HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania — Linda McMahon is having fun.

The education secretary, the 13th since the Cabinet department was founded during President Jimmy Carter’s administration, has just left a classroom in Dauphin County doing the 2026 version of Schoolhouse Rock! with a class full of children clearly enjoying the civics game.

It is early December 2025, and McMahon has just kicked off a 50-state “History Rocks!” barnstorm in Pennsylvania as part of an effort to engage with schoolchildren across the country about civics as well as instilling the aspirations of patriotism.

The initiative is part of a nine-month effort ahead of this year’s 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. McMahon said in an interview with the Washington Examiner after her first of three events that the entire effort is a way to engage with young people to explain the importance and joy of patriotism, “as well as to draw us all together to enjoy our shared understanding of America’s founding principles.”

Spending time with the schoolchildren has her buoyant and excited about the months ahead in the lead-up to the 250th anniversary and being able to engage with them on a personal level.

McMahon, who was also making stops in Delaware and New Jersey as part of this trip, said the experience of working with the pre-K through fifth grade children on this day has already inspired her.

“We played a couple of games that included questions about who were the signers of the Declaration of Independence and how our country was founded, and they were so enthusiastic to be part of it,” she said of the game that had two teams competing to get the answers right first.

McMahon, who was brought up in the South and started her school day with the Pledge of Allegiance and the Lord’s Prayer, said she was stunned to find out in her new home state of Connecticut that there was no Pledge of Allegiance or national anthem to open her granddaughter’s high school graduation ceremony.

“I was so struck by that,” she said. “And so then I went back to find out a little bit about just schools in Greenwich, Connecticut. Did children say the Pledge of Allegiance? And not all of them did.”

So when Flag Day approached last June, she had the Education Department get approval ahead of time to distribute little flags for the children to have.

“They all came outside on the school grounds, and all the kids were waving their flags, and they were saying the Pledge of Allegiance and singing the national anthem,” she said. “And the school itself was so impressed by what they saw, they said they would very much like to repeat that this........

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