Report Finds Philadelphia Schools Systematically Adopted Radical Curriculum
CAMERA reveals how the district serving nearly 200k students systematically adopted an ideologically-driven curriculum that fostered a hostile environment for Jewish students
A comprehensive investigation by Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA) reveals that the School District of Philadelphia (SDP) has systematically dismantled its traditional social studies curriculum in favor of an ideologically-driven framework that marginalizes major historical events while promoting anti-Israel and anti-American narratives.
The report, based on a briefing written in January 2025, documents how the district, serving nearly 200,000 students, has institutionalized teachings rooted in critical race theory, Paolo Freire’s liberation pedagogy, and decolonization theory. The findings underscore a troubling pattern of curricular decisions that have created what the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) characterized as a “viciously hostile” environment for Jewish students.
History Lessons Without History
Perhaps most striking is what students no longer learn. In a year-long world history course, major global developments are either entirely omitted or minimally addressed—from ancient Western civilizations like Greece and Rome, to the Renaissance, Enlightenment, French Revolution, Russian Revolution, both World Wars, the Holocaust, and the Cold War.
The curriculum similarly omits vast swaths of Eastern and non-Western history, including ancient Chinese and Japanese civilizations, the Mongols, the Aztecs, the Incas, and the Ottoman Empire. Students receive only two days of instruction on major world religions, while spending 20 days critiquing capitalism.
Instead of chronological study, the curriculum emphasizes thematic frameworks organized around what the report calls “the three sins of Western Civilization”—capitalism, racism, and settler colonialism.
This approach provides students with isolated events stripped of historical context, essentially guiding them toward predetermined ideological conclusions rather than fostering independent analysis. “The curriculum is not about the study of history, but the study of grievance,” the report states.
“The curriculum is not about the study of history, but the study of grievance,” the report states.
Heavily Skewed Coverage of Israel
The district’s treatment of Israel represents the report’s most alarming findings. When researching the Great March of Return in Gaza, students receive only anti-Israel sources from organizations that label Israel an “apartheid state,” no counterbalancing perspectives.
Some of these sources include — Doctors Without Borders, Amnesty International, Al-Jazeera, an interview with the director of the US Campaign to End the Occupation, and Turkish state broadcaster TRT.
The district's response to October 7 further illustrates the bias. Instead of addressing the attack directly, leadership framed it through a decolonization lens, offering professional development that positioned the massacre as a justified response to historical oppression. Curriculum materials shared with teachers characterized sympathy for Israeli victims as problematic, instead emphasizing Palestinian perspectives.
Historical narratives about Israel's founding contain significant distortions. Students are told Arabs rejected the UN partition plan over land distribution, when the historical record shows they rejected any Jewish state entirely.
A lesson on the UN resolution declaring Zionism "racism" guides students toward supporting that characterization. Notably, the district's required African American history course explicitly frames its purpose as developing "Black internationalist perspectives" and advancing "the struggle for collective liberation," positioning Palestinian activism as central to Black freedom movements.
Teacher Activism Crosses Professional Lines
The report documents how several district teachers have engaged in conduct that raises serious concerns. High school history teacher Keziah Ridgeway threatened Jewish parents by name on social media for reporting antisemitism, then returned to the classroom after a brief leave. Teachers regularly post that “Zionism is racism” and “Zionism is genocidal violence” on social media accounts followed by their students.
Most significantly, Ismael Jimenez, the Director of Social Studies Curriculum responsible for what all Philadelphia students learn, publicly justified the October 7 Hamas massacre as a justified response to historical oppression. He has used his platform to encourage viewing the United States through the lens of racism and colonialism. These teachers are embedded in networks with organizations like Rethinking Schools and the Zinn Education Project, which actively promote revisionist historical materials.
District Leadership Enables the Agenda
Rather than addressing antisemitism after October 7, Superintendent Tony Watlington framed the massacre through an “imperialism and oppression” lens. Subsequent professional development sessions titled “Decolonizing the Curriculum” reinforced the narrative that Israel represents settler colonialism and genocide, without creating equivalent support for Jewish students.
According to the report, the Philadelphia School District also partnered with the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), whose founders allegedly had ties to Hamas-linked organizations. The current CAIR leader praised the October 7 attack as justified “self-defense.”
The report emphasizes that Pennsylvania’s deliberately vague state standards, combined with the absence of state testing, created a vacuum that ideologically-driven educators exploited. Jewish students have reported experiencing Nazi salutes, swastika graffiti, and pressure to declare support for Palestine. Some have left the district entirely.
CAMERA calls this a cautionary tale, warning that without detailed content standards and accountability measures, other districts may follow Philadelphia’s path toward institutional ideological capture.
In the 1930s, Marxists infiltrated America’s schools. They promoted the Unions and what we have today is a direct result. The story of how this happened is in the book, THE TURNING OF THE TIDES by former Congressman Paul W. Shafer and John Howland Snow. Islam is a relatively new addition, but it is just as pervasive and evil as communism. Both are totalitarian control.
Colonial Islam on the march, conquering NYC and now Philly.