Educators, parents, and civil rights groups in Virginia are outraged because Governor Glen Youngkin has directed the rewriting of the state’s history standards. The Youngkin standards eliminate anything that extremists and rightwingers find objectionable. The Youngkin team initially deleted all mention of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. from the elementary curriculum. Presumably any discussion of Dr. King’s life and legacy might be interpreted as “critical race theory” by the Governor’s allies.
At the same time, Youngkin’s cultural warriors expanded coverage of Ancient Greece and Rome, expecting children in the early elementary years to learn about major figures in those civilizations for whom they have no context or understanding.
In the rewrite of the standards by the Youngkin team,, a startling amount of material about African Americans was deleted. The curriculum and standards were literally whitewashed.
And as you will notice, the Youngkin draft refers to Native Americans and indigenous peoples as “the first immigrants.” What?
The Youngkin rewrite shows zero knowledge of what content is age-appropriate. As you will read below, first-graders are expected to learn about the Code of Hammurabi. Are first-graders really ready to learn about ancient Babylon? The educators who wrote the statement below warn that the Code includes references to adultery and sex, possibly violating recent legislation that bans sexual content in the early grades.
Many years ago, I was deeply involved in the revision of the California History-Social Science standards and curriculum framework. The process must involve teachers, historians, and experts from different disciplines (such as geography, sociology, and other social sciences). Our committee reflected the state’s ethnic diversity and included teachers from different grade levels. The draft was circulated to teachers who would teach it to get their comments. It was then presented at public hearings where parents and the public expressed their views. It was a long and arduous process, but the state ended up with a fair and accurate account of state, national, and world history, along with an appreciation of different perspectives about history.
History is not “a story.” It is told differently depending on who is writing it, and it changes as historians learn more.
That kind of deliberation was started in Virginia but it was short-circuited by Governor Youngkin, who wanted to fulfill his campaign promises about “parental rights” and “critical race theory.” The result is that the process was politicized, and the standards were warped by political interference.
The meeting to discuss the standards was held last night. I will let you know what happens. I will keep watch on the effort to whitewash Virginia’s standards of learning and to make them explicitly Eurocentric.
Press Release by Concerned Educators of the Commonwealth
RELEASE DATE: For Immediate Release
CONTACT: Concerned Educators of the Commonwealth
WHAT: The Rewrite of Virginia’s Proposed History and Social Science Standards
WHEN: Thursday, November 17th Board of Education Meeting, James Monroe Building, Richmond
The History and Social Science Standards of Learning have always been written as a non-partisan document that values input from all sides of the aisle in a transparent process. During the October 20, 2022 meeting of the Virginia Board of Education, a number of Board Members pushed to have the proposed History and Social Science Standards along with supporting Curriculum Framework documents presented for “first review” at the next meeting. The State Superintendent of Instruction resisted this in favor of further delay. Instead of honoring her promise for only a brief delay to allow new board members appointed by Governor Youngkin time to review the proposed Standards, the links below reveal that the proposed Standards have been completely rewritten at the last moment and replaced. This rewrite was led by Superintendent Balow, the Superintendent’s selected consultant, Ms. Shelia Byrd Carmicheal and staff from the Governor’s office. It is NOT the original draft of proposed standards created in partnership with countless educators, historians, professors, museums, organizations, parents, teachers, and VDOE staff in the process laid out in Virginia Code. As indicated by Item I Memo, Shelia Byrd Carmichael will present the ¨Final Redraft of VA HSS Standards for K – 12. 11.10.22¨ There is no mention of the VDOE History and Social Science staff members who have led this work for the past two years.
- Item I: First Review of the Proposed Revised 2022 History and Social Science Standards of Learning (PDF)
- Item I – Proposed History and Social Science Standards Guiding Principles (PDF)
- Item I – Proposed History and Social Science Standards of Learning (PDF)
- Item I – Presentation (PPT)
In addition to this flawed and undemocratic process, there are several aspects of the rewritten standards that we find to be unacceptable, and we urge the Virginia Board of Education to reject these rewritten standards and not consider them for first review at their upcoming meeting on November 17th, 2022:
- The inital rewrite of the proposed Standards which were made public on November 11, 2022 entirely removed Martin Luther King, Jr. from the elementary curriculum. This selective erasure of one of the most prominent Black men in American history calls into question this entire revision of the proposed Standards. This was partially addressed on November 16th, 2022 with the sudden addition of the “Martin Luther King, Jr. Day” to SOL K.7b. However, the public needs to be aware that this last minute half-measure still removes Martin Luther King, Jr. from the 1st grade and 2nd grade SOLs that have been in place for years. This significant reduction is still unacceptable, and it not only shows how much this process was rushed in isolation with a outside consultant, but it now seems to be a paternalistic attempt to placate and mollify.
- The rewrite of the proposed Standards removes most of the 2020 technical edits that were made by the recent Commission on African American History Education (click here in order to see what has been removed).
- The rewrite of the proposed Standards refers to Native Americans and Indigenous Peoples as America’s “first immigrants” in SOL K.2a and b – this strips a historically marginalized group of 10,000 years of human history and their heritage as native and indigenous people who numbered in the tens of millions prior to European contact.
- The rewrite of the proposed Standards completely removes the African civilization of Mali from the Third Grade standards while Ancient Greece and Rome have been greatly expanded. All of these civilizations should be explored for students to fully understand the world – not just the Western World. This represents another example of erasing people of color from the previous version of the standards while elevating a Eurocentric view of the world.
- In addition to political bias, the rewrite of the proposed Standards contains several examples of age-inappropriate content that is far too complex for adolescent children. For example,
- The “Code of Hammurabi” is now listed as required content for First Grade (SOL 1.1c). The Code of Hammurabi not only requires considerable historical context for students to understand Ancient Babylon, but many of the codes are inappropriate as they address topics such as adultery, sex, and capital punishment. The time period, as well as the graphic nature of the content, is highly inappropriate for 1st graders. The inclusion of the Code of Hammurabi may come into conflict with the recently passed legislation that forbids the inclusion of sexually explicit content in curriculum.
- The Fertile Crescent, Mesopotamia, and the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers are now required content in SOL 1.1 for First Grade. Students in primary grades have limited context of their own communities and the world around them. Therefore, they need to focus on basic map skills and geographic features such as continents and oceans – not on specific locations that require in-depth knowledge about ancient civilizations. it should be noted that the previous revision version of the Standards placed this content appropriately in secondary courses such as World History I and World Geography that is typically taught in 8th or 9th grade. Asking our youngest learners to learn about “civilization” before they have any context of their own “communities” shows a clear lack of understanding about what is developmentally appropriate in grades K-1.
- The Third Grade Standards require students to learn about several historic figures that are far too complex for this grade-level such as “Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Hippocrates, Alexander the Great, Crassus, Julius Caesar, Mark Antony, Trajan, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius, Constantine, Odysseus, and Aeneas.” While certainly historically significant, these figures are much more appropriate for secondary courses such as World History I which is typically taught in 8th or 9th grade. Such misunderstanding of elementary education calls into question if the person or persons who drafted these revised standards have any understanding of what is developmentally appropriate for younger learners and if they have any experience in elementary education.
- The rewrite of the proposed Standards is full of grammatical, spelling, and formatting errors. For example, in SOL 2.2c, the famous closing statement of the Declaration of Independence is misspelled where the signers pledged their “lives, fortunes, and scared [sic.] honor” rather than sacred honor. Another simple mistake appears in SOL USI.7c, where the revised Standard states, “students will describe challenges faced by the new nation by….explaining what the Constitutional Conventions was.”
- The rewrite of the proposed Standards is also full of historical errors and inaccuracies. For example, SOL VS.5f requires students to “explain the reasons for the relocation of Virginia’s capital from Jamestown to Williamsburg” as part of the overall standard about the Revolutionary War. However, this makes absolutely no sense given that Virginia’s capital was moved from Williamsburg to Richmond during the Revolutionary War in order to provide greater protection against British attack. A discussion of the move from Jamestown to Williamsburg seems to be a glaring historical error given that Jamestown burned in 1698 and the capital of Virginia was moved to Williamsburg 77 years before the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. The previous version of the proposed Standards did not contain egregious historical errors such as this because they were developed by a team of educators, division leaders, and historians. Another example of historical error appears in SOL VS.6 where Zachary Taylor is incorrectly identified as the most recent President from Virginia. Taylor was Virginia’s 7th President elected in 1848. Woodrow Wilson was Virginia’s 8th President elected in 1912.
- The rewrite of the proposed Standards emphasizes the memorization of content knowledge at the expense of skills and deeper understanding. The level of content knowledge is so extensive that it leaves very little time for critical thinking, inquiry, and project-based learning. For example, SOL CE.1n requires students to learn the “charters of the Virginia Company of London April 10, 1606, May 23, 1609, and March 12, 1612.” Such specific content knowledge in this regard promotes rote memorization and detracts from the larger goal of deeper understanding, skill development, and learning the knowledge and facts by anchoring that content to larger conceptual understandings
- Contributions from the Sikh and the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) community have been greatly limited in this redraft.
- The rewrite of the proposed Standards completely alters the course sequence and will cause major disruptions as divisions struggle to redesign learning materials and resources for courses in grades K-9. If adopted, this mandate would move middle school courses to elementary and high school courses to middle school. This also has the potential to create major staffing issues as teachers will have to change teaching assignments, grade levels, and even schools. The altered sequence of courses negatively impacts students who are already in the middle of a particular course sequence. Publishing companies and education departments have created grade-appropriate materials to accompany the current SOL sequence. Making these drastic changes without allowing time for the creation of high-quality, enriching, age-appropriate supporting documents is disruptive of student learning and compromises Social Studies education.
Note: I can’t guarantee that the links will open, as this is a copy of a copy of a copy.
Orwellian?
Teach Ancient Greek and Roman history?????
The history of the Ancient Greeks and Roman is just as bad if not worse then anything that has happened in this country since its founding. What parts of Ancient Greek and Roman history would have to be eliminated in order to satisfy the extremists and rightwingers?
The stupidity of some people when it comes to education is astounding. But, of course, being an extremists and rightwing/leftwringers does not equate to being educated or even having common sense, which is not necessarily common.
Moeone: Didn’t you know? Education means: you pass down your biases to your kids, then make policy. CBK
Moeone2015,
So the history of Ancient Greeks and Romans is rife with massacres, slavery, sexual perversion, and adultery? Is there a word to substitute for CRT?
Critical Ancient History Theory?
CAHT?
And don’t forget the killing of Christians in the colosseum for the entertainment if the masses. That needs to be one of the focal points in ancient history to make the extreme far-right evangelicals happy.
Ok where are the ACLU and NAACP at in Virginia ?
They need to take them to court and sue for
Discrimination and apartheid actions and segregation.
They should not be allowed to erase and provide discriminatory history in a school system Guided by the Constitution of America.Period
They only believe they are guided by The Constitution. They are really guided by their own racism, sexism and xenophobia.
I’m glad to be corrected: I didn’t know that Native Americans were our first immigrants.
My eyes are getting good muscles from the rolling they are required to do. CBK
IKR? Immigration is coming to live in what is for you a foreign nation state. I suspect that they chose this inaccurate language in order to suggest that the European expropriation of indigenous American lands was just another wave of immigration. Similarly, these right-