INTERVIEW | Timothy Goeglein on Why So Few Americans Can Pass US Citizenship Test

The Daily Signal

Government, News, Daily News, Politics

4.8 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 24 January 2023

⏱️ 24 minutes

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Summary

Americans' lack of historical knowledge is crippling the nation, says Timothy Goeglein, a senior official with the Christian group Focus on the Family. In his new book “Toward a More Perfect Union: The Moral and Cultural Case for Teaching the Great American Story," Goeglein discusses a survey conducted among public high school students that revealed that only 3% could pass a U.S. citizenship test. Those students surveyed are adults today, Goeglein explains, adding, this means many Americans today “are woefully ignorant of not only our history and culture, but our system of government.” Goeglein, who formerly served as a special assistant to President George W. Bush, tracks the lack of knowledge of American history back to the late radical historian Howard Zinn’s influence on American history curriculums. Zinn’s “goal was not to teach facts, but opinions,” he says. Goeglein joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to discuss why teaching American history is so closely linked to the formation of a flourishing society, and what can be done to restore accuracy and integrity to history classrooms across the country. Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Cancer culture, erasure culture,
0:03.7	wokeism has had a devastating impact on our country.
0:10.2	This is the Daily Criminal Podcast for Tuesday, January 24th.
0:19.9	I'm Virginia Allen and that was Timothy Gagline, author of the new book
0:24.8	toward a more perfect union. Gagline argues in the book
0:28.6	that America's lack of historical knowledge is crippling the nation.
0:33.7	In fact, he traces much of the failure to teach sound American history to Howard Zinn.
0:41.2	Because Gagline says Zinn's goal was not to teach facts, but opinions.
0:46.5	Fortunately, Gagline says that there are solutions for how we can improve history
0:52.4	being taught in the classrooms today.
0:55.0	And he joins me on the show to explain what some of those solutions are
0:58.8	and how we can further our society through teaching proper history.
1:03.4	Stay tuned for our conversation after this.
1:06.9	As conservatives, sometimes it feels like we're constantly on defense against bad ideas.
1:11.9	Bad philosophy, revisionist history,
1:14.2	junk science, and divisive politics.
1:17.2	But here's something I've come to understand.
1:19.1	When faced with bad ideas, it's not enough to just defend.
1:22.8	If we want to save this country, then it's time to go on offense.
1:27.3	Conservative principles are ideas that work.
1:29.8	Individual responsibility, strong local communities, and belief in the American dream.
1:35.1	As a former college professor and current president of the Heritage Foundation,
	...

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