Can a nation based on the ideals of liberty, equality and popular sovereignty truly survive as a self-governing republic?

From my perspective, this was one of the defining questions that stood at the forefront of establishing a democratic government in the U.S.

To ensure the survival of the U.S., the Constitution’s framers included safeguards they deemed essential to preserving its democracy. Among the most important was the First Amendment’s protection of free speech, which enabled accountability, while the separation of powers helped defend against tyranny.

But, in my opinion, one of the most important pillars of democracy has failed to adapt to the current day and age: education.

To the Founding Fathers, keeping Americans well-informed was of utmost importance to maintaining a healthy democracy. As stated by John Adams, “Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people.”

Today, our political landscape is at one of the most divisive points in the nation’s history, with five of the ten largest single-day protests in the U.S. occurring in just the past 10 years.

I believe a large portion of our division stems from the prominence of the conservative “Make America Great Again” movement, the platform of which has been defined by unfounded claims, including 2020 election fraud and high immigrant crime rates, which have all been used by President Donald Trump before. Strong beliefs in such falsehoods have had catastrophic repercussions, the largest example being the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

But how can we expect to defend future generations against similarly divided times, and not give office to deceptive administrations if we don’t equip them with the tools to fight against what elected them in the first place? If this is something that we are serious about preventing, change has to happen at the source: our curriculum.

One of the strongest channels of misinformation is alternative media, which is largely unregulated and can include social media, podcasts, blogs and web shows. Alternative media’s lack of regulation and sizable influence leaves the door open for creators to spread blatant lies intended to create biased narratives and get away with little to no repercussions.

It’s also certainly no help that strongly biased coverage isn’t excluded from mainstream media, as evidenced by Fox News’ settlement with Dominion after it aired false claims about the company’s voting machines.

While some argue that we should regulate the media itself, that solution often runs into several roadblocks under the First Amendment. I believe it’s much more plausible to add a more robust media literacy curriculum to our schools.

The U.S. wouldn’t even be the first country to make such an addition. In fact, since 2014, Finnish schools have taught students to clearly identify false information as part of a government initiative launched to counter Russian propaganda aimed at sowing division. In a time when even the White House website’s news is covered in propagandistic articles and misleading figures and facts are the subject of debate, it’s clear to me that a similar curriculum could have a positive effect in the U.S.

Taking inspiration from Finland, our lesson plan could revolve around differentiating reliable from unreliable news sources, identifying biases or conflicting interests and corroborating information. The curriculum could also expand to include new disinformation tools, such as social media bots and AI-generated deepfake posts.

To have a greater impact, however, a media literacy curriculum should be implemented alongside an expanded history curriculum.

It seems to me that a significant flaw in our history curriculum is its reliance on the banking model of education, a term introduced by educator and philosopher Pablo Frierie. This model involves teachers depositing information for students to memorize, with minimal focus on understanding and critical thinking.

When teaching students the rise of fascism in nations such as Germany, Italy and Japan, or the horrific periods of violence like the Holocaust, the banking model isn’t as effective. Instead, I believe a focus on understanding these periods and why they happened would be of much greater benefit to students, equipping them with skills they can apply to understanding modern politics.

For example, developing a lesson plan on the Holocaust while also exploring how the Nazis exploited Germany’s economic struggles to rise to power and scapegoat Jewish citizens could help students recognize arguably similar messaging seen today with immigrants. In the same vein, teaching students about the rise of fascism after the First World War, but also emphasizing how they slipped into autocracy, could make it easier for them to understand the significance of today’s threats to our system of checks and balances.

I believe that the moment students come to understand similar historical tragedies as abstract, random instances of evil is potentially the same moment we have failed to protect them from future tragedy.

There is no question that, regardless of education, there will always be disagreement and division in politics, but it’s with these additions to our schools that we might be able to close the gap. When our conversations and debates are informed and grounded within reality, we can make strides towards true solutions.