Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump signaled Thursday plans to seek nationwide changes to school curricula with the goal of "promoting American pride and patriotism in America's schools."
"In a Trump administration, I plan to work directly with the American Legion to uphold our common values and to help ensure they are taught to America's children," Trump said, speaking at the American Legion's annual convention in Cincinnati.
"We want our kids to learn the incredible achievements of America's history, its institutions and its heroes, many of whom are with us today," he told the veterans group.
The comments suggested a federal government intervention in the programs of locally run schools, which is prohibited under federal law.
"We will stop apologizing for America. And we will start celebrating America. We will be united by our common culture, values and principles, becoming one American nation, one country, under one Constitution, saluting one American flag, and always saluting it," Trump said.
Trump appeared to be weighing in on an increasingly controversial issue regarding the way American history is taught in public schools.
In 2014, the Republican National Committee passed a resolution that denounced the curriculum of advanced placement U.S. history courses, claiming that it "reflects a radically revisionist view of American history that emphasizes negative aspects of our nation's history while omitting or minimizing positive aspects."
Last year a Denver-area school board sought to change the content of the AP U.S. history course because some board members thought it failed to promote patriotism. That sparked a political proxy war in Jefferson County, Colorado, and the 2015 school board election drew nearly $1 million in campaign funding from outside interest groups.
Public schools nationwide are funded by their local communities along with some state money. Most schools receive little federal funding.
Current federal law prohibits the federal government from exercising "any direction, supervision, or control over the curriculum, program of instruction, administration, or personnel of any educational institution, school, or school system."
Andrew Tilghman is the executive editor for Military Times. He is a former Military Times Pentagon reporter and served as a Middle East correspondent for the Stars and Stripes. Before covering the military, he worked as a reporter for the Houston Chronicle in Texas, the Albany Times Union in New York and The Associated Press in Milwaukee.
