According to a new report from the Manhattan Institute, American public schoolchildren are now much more likely to attend a school named after a plant or an animal than an American president. If you think such a change comes thanks to ecologically evolved school boards, think again. Rather, it’s a reflection of our politically correct culture. People offend, plants do not.

Using data from seven states, the publication, “What’s in a Name? The Decline in the Civic Mission of School Names,” finds that school boards are increasingly reluctant to name schools after historical or political leaders, instead choosing to invoke natural features like animals, lakes, or vegetation.

Consider some of the report’s key findings:

  • Of the close to 3,000 public schools in Florida, five are named after George Washington, while 11 are named after manatees. An additional 155 are named after lakes, 91 after woods, and 54 after palm trees.
  • Public schools in Arizona are almost 50 times more likely to be named after a natural object like a mesa or a cactus than a president.
  • Nationally, less than five percent of public schools are named after a U.S. president; a majority of American public school districts do not have even one school named after a president.

What gives? Afraid to incite criticism, school board members are choosing the path of least resistance. Charlotte-Mecklenburg (CMS) board chair Joe White, quoted in a Charlotte Observer article on school names, says, “I have enough controversy without getting into a controversy over naming a school.” According to a recent Washington Post article tracking this phenomenon, even citizen committees are afraid of arousing ire. A Prince William County committee charged with naming a new Virginia high school considered honoring former first lady Barbara Bush, late Virginia governor Mills E. Godwin, or columnist Norman H. Tennant. But members settled on the name Forest Park High School, listing the following reasons on their summary sheet: “Next to the park. Not offending anyone. Not controversial.”

Where does that leave American schoolchildren? Manhattan Institute report authors Jay Greene, Brian Kisida, and Jonathan Butcher say kids are missing out on a key opportunity to learn about civic values, at a time when only 27 percent of twelfth-graders are proficient in civics knowledge. Even more ominously, school leaders who play the name game risk whitewashing American history: In 1997, the New Orleans school board voted to forbid the naming of schools after slaveowners. But such a move necessitated renaming a school that honored our first president George Washington.

Clearly, our nation has been marked by both the sins and virtues of political leaders. But the complexity of human nature should not diminish the sizeable political and historical contributions of past presidents to our country and its government. Land formations and sea creatures aside, that’s something school boards ought to understand.