China is believed to have spent at least $17 million setting up so-called “Confucius classrooms” in 143 school districts across the US, where schoolchildren are taught Beijing’s view of the world.
Confucius Classes are the public school version of Confucius Institutes – Chinese government-funded cultural programs that operate on college campuses.
While Congress has cracked down on Confucius Institutes by restricting their funding, experts told the House Committee on Education and the Workforce last year that Confucius classes operate with little or no oversight.
“This is a national security issue,” Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters told House members. “When you look at the training that goes on in our classrooms from a variety of perspectives, this is one of the most heinous cases.”
“They want our kids to believe that, no, this is a good system and that China is a normal country that’s not a tyrant,” said Mike Gonzalez, a China expert at the Heritage Foundation. “We can’t let that happen.”
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Confucius Classrooms are presented in school districts as cultural exchange programs and opportunities to learn the Mandarin language. But they are funded by the Chinese Communist government, and they teach young people the Chinese Communist Party’s view of politics and history.
Helen Raleigh The Federalist and the author Reaction: How China’s aggression backfired“They won’t talk about sensitive issues like what happened in Tiananmen Square in 1989, and they won’t talk about Taiwan at all, or when they do talk about Taiwan, they’ll use the official version to say, ‘Taiwan is, always has been and always will be, a province of China.'”
And China is offering schools big money. The Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Fairfax County, Virginia, has reportedly revealed that it has received a $100 million loan. Donations over $1 million Through the Confucius Classroom program.
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Nicole Neely, President Parents defending educationHe also said that Confucius classes were operating near 20 military bases, influencing the children of US military personnel.
“To your question about the military bases, we don’t know what’s going on. And to me that’s the scariest part. Who are these (Confucius Classroom) staff? What do they have access to, and what’s going on in our kids’ brains? And then what data is coming out of that?” Neeley said during the House hearing.
This is a matter of concern, as Confucius Classrooms give the Chinese government access to data about schools and students.
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*This story has been revised since it was first published in 2023
