American democracy. For those who dont know this is a National Education think tank and we work in the great state of ohio, an Advocacy Group and we oversee a dozen Charter Schools most of them urban, one world. We get to see how these deviates play out nationally. We are excited to be hosting this event today with the help and work theyve done promoting the event. We expect 500, many 800 of you sitting in this morning and we are superexcited. I want to thank you, many of you for suggesting questions for todays dba, 200 of those came in. I have tried my best to incorporate the questions you have and to take a look at the q and a. Can add more questions. Needless to say this topic, how to teach us history is getting a lot of attention with the backlash on Critical Race Theory and on the heels of controversy over the 1619 project, Donald Trumps 1776 commission and more. No need to be depressed about another culture war at a time when it feels we have too many already. It can feel like we are headed towards a version of red history and republican states, blue history and civics and democratic states. Many of us, i for one remain hopeful that there is more Common Ground, the we can figure out a way to teach Young Americans about the heritage they have in our civic institutions and our history in a way that does not polarize that brings together while allowing plenty of room to have all the conversations we have about debates in American History and civics. Findings at Common Ground was one of the key goals about the educating for american democracy project and roadmap in todays debate is to discuss whether the drafters of the roadmap found that Common Ground or one way or the other and that is what we are going to get into. With that, the main event is to get to our panelists. Let me quickly introduce them. First of all, danielle allen, political philosopher, expert on democracy innovation, public health, equity, justice reform, education, she directs the democratic knowledge project and her books include our declaration, a reading of the declaration of independence in the sense of equality, american tragedy and talking to strangers and guiding to citizenship and she was one of the principal investigators the educating for american democracy project. And we have mark bauerlein, an editor at first 14 magazine, his books include literary criticism, the authority, necrophilia, a race riot and the dumbest generation of the digital age, how Young Americans jeopardize our future, dont trust anyone under 30. He has written several articles critical of it. We start with a 5minute overview of their roadmap, then get into the debate. Please add those questions to the q and a. Over to you. Appreciate you hosting this important conversation. Educating for american democracy roadmap since early march is the progress of several years of work by a network of 300 scholars, educators, families that participated in the conversation sponsored by the department of education. And Arizona State university. Our goal was to provide a framework for rebuilding history and civics learning for all learners k12. What exactly is in this . The first and most important thing is it offers an inquiry framework, a review of the question that all learners k12 have a chance to encounter as they work to bring together the historical understanding of narratives about the past and civics understanding about our government, institutions, the foundations of democracy, right and responsibility. Bringing them together rather than giving people a list of what they should know, proposing questions every learner should have a chance to those questions are structured in 7 themes. I want to name those themes because it is important to understand what they are to understand the focus of the question. Physics participations one. What is the . Why do we evaluate it . The changing landscape. How is it the geography of this country is changing our borders and boundaries, how have we come to be . We the people, how to the multitude of us from different places and times come to form a single critical people . What is a political people anyway . Wise democracy of, 4, and by the people . What context is that . The third theme with the fourth is new government and constitution about the founding era and document and how the constitution came to exist and the context and meaning of the nature of the revolution and so forth. Then institutional and social transformation, a series, how we think about change over time. Much has changed. When and where did it lead to a new founding in the first place . Noticed the questions all the way through the year. Debate and inquiry, thinking for ourselves, then people in the world, everything in the constitutional democracy is a global context. We need to bring that context into view and then people of contemporary debate. We have a lot of conflict in our society. Our view is we should teach what we are disagreeing about and how do we support productive disagreement, civil debate. As we take learners through questions and themes we are working consistently throughout patriotism. This consists of honesty about our past good and bad. Honesty about crimes in our past the leaders into cynicism, honesty about our accomplishments as well, we need to get the balance right and be honest about the good and the bad. Questions were to engage love of country or other forces of love and country and how to connect other countries to the ability to criticize. It is about bringing those pieces together. In addition to tracing the ark about mentally important content the roadmap recommends approaches to learning in the constitutional democracy, approaches that of a full and complete narrative of americas story, approaches celebrate healthy compromises needed to make constitutional democracy work and honesty and patriotism, space for love and approaches that teach history and civics in the timeline of