EXCLUSIVE: As children across the country return to school this month, Dr. Ben Carson says his Little Patriots Learning program could appeal to those who fear the current U.S. history curriculum teaches only the worst about America.

Launched in fall 2021, Little Patriots Learning is a free online resource for parents that offers at-home activities, patriotic books, in-depth learning, cartoons, star-studded adventures and sing-alongs to teach children about America’s founding principles, according to Carson and his American Cornerstone Institute.

“Little Patriots is committed to providing engaging, high-quality educational content that teaches children the remarkable story of America’s founding and growth,” the group’s mission statement reads. “Through interactive lessons, engaging stories and fun activities, we aim to instill a sense of pride and responsibility in young patriots and encourage them to become informed and active citizens.”

Carson, the former HUD secretary who ran for president in 2016, founded Little Patriots Learning in part because of the lesson plans parents were privy to during the COVID-19 pandemic. The lessons, he said, were not as they remembered them. Eye-opening insights showed that some children were receiving lessons about gender identity. This gave new life to homeschooling and the school choice movement.

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Dr. Ben Carson, former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, speaks on the second day of the Republican National Convention (RNC) at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, July 16, 2024. (REUTERS/Brian Snyder)

“I think it was really the COVID pandemic,” Dr. Carson told Fox News Digital. “And we found out what the Children were learning. We all assumed they were learning the same things we learned as children. And we didn’t realize that there was a lot of propaganda. And we said, ‘America is really a wonderful place. If you’re born here, you’ve won the lottery, so to speak.’ That’s why so many people try to come here. But you know, the things we teach our young people make them doubt whether this is even a good nation.”

Carson cautioned against topics like critical race theory and Nikole Hannah-Jones’ 1619 Project, which seeks to place slavery and its consequences at the center of the founding and history of the United States. He explained how Little Patriots Learning puts an exclamation point on the “Patriots” part.

“And so we try to teach the kids all of our history – the good, the bad and the ugly,” Carson continued. “But there’s a lot more good than bad and ugly. We have people like CRT and 1619 who just take the bad and the ugly and try to build everything around that. And that’s clearly not who we are as a nation. And if you don’t really understand your history, then you don’t have an identity. And if you don’t have an identity, it disrupts your belief system and you become like a leaf blowing in the wind.”

When it comes to how slavery should be taught in schools, Dr. Carson said an important distinction must be made.

“Since the dawn of civilization, virtually every society has had to deal with slavery,” Carson said. “So we’re not the only ones who had slavery. But we are unique in that we had so many people who were vehemently opposed to it that we fought a bloody civil war and lost a large portion of our population to abolish it.”

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Performers in a Revolutionary War reenactment carry a U.S. flag to celebrate Memorial Day at John Paul Jones Park in Bay Ridge on May 31, 2021 in the Brooklyn borough of New York. (John Lamparski/Getty Images)

Carson also said he was concerned that too many American classrooms were teaching children that some of them were “victims” of oppression. He credited his mother, who had as much right as anyone to feel victimized because of her own difficult past, for always making it clear to him and his brother that they should never use that label.

“The victim mentality is a plague on our society,” he said. “You are only a victim if you believe you are a victim.”

Carson joked that the only downside to her mother’s mantra was that he and his brother were never allowed to make excuses.

“I became a brain surgeon and he became a rocket scientist,” he laughed. “I think she felt validated, even though many of her friends criticized her and said, ‘You can’t force boys to stay in the house or read books.'”

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Parents and community members attend a Loudoun County School Board meeting on critical race theory in Ashburn, Virginia, on June 22, 2021. (REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein)

Dr. Carson enjoyed identifying some of his favorite figures in American history – two Founding Fathers and an inspirational author.

“George Washington — I admire him so much,” Carson said. “The fact that he was willing to step down when they were ready to make him king. His faith in God, his perseverance in the face of incredible adversity. I think he’s an incredible role model for us. And Benjamin Franklin, who was very innovative and never said, ‘Nobody’s ever done that before. Therefore it can’t be done.’ His attitude was that nobody’s ever done that before until it’s been done. And why don’t I do it? I really admire him. Booker T. Washington, who wrote the book ‘Up from Slavery,’ and the whole concept of self-reliance and realizing that the person who has the most to do with what happens to you is yourself.”

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Education was widely seen as the driving force that propelled Republican Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin to victory in 2021, led by parents angry about “woke” classroom plans.

Carson believes it will also play a “gigantic role” in the presidential election in November.

Fox News’ Ramiro Vargas contributed to this report.