The state's largest district has found itself at the center of controversy after Libs of TikTok and others shared images to social media of a sticker that reads, "The Anchorage School District does not endorse these materials or the viewpoint expressed in them."
The sticker (pictured above) is reportedly on the back of a school-supplied booklet of the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.
"The worst interpretation is that they simply do not care for the founding documents and think that they do need to have some sort of disclaimer put onto it," responds David Randall, director of research for the National Association of Scholars (NAS).
But he says the best possible interpretation is not much better:
"They're so blinkered by bureaucracy that they put such a stamp onto our nation's founding documents," Randall suggests. "Their lack of sense is almost as damning as malice would be."
He also speculates the disclaimer could have been issued because of legal concerns about the booklet coming from Hillsdale College, a private organization with a certain public profile that the school district did not want to endorse.
Founded in 1844, Hillsdale College describes itself as an independent institution of higher learning, "grateful to God for the inestimable blessings resulting from civil and religious liberty" and believing "the diffusion of sound learning is essential to the perpetuity of these blessings."
"It is, of course, an embarrassment that you only have copies of the founding documents because they're provided via Hillsdale College," Randall adds.
He thinks those ought to be available in all public schools, and they should have to rely on private donations and support to make that happen.
"It shows that they have not been performing a vital civic function in the schools to begin with," he concludes.
