The Wall Street Journal notes the tradition of honoring Christopher Columbus for sailing the ocean blue in 1492 “is facing rougher seas than the Niña, Pinta and Santa Maria” and wonders if the holiday is in danger of sailing off the calendar.
Columbus’ stature in elementary school classrooms has declined through the years. The Associated Press notes “many teachers are trying to present a more balanced perspective of what happened after Columbus reached the Caribbean and the suffering of indigenous populations.” In Texas, the idea that Columbus “discovered America” is out. Instead, 5th graders learn about the “Columbian Exchange” — the widespread exchange of people, plants, animals, goods, ideas and diseases that occurred after Columbus landed in the Americas. Fourth graders at one Pennsylvania school held a mock trial and found the navigator guilty of thievery, the AP reports. They sentenced him to life in prison. “In their own verbiage, he was a bad guy,” said teacher Laurie Crawford.
Over at Jay Greene’s Blog, Jay points out that ”many of the new answers offered are at least as simplistic and historically false as the established answers they are meant to replace.” Describing the people from whom Europeans confiscated lands as “Indigenous Peoples or First Nations” is inaccurate, since those people had previously confiscated it from earlier groups. “You can’t just declare that history starts whenever it suits you,” Greene writes.
These arguments aren’t going away anytime soon. For a decidely arch take on the “Columbian Exchange,” here’s Randy Newman’s wry ”The Great Nations of Europe.”
Columbus sailed for India, found Salvador instead.
He shook hands with some Indians and soon they all were dead.
They got TB and typhoid and athlete’s foot, diptheria and the flu,
‘Scuse me great nations comin’ through!
If you want to promote tolerance and respect for Muslim students, perhaps teaching children something about Islam might help. Teachers College has come out with a guide for teachers “designed to enhance understanding of Islam and promote tolerance of Muslim students.” But EdWeek’s Mary Ann Zehr points out the guide ”gives only tangential treatment to religion in favor of focusing on the culture and identity of Muslims.”
The guide doesn’t discuss, for example, the five pillars of Islam, the significance of Ramadan, or the differences between Shiite and Sunni Muslims. One of the most direct references to religion that I could find is a link to a survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life about the beliefs and practices of Muslims (search by “tradition”). But that survey tells you about as much about Islam as a religion as a survey of the beliefs and practices of Roman Catholics in the United States tells you about Catholicism.
In contrast, the Core Knowledge Sequence introduces major world religions in the first grade. In the fourth grade, the spread of Islam is examined along with Islamic art. One of the lessons in the TC cycle asks students to examine and evaluate depictions of Muslims and Islam in the media. Great idea. Hard to do if you’re coming to the subject cold. “There are still entrenched suspicions and profound misconceptions about Islam and Muslim culture,” the TC guide notes. And there will continue to be unless you actually teach the subject.
Si usted puede leer esto, usted podrá comprender estudios sociales clase en esta escuela primaria de Wisconsin. ¿Cómo se dice “well-intentioned nonsense” en español?
February is Black History Month, an annual elementary school staple. But is it still necessary and relevant in the Age of Obama?
The Chicago Tribune’s Exploring Race blog notes that Carter G. Woodson, the African-American historian and publisher of the Journal of Negro History, was pessimistic about whether African-American history would be accepted as part of mainstream history. So Woodson and his colleagues came up with the idea for Negro History Week during the second week in February, because it coincided with the birthdays of black abolitionist Frederick Douglass and President Abraham Lincoln.
Initially, Negro History Week was a way to highlight—to non-blacks— the myriad contributions that blacks have made to this country. But it also was designed to boost the self-esteem of blacks, many of whom were unaware of their own history. The observance later became Black History Month, which begins Sunday, and over the years, so much has changed—not the least of which was the recent inauguration of a man of color as the 44th President of the United States.
“Considering the reason for starting the observance,” asks the Tribune, “is there still a need to highlight black history in this regard?”
Hats off to the Traut Core Knowledge Elementary School in Ft. Collins, Colorado, where 6th graders transformed their school gym into a living “wax museum” to show off what they learned about various historic people. The kids created displays, gave presentations to classmates and with the help of parent volunteers, dressed up as the person for others to see.
