts are more significant than others.

The following benchmark concepts should not be included in Florida’s exit exam because they are not significant enough, can be misused, are vague, or no counter concept is provided for balance.

Ostend Manifesto, Purchase Act (1894), Everglades, Gentlemen’s Agreement, impact of climate and natural disasters, Election of 2000 –only election listed., social movements, globalization, Big government, government regulation, planned economy, Apartheid, Equal Rights Amendment, settlement houses, Wounded Knee (1973), Fundamentalist Movement, Nativism, United Farm Workers, Chinese Exclusion Act, anarchists, American Indian Movement, Social Gospel movement, reparations, Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO), Mary McLeod Bethune, Rosewood Incident, Agricultural Adjustment Act, Relief.

Counter to these included historical references, other vital pieces of American history are left in the dustbin so as not to get in the way of the tests radical agenda. According to historian Robert Shackelford, here is just a small dose of American History since 1861 the exam does not include.

Habeas corpus, Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, Sherman’s March to the Sea, Election of 1864, Appomattox Courthouse, Homestead Act, Trans Continental Railroad, John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Thomas Alva Edison, Alexander Graham Bell,, Economies of Scale, Free Enterprise, Corporation, Boxer Rebellion, Open Door Policy, Roosevelt Corollary, Rough Riders, Ellis Island, Progressive Party, Woodrow Wilson, The Federal Reserve Act, 16th Amendment, Federal trade Commission, Bolsheviks, Vladimir Lenin, The Election of 1924, The Mellon Program, Mass Production, Managerial Revolution, Model T, Airline Industry, The Radio Industry, Court packing Plan, The Broker State, Keynesianism, Safety net, The Roosevelt Recession, Henry Morgenthau, Fascism, Communism, Mein Kamp, Axis Powers Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact, The Four Freedoms, TheMunich Crisis and Appeasement, Militarist Gain Control of Japan, Manhattan Project, George Patton, George Marshall, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Korematsu vs. the, United States, Alger Hiss, The Rosenberg’s, Advances in Electronics/medicine, Rock“n” Roll,Cuban Missile Crisis, Warren Court, Engel v. Vitale 1962, Sputnik, NASA, John Glenn, Neil Armstrong, The Geneva Accords, Viet Cong, Ho Chi Minh Trail, Department of Energy, Iranian Hostage Crisis, Election of 1980, Strategic Defense Initiative, Conservatism Supply- Side Economics, The Reagan Doctrine, Bill Gates, Steven Jobs, Monica Lewinsky Scandal, Welfare Reform Act, Contract with America, NRA.

If all this was not outrageous enough, it needs to also be noted that, by law, the American history course for high school students begins with the Civil War time period and thus excludes any history of America prior to 1861. Students will not be studying and or tested on such pivotal pieces of knowledge such as the Declaration of Independence, Revolutionary War, or Constitution. Proponents of the exam will say that early American history is taught in elementary and middle school, but does anyone believe a 7 or 13 year old can analyze the intricacies the Enlightenment had on the Second Continental Congress or the economics that lead to the “starving time” in Jamestown?

Ask yourself; are the following topics that are included in the exit exam more important than what has been left out of the lessons that will define American history to our children? Furthermore, in reading this list, do you see a pattern that overemphasizes a worldview that could be easily be manipulated through a politically correct anti-American slant?

Anaconda Plan, reservation system, Henry Flagler, political machines, Social Darwinism, transportation, urbanization, Expansionism, imperialism, entangling alliances, Espionage Act, Hispanics in WWI, militarism, Selective Service Act, Fortney-McCumber Act, demobilization, disarmament, Washington Navel Conference, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Neutrality Acts, Quota system, Seminole Indians, Universal Negro Improvement Association, Nationof Islam, loyalty review program, Salerno, Tehran Conference, Dumberton Oaks Conference, Golf of Tonkin Incident, Hawks, Grey Panthers, Superpower, Nuclear Proliferation, Vietnamization, North America Free Trade Agreement, National Woman’s Suffrage Association. child labor.

Looking at the questions, concepts, and worldview projected on the test and only one conclusion is possible. The exit exam is an anti-American tract. The conclusions stated last year are even more legitimate today.

The new Florida exit exam standards are a shocking move toward what one can only equate to soviet style propaganda to create a monolithic citizenry. In the case of high school American history, a look into the specifics of the exit exam is all that is needed as proof to an agenda directed in a planned process by groups that have no problem using whatever means necessary to acquire power and promote a twisted vision of America. Florida exit exams in the social sciences need to be stopped immediately and there needs to be a serious reconsideration of the entire process before moving ahead.

All Floridian’s are now aware of this educational malfeasance. Turning a blind eye to this overt attempt to usurp our children and undermine American history and culture is no longer an option. Now is the time for action.