For the last several years, journalists and writers across the country have been exposing the propaganda machine the Chinese Communist Party has been using to infiltrate our colleges, universities, and K–12 education system. (See here, here and here.)
A September 2023 blog post from the U.S. House Committee on Education and Workforce reported on a recent committee hearing focused on the work of Confucius Classrooms in the United States:
In postsecondary education, the CCP exerts soft power on the American education system through cultural exchange outposts known as Confucius Institutes. The K-12 arms of this propaganda machine, called Confucius Classrooms, were under the microscope today for their potential malignant influence.
Chairman Bean opened the hearing by pointing out, “The risk posed by the proliferation of Confucius Classrooms is threefold, threatening America’s national, geopolitical, and academic interests.”
Expert witnesses testifying today included Mike Gonzalez, Senior Fellow at the Heritage Foundation; Nicole Neily, President of Parents Defending Education (PDE); and Ryan Walters, State Superintendent of Public Instruction at the Oklahoma State Department of Education.
The seminal report on Confucius Classrooms, and therefore the spark for congressional investigation, was led by Nicole Neily and PDE. In her opening testimony, Ms. Neily laid out the key findings of her organization’s report: “Our research found that over the past decade, over $17 million has been given to 143 school districts and private K-12 schools across 34 states (plus DC) – impacting over 170,000 students in 182 schools.” Furthermore, these classrooms were identified near 20 U.S. military bases, posing a potential national security threat.
In 2024, a report by the Education and Workforce Committee, chaired at the time by Virginia Foxx of North Carolina, chronicled the efforts of the Chinese Communist Party to infiltrate K–12 schools in the United States. The report was also followed by the introduction of legislation (HR 5567) last year to address concerns raised in the report.
Congresswoman Foxx has been particularly vigilant in trying to eliminate any influence of Chinese communism from colleges, universities, and K–12 schools.
I wonder what the congresswoman would think if she learned that the State Board of Education and also the Department of Public Instruction of North Carolina have been involved with bringing Confucius Classrooms to the Tar Heel State for years.
How do we know? Global education was a topic of discussion during the recent March 5 meeting of the State Board of Education. A slide (slide 59) from a presentation made at the same meeting mentions international agreements with China, France, and Spain.
A couple of clicks on the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction website acknowledges the presence of Confucius Classrooms under the International Agreements section covering the agreement with Jiangsu Province in China.
Interestingly, the original Memorandum of Understanding for the global education agreement was signed on April 6, 2017, by then–State Board Chairman William Cobey and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Mark Johnson.
The second page of the MOU specifically mentions “Confucius Classrooms construction” and “Clustering of Confucius Classroom schools in North Carolina.” The document said the duration of the MOU was five years. The web page also specifically states that the agreement between the State Board of Education and the Superintendent of Public Instruction was renewed in 2021. Where are these schools, and what students learning? Those are questions that need answers.
Until then, parents who have their children in Confucius Classrooms may want to take a closer look at what their children are learning. Parents who don’t, consider yourself lucky — and try to keep it that way.