events and themes that run through that. It is important to say the roadmap is not a National Curriculum even full scope and sequence. It is a framework of questions the district leaders and educators use to generate business, implementation of the roadmap depend on everybody switching heads, how educators and schools and district leaders begin to build up the resources and context for diving into the question. Thank you. A lot of todays the bait is critiquing the roadmap and danielle defending it, on behalf of the drafters but before we get into that let me let daniel make a positive case. The concern that a few conservatives are involved but this is leaning left but what would you say . It is not accurate. Let me explain the process. As we worked we started from the beginning. At every level from 162230, everything we pull together we talked to ensure diversity of viewpoints and demographic and geographic through the structure of the network and diversity of all dimensions. As we had the conversation we bring to the surface issues that reflect perspectives. In some cases we present them as design challenges. As an example of the first we talk to education for democracy, the country splits according to those who describe the system that we have. Those who advocate democracy and egalitarian futures, they public on order and structure and concepts like that. We brought to the surface both of those opinions and put them together in a constitutional democracy. Throughout the writing of the roadmap was emphasis on constitutional democracy understanding how that structure brings them together with a structure that brings in participation. That was a compromise in the early days and then design challenges weve got to invite one another into experimentation. The idea of narrating histories of the past failings without falling into cynicism and accomplishments without adulation. Those are guardrails. We have to experiment to get to the place of those narratives to permit a reflection of our history. We didnt think we should say heres the solution to achieving that. We articulate the guardrails and the design challenge for educators to take their best shot at it and talk about how they get that narrative. Mark, can you respond to what danielle said . Do you think the roadmap succeeded on any friends . A good faith effort to bridge the ideological divide . When you look at the resulting document you see elements one would identify with a conservative or traditionalist position and we can go into that. In terms of the demonstration of bipartisanship what is most extraordinary to me is the machinery that accompanies the roadmap. The listing of 300 scholars, some of whom are distinguished conservative figures. The listing organization, the champions listing 139 organizations, and a major scholarly organization in the country, is downright daunting. The rhetorical effect, it puts opponents of the roadmap into the position of looking like grouches, kermit, professional naysayers, people who cant take yes for an answer. It is downright overwhelming what you see here. That many of us but those who have critiqued the argument sounds like groucho marx, whatever it is im against it. It is extraordinary the labor, the coordination of the designer to put this assemblage of people together. My envy is showing. We can get into matters of substance but right off the bat we almost see the self evidence for the roadmaps accreditation. Does that mean ideological bias or it is representative because it includes the left and the right . There are elements in the result that would please conservatives like myself. Those questions from the roadmap, asked about specific features of the constitution, the directives of knowledge, ideas, documents, big events, historic, notable personages. When you see questions like what key texts and songs help us understand the values and virtues of citizenship. That is a good question as long as no rock n roll, no rap but a new government and constitution which had questions like analyze the ideas and debates about rights, powers, decisionmaking the shape the revolution. All of those unfortunately i do not believe those elements are much more grounded as the roadmap design is moved into item units, curriculum, texts as it moves into the classroom. Giving an example from common core. Let me stop there if you want to proceed. Range the rock control and wrap it part is a joke . Youre coming off as a imagine curmudgeon. I have to be what i am. I am 62. We are going to get to that. It does bring back memories of common core. There is a debate about what is in the common core versus what was done in the name of it. That is something we have to wrestle with so we will talk about those concerns. Lets focus for now i dont think it is necessary us in this. I wouldnt say that. It is a matter of hear the orientation of teachers, curriculum administrators who will look at the roadmap and draw certain implications from it. I dont want to talk about anything underhanded. That is not what i mean to imply. , jumping on this . What mark is getting at is we have a diverse we just do. We have to accept we disagree which is an indication of our diversity and that is true as well with regard to education so when we started this project it is true that we expected different communities would ultimately shape the curricula in their context differently from one another. We do not expect a 1sizefitsall result. However, our view was if we could gather around shared questions we would be in the same conversation. It would be a starting point. Will some communities have some questions more than others . That is inevitable. However, can we build a community of practice, bringing diverse educators together to make sure theres a chance to reflect together on success, yes we can. In that regard what this roadmap does is provide an opportunity for a new organizational practice. Collaboration