by If there’s one topic that perfectly encapsulates American dysfunction, it’s education. Today’s assignment proves that the country has collectively decided that knowing things is optional, and historical accuracy is negotiable. I spent eight hours researching and writing two pieces that made me want to homeschool children I don’t even have.
First: students who think Abraham Lincoln was in the Avengers. This started as a joke premise, but my research uncovered genuinely disturbing statistics. A recent survey found that 38% of high school students couldn’t identify which century the Civil War occurred in, and 22% believed Lincoln was a fictional character. When shown a picture of Chris Evans as Captain America, 15% identified him as “President Lincoln from the movies.”
I interviewed a history teacher in Atlanta who told me, “They’re not stupid. They’re just living in a world where historical figures and Marvel characters have equal presence in popular culture, and nobody’s teaching them the difference.” That quote is the centerpiece of my article, which explores how TikTok education and Hollywood have created a generation that thinks Wakanda is in Kenya and Hamilton never left the Broadway stage.
The second piece connects directly to the first: the great American history retreat. This is my investigation into how curriculum boards are systematically removing complexity from history education, replacing nuanced truth with sanitized mythology. Slavery becomes “involuntary relocation.” Native American genocide becomes “unfortunate conflicts.” The Japanese internment camps become “relocation centers,” as if people voluntarily signed up for barbed wire and guard towers.
My favorite/least favorite discovery: a textbook in Texas that describes the Civil Rights Movement as “when some Americans disagreed about rules.” Not when Black Americans fought against systematic oppression, terrorism, and legal discrimination. Just a polite disagreement about rules, like a homeowners association dispute.
This connects to my earlier work on History Lite and lessons from the past. There’s a systematic effort to make American history palatable by removing anything uncomfortable. The problem is that history IS uncomfortable. That’s the point. You’re supposed to learn from mistakes, not pretend they were just happy little accidents.
I compared notes with my cousin in Lagos, who teaches history at a secondary school. “We teach about colonialism, the slave trade, all of it,” she said. “How can you learn if you don’t know what actually happened?” I explained that in America, knowing what actually happened is considered divisive. She was silent for a long moment before saying, “That explains so much about America.”
Tonight I’m thinking about how I’m the only West African immigrant woman granted citizenship under this administration, and I’m using that privilege to write about how America is actively choosing ignorance over education. The irony is sharp enough to cut. Tomorrow: back to political chaos, which at least makes sense in its senselessness.
# 795
