Kyle Sabo of The College Conservative writes that if conservatives want to win more elections, the foundations of American education must change.

If Conservatives Want to Win, We Must Go Back to School

Marco Rubio speaking Spanish or the Republican party softening its stand on immigration is not going to solve the electoral problem we face. The conservative movement, if it wishes to win presidential elections, must commit to an all-in, multi-generational effort to reshape the public school systems in this country. Without that effort, we will continue to produce citizens who are driven my emotion, not reason, and who first consider what America has done wrong in its history than what it has done right.

This process, though, may seem antithetical to the essence of conservatism. To the conservative mindset, it should be left up to the local communities to make decisions on curriculum. However, with the purse strings held tightly in state capitals and even trailing like tentacles back to Washington this is hardly possible. Therefore, efforts must be directed at the state legislatures (27 of which are completely Republican) to reexamine what and how we are teaching the nation’s students.

Consider:  a New York State teaching standard for Social Studies:

Key Idea 1: The study of world history requires an understanding of world cultures and civilizations, including an analysis of important ideas, social and cultural values, beliefs, and traditions. This study also examines the human condition and the connections and interactions of people across time and space and the ways different people view the same event or issue from a variety of perspectives.[1]

The edu-crat gobbledygook above is only one small piece of a nationwide crisis in curriculum. If students don’t know the basics – who fought at Austerlitz, say – then how can we expect them to form informed, critical opinions on the “variety of perspectives” that brought the three emperors – Napoleon, Alexander and Francis – there? How can we expect them to see through the pandering of the greatest hoax perpetrated on the American electorate (Obama for America) and seriously consider voting for a candidate who might not be “cool?” Such is our struggle…