across our differences where we can lift up what we are doing, share with each other and make sure everybody is exposed to the full array of work. As we work on implementation we are seeking to support that. We are working to have everybody elevate questions on the constitutional questions in the roadmap about history and how we teach hard history, enslavement and inequality and the like. In that regard there are people on the left to say isnt this a nefarious cover . They disregard questions and the answer is the same as in your direction. Every Single Person teaches everything but what we can do is a practice that insists on the question of the constitution and hard history come together for shared inquiry. In your writing you argue the roadmap relentlessly focuses on Group Identity, access and inclusion. What is the evidence of that relentless focus and explain and other conservatives find that emphasis. The idea of foundings. Back to that. The Group Identity focus. We see these questions, kindergarten, first graders, what groups am i part of . How do i know im part of the group . What are my responsibilities . I find this question inappropriate in several ways. 7yearolds dont have the mental equipment to start reflecting on their Group Identity. The Public School classroom also misses all different kinds of people, we are not in the sunday School Classroom are people are voluntarily putting their children into a single Group Identity. Orientation. And ask students to think to themselves in group terms that develop over the course of the roadmap, the identity focus continues and the disenfranchised group, the excluded group, wrote down a series of assertions of disempowerment. Those without full political rights, those long denied justice, who loses when a country expands. Why does marginalization happen, groups about formal decisionmaking, power. When you add those up ica plot, a literary plot, a narrative. The story of america, the central story of america is press groups claiming their rights, press groups deny earlier through protest activity, incidents and education obtaining those rights. The frame here is again a progressive frame. I have no desire to overlook that story. You mention my book negrophobia, i spent years in archives going over Court Documents and Council Records and newspapers, blackandwhite newspapers, reading white supremacists, the novels of thomas dixon and journalism, tom watson, legislation about lynching, put together an hour by hour account of an episode of White Supremacy and white violence. When i came out in 2001, local educators in georgia, the first book account of what happened. Educators in georgia developed item units, put them into the Georgia History curriculum. It altered social studies in the state afterwords. Here is where danielle and i dont disagree on the characterization. I dont think that is the central story of america. The story of america is a stunning assertion of individual freedoms, not Group Identity and theres a tradition of antiGroup Identity in United States history. Think of all the figures who are individualists, rogues, runaways, orphans, benjamin franklin, emerson, selfreliance, the road heading off to the wood dancing leave me the hell alone, Emily Dickinson going into her room and shutting the door, Ralph Ellisons invisible man, all the way to those motorcyclists in easy rider, one of the nicknames is captain america. AntiGroup Identity. Ask them what group, no, not part of any group. I dont want to be part of any group. That individualist lineage, where is that in the roadmap . Lots to go back. Let me start by disputing marks characterization. He misunderstood the early question. We did not have Group Identity in mind to think about different kinds of communities, a church, a neighborhood, a town, that is a misreading. And the rest of those accounts. It is the case that we dont think it is possible to peace through that history without the context of power, without concept of race. There is an invitation to educators to ask questions to engage students in questions around that theme but there is also the question around individual liberty. The territorial expansion of the United States shaped by economic liberty and economic equality. Both traditions in the country are there throughout the roadmap. We had the individual liberty tradition from the very beginning, or what are the costs and benefits, with different ideas of Economic Prosperity for different people in the United States. Or ideas of religious and economic liberty and race in the shape of peoples migration over time. How to principles of liberty and equality contribute to the fight of the american people. The presence of liberty is here throughout but if there is a narrative to marks point it is the concepts of liberty and equality always had a place in the meaning of america, questions about both are woven through the book. This gets to the heart of this debate and the other larger debate going on. To teach with the now, hard history, we have to talk about injustice and oppression and the role that racism plays and then we have jim crow and others. So help us begin to understand is a just a matter of focus. First, i dont think of mischaracterizing it is, i would encourage people to look at those questions to the Group Identity and ask with theyre asking the little kids pretty. Or not about Group Identity read its not a space used in the roadmap rated socrates, all kinds of groups it is not about Group Identity. The distinction of how do i know that im part of a group, you dont think that in the classroom classes, as the discussion proceeds, that you can say that i am part of the socrates okay. Fine, but as we proceed to come you will see everyone look more and more breakdowns, you will find european americans, africanamericans, different women, different minorities be consistent to the vision of being american people. It is