Why Is the Chinese Communist Party Educating Children in American Classrooms?     

On May 8th, Florida governor Ron DeSantis signed into law “three bills to counteract the malign influence of the Chinese Communist Party in the state of Florida.” One of the bills, he said, would help “stop CCP influence in our education system from grade school to grad school.”

Such efforts cannot come soon enough.

Like Mao masquerading as Mr. Rogers, the Chinese Communist Party quietly continues to use Confucius Classrooms to influence American kids that it is neighborly and normal. But the CCP is no Mr. Rogers. The authoritarian regime operating Uygher concentration camps in Xinjiang and facilitating the flow of fentanyl into the United States has sent Communist-trained and funded teachers to a neighborhood school near you.

Beijing aims to shape the minds of American kids through hundreds of Confucius Classrooms – part of a personalized teacher-to-student influence campaign focused on shaping how children view the Chinese government, under the benevolent guise of providing cultural, historical, and Chinese-language programming. Confucius Classrooms represent the lesser-known K-12 affiliates of the now widely (and rightly) stigmatized Confucius Institutes.

Both programs are associated with China’s United Front Work Department, responsible for ideological influence and monitoring operations abroad. Liu Yandong, former vice premier of the PRC and once head of the UFWD, oversaw the Confucius program and later served as chair of “Hanban,” a bureau of Beijing’s Ministry of Education now rebranded as the Center for Language Exchange and Cooperation. CLEC oversees the Classrooms, administering funding and deploying trained teachers. By 2019, the CCP had established 518 Confucius Classrooms in the United States, according to a staff report by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. 

Confucius Classrooms operate in public and private schools across the U.S., such as Simpson County Public Schools in Kentucky, St. Mary’s School in Oregon, Chicago Public Schools, and the Garrison Forest School in Maryland. The Yu Ying School, located in the nation’s capital, still proudly features its designation as “Confucius Classroom of the Year” on its website. 

Believe it or not, the United States lacks a full grasp of how many of its thousands of elementary, middle, and high schools currently house Confucius Classrooms.

“In the last century, the U.S. did not allow the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, or Imperial Japan a foothold in the [American] educational system,” testified the National Association of Scholars’ Ian Oxnevad before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Commission in March. Why would we permit the Chinese Communist Party to gain such influence?

The U.S. finds itself in the midst of a generational conflict with China – a new Cold War characterized by a protracted ideological clash of democratic and communist worldviews. 

The United States has given its adversary in this competition direct access to children and has allowed it to infiltrate the education system in ways that undermine American sovereignty. “The Chinese government controls nearly every aspect of Confucius Institutes [and affiliated Confucius Classrooms] at U.S. Schools,” according to the Senate staff report.

The CCP lures schools with funding, staffing, and materials – then seizes control with contracts stipulating that schools comply with Chinese as well as U.S. law and limit public disclosure. School officials often interview teaching candidates culled from CCP-curated pools of applicants whom the CCP demands “‘conscientiously safeguard national interests’ and report to the Chinese Embassy within one month of arrival in the United States,” according to the Senate report. 

This subversion and relinquishment of American sovereignty in K-12 Confucius Classrooms plays a key role in China’s soft-power influence campaign and has ongoing national security implications. “China’s authoritarian government works hard to dampen any criticism of the CCP,” Mick Zais, former Deputy Secretary of Education, and Dan Currell, former Deputy Under Secretary of Education, wrote in a 2021 article. “Reaching children with colorful, positive messages about China is a well-worn propaganda tactic.”

So what’s to be done? 

Studying Chinese language, culture, and history can be accomplished without having Chinese Communist instructors teaching in our classrooms. Education officials can increase investments in Chinese language and cultural programming. Communities should recruit teachers from Taiwan – an American partner and thriving democracy – and replace and expand language instruction and cultural exchange opportunities.

The State Department could expand audits of J-1 visa holders associated with Confucius Classrooms. In past years, after auditing only two schools, State revoked 32 visas for Confucius Institute instructors who lied about conducting research while actually teaching K-12 students. 

The Department of Education should require states to submit lists of schools that have signed contracts with foreign entities or received CCP funding, directly or via proxy. State governments should require school leaders to inform parents which schools have Confucius Classrooms.

Finally, U.S. schools should consider shuttering Confucius Classrooms altogether, replacing them with similar programs that have no affiliation with the Chinese Communist Party. 

Beijing wants to shape global thinking as part of Xi Jinping’s Global Civilization Initiative, dubbed “Xivilization” by the Chinese propaganda outlet Global Times.

Let’s not help the CCP propagandize our kids. America doesn’t need Confucius Classrooms.