The Department of Defense is introducing a new course on Western civilization and Christianity in its schools, as part of an effort to redirect the education system toward patriotic values and classical learning. The course, titled ‘Western Civilization to 1500,’ will be offered through the department’s virtual school and will use a textbook published by Encounter Books, a conservative publishing house.

Course Content

The textbook, titled ‘The Golden Thread: A History of the Western Tradition, Volume I: The Ancient World and Christendom,’ includes suggested lesson plans created in partnership with Hillsdale College, a conservative Christian school in Michigan. Historians and educators who reviewed excerpts of the text told The Associated Press that it depicts points throughout history in misleading ways, representing Western civilization and Christianity as one and the same and casting Islam as a threat to both.

The course is part of a wider reshaping of the Defense Department’s schools, which have begun hiring classical learning teachers and have brought in new academic chiefs with ties to classical learning charter schools and to Republican-led efforts to promote more patriotic education.

Classical Learning

Classical education broadly refers to a teaching style built on the liberal arts, with an emphasis on critical thinking and citizenship. Students are taught to imitate the rhetoric and style of great thinkers and writers. While some classical educators have pushed to incorporate diverse scholars, critics have argued that the movement focuses too heavily on foundational texts from Greek, Roman, and other Western writers and gives short shrift to achievements in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.

Original reporting: Texarkana Gazette — read the source article.