The 75 living wax figures in included explorers, presidents, inventors and entertainers including Elvis, Ansel Adams, Marie Antoinette, Jackie Robinson and Sacajawea, and earned the school a write-up in the local paper.
The characters weren’t exactly made of wax like the famous mannequins at Madame Tussauds Wax Museum; Instead, they were sixth graders dressed in ornate costumes who assumed motionless positions when given the command. The silence was more representative of a library than a gym, and the posed students barely blinked as younger classes in single file lines walked by the 75 exhibits.
“When a person you know goes by and stares at you, it’s hard not to laugh,” said sixth-grader Summer Paulson, who was dressed as Elizabeth Blackwell, the world’s first woman doctor.
That Core Knowledge stuff…all that deadly dull rote learning and drills.
Asked under oath in a deposition if science is ”part of an adequate education” in the state of Georgia, Joanne Leonard said “I think you can do without science.” What about social studies? Is that part of a child’s ”adequate” education? “I would want them exposed to social studies,” Leonard said, ”but I think they can succeed in the world without social studies, and that is my opinion, my personal opinion.”
Ms. Leonard’s deposition was taken in a lawsuit brought by rural Georgia schools, who say the state isn’t giving them enough money to provide the “adequate education” required under law. Much of the case involves defining “adequate” And who is Joanne Leonard? Only the state Department of Education’s Director of Accountability.
I’m trying to think of what the appropriate response to this should be from Georgians, but I can’t think of anything that doesn’t involve pitchforks and torches. But I can think of something else Georgia can do without.
Lawmakers in California have had a busy summer deciding what students in the Golden State should be taught in school. A bill requiring that a 1946 court ruling on desegregation be added to the curriculum won strong support, as did a measure that adds the contribution of Filipino-American soldiers. Legislation requiring lessons on the contributions of Italian Americans, Native Americans and the deportation of Mexican citizens during the Depression are pending.
An editorial in one local paper makes sport of the whole miasma:
OK, boys and girls, please turn to page 151 of your state history book and skip down to the section on the contributions of Filipino-American soldiers in World War II. We were going to talk about the contributions of the Chinese, but seeing as how that isn’t mandatory, we’re going to take a pass.
Please be prepared immediately after recess to discuss Myanmar’s failure to adopt U.S. concepts of Democracy. Yes, Jimmy, I know you’re only in fourth grade, but a bipartisan state Senate majority felt California students were getting way behind in their comparative political theory. And we wouldn’t want to argue with bipartisan state Senate majorities, now would we?
Fortunately, we will have time to go over our spelling words a couple of more times this week because the governor vetoed Senate Bill 908, which would have encouraged each California grade level to include a section on global warming.
“They all have merit,” concludes an editorial in the Contra Costa Times, “but it is not the job of individual legislators to alter the public school curriculum on a piecemeal basis. This is the purview of the state Board of Education.”
The February 3 USA Today reports on a study done by Sam Wineburg of Stanford University that will be appearing in the March issue of the Journal of American History. The study validates what I had to say in my article on “The Training of Idiots” in Where Did Social Studies Go Wrong? published by the Fordham Foundation. The top ten list of “the most famous Americans in US history,” compiled based on a survey of thousands of American high school students (who were told only to exclude presidents) is a sad commentary on the grotesque triumph of the PC (and celeb) culture in our schools and the larger society.
Rosa Parks #2? Harriet Tubman #3? Amelia Earhart? Oprah? Marilyn Monroe? I suppose we should be thankful that Paris Hilton and Britney Spears did not make the list! I am surprised that the Grimke Sisters did not come in at #3 and #4. I can think of no better evidence of how our k-12 social studies educators, thanks to the NCSS and other such organizations, have failed to give kids a sound, accurate, serious KNOWLEDGE of American history as opposed to racial and gender cheerleading.
The views, conclusions and opinions of authors, contributors and commenters on the Core Knowledge Blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Core Knowledge Foundation.
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