China's Communist Party Infiltrates American K-12 Schools
by Robert Williams • September 19, 2023 at 5:00 am
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has, or has had, ties to 143 school districts in the United States, including 20 near military bases, through its "Confucius Classrooms," according to a recent report, "Little Red Classrooms: China's Infiltration of American K-12 Schools" by Parents Defending Education (PDE), a grassroots organization.
Attention to Confucius Institutes has mainly been centered around colleges and universities, but less so on K-12 education. This means that Chinese state propaganda is probably now pretty much all over American K-12 classrooms.
PDE observed that more than $17 million had been spent by the CCP on Confucius classrooms in the US between the years 2009-2023.
"Three of the nation's top science and technology high schools have ties to Chinese government affiliated programs including Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology has had ties to Tsinghua University High School—the high school affiliated with one of China's top military schools, Tsinghua University..." — Peter Wood, President, National Association of Scholars, Daily Signal, August 15, 2023.
"[W]hat's happening in these schools is that they learn that China is a benevolent institution, the heir of an ancient civilization that means nothing but goodwill to the rest of the world... And the notion that you can take children who have some aptitude for the hard sciences and math and get them to view China as a potential partner and friend... all through their educational careers. We're creating an assembly line for talented young men and women who will be unable to distinguish the American national interest from the Chinese national interest. They're getting blurred together at a young age and that's very difficult to undo once it's done." [Emphasis added.] — Peter Wood, Daily Signal, August 15, 2023.
Wood noted that CCP infiltration of American K-12 schools is "almost everywhere."
"[I]t's concentrated in the feeder schools to elite education, which means mostly West Coast and East Coast, but not exclusively those.... China's... looking for places where buying influence will yield results in the long term." — Peter Wood, Daily Signal, August 15, 2023.
"Programs vetted and managed by China's government have infiltrated 34 states and Washington, D.C., which impacts approximately 170,000 students across 143 school districts. Unfortunately, this investigation discovered 12 school systems in our own state have received money from the CCP. This includes the New York City Department of Education, which received $375,575.00 in CCP-connected funding. Considering China's adversarial relationship with the United States, this is deeply problematic and presents a national security concern for our constituents and state." [Emphasis added.] — Letter from Republican Members of Congress to New York Governor Kathy Hochul, August 21, 2023.
Hochul reportedly has close relations with CCP representatives in New York. She has repeatedly met with Huang Ping, China's New York Consul General, who once described Hochul as "an old friend," an honorific bestowed on those who have "rendered great services to China," as Clive Hamilton and Mareike Ohlberg write in their book, Hidden Hand: How the Chinese Communist Party is Reshaping the World.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has, or has had, ties to 143 school districts in the United States, including 20 near military bases, through its "Confucius Classrooms," according to a recent report, "Little Red Classrooms: China's Infiltration of American K-12 Schools" by Parents Defending Education (PDE), a grassroots organization.
Confucius Classrooms, are, purportedly, "centers that teach Chinese language and culture."
According to the book Hidden Hand: Exposing How the Chinese Communist Party is Reshaping the World, by Clive Hamilton and Mareike Ohlberg:
"Initiated in 2004 as an innocuous way to spread the Party narrative... ostensibly devoted to teaching Chinese language and promoting Chinese culture they are, as former propaganda chief Li Changchun put it, 'an important part of China's overseas propaganda set-up.'"
