Education and American Ideals

America’s founding ideals, and the way we teach the history that undergirds them, are being scrutinized today more than ever before. Forming rising generations into responsible citizens who properly understand their rights and duties is an essential task for securing the future of our republic.  

EPPC’s Education and American Ideals Project brings together the work of several of our scholars to provide intellectually rigorous and practically effective conservative leadership on the pressing issues we face. These scholars advance our mission to build and sustain a society where families and faith communities flourish and where the traditional American way of life thrives.  

EPPC Senior Fellow Stanley Kurtz is at the front of the national pushback against indoctrination in K–12 schools and on college campuses. He has established himself as the nation’s foremost critic of politicized “action civics” and is among the most influential opponents of Critical Race Theory. Stanley’s work on education is followed widely by the general public, especially through his contributions to National Review Online, as well as by legislators and policymakers across the country who seek out his expert guidance on keeping public policy and public schools free of “woke” trends. Stanley has been consulted on his model legislation on CRT, action civics and other topics by legislators, governors, or state attorneys general in Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, as well as by policy experts and influencers in many other states, and he has testified on education issues before Congress and many state legislatures.

EPPC Senior Fellow Henry Olsen, author of the pathbreaking 2017 book The Working Class Republican: Ronald Reagan and the Return of Blue-Collar Conservatism, writes daily columns in the Washington Post advancing a sound vision for the conservative movement grounded in America’s working class. Henry’s insights are followed and respected by leading contenders for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, and he is regularly consulted by congressional offices in DC. As a result, Henry’s ideas are helping to shape the debate within conservatism and the future of the Republican Party.  

EPPC Henry Grunwald Senior Fellow Lance Morrow, a frequent contributor to the Wall Street Journal and City Journal, draws on his rich career to write probing pieces on journalism, politics, and American culture. A longtime, award-winning essayist with TIME magazine, his work focuses on the moral and ethical dimensions of public events, including freedom of speech, freedom of thought, and political correctness on American campuses, with a view to the future consequences of such suppressions.

Program Publications

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Trump vs. Harvard: A Negotiated Solution

Stanley Kurtz

President Trump and Harvard University are at daggers drawn, and the battle promises to play out on the national stage…

Articles

National Review Online / May 6, 2025

North Carolina’s REACH Act: A Big Step Forward

Stanley Kurtz

As all eyes are on the Trump administration’s battle with the Ivy League, the states continue to make major strides…

Articles

National Review Online / May 1, 2025

Tim Walz and the Marxist Comic Book

Stanley Kurtz

If you want to understand the dilemma of today’s Democratic Party, have a look at this comic book called Racial Capitalism…

Articles

National Review Online / April 16, 2025

Kicking Politics Out of Texas Schools

Stanley Kurtz

Texas has got a problem with politicized schools. K–12 student walkouts for purposes of political protest or legislative lobbying have…

Articles

National Review Online / April 8, 2025

Utah Higher Ed Breakthrough

Stanley Kurtz

The Utah legislature is currently considering a bill (Senate Bill 334) that could jump-start a major reform of America’s higher…

Articles

 

Trump Kills an Intrusive Housing Rule, Again

Stanley Kurtz

This past week, Scott Turner, President Trump’s new secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), announced that HUD would be terminating the notoriously…

Articles

National Review Online / March 14, 2025

Are Schools Really Politicized?

Stanley Kurtz

In an article previewing his forthcoming book on civic education, noted author and reporter James Traub argues that conservatives — including me…

Articles

National Review Online / February 14, 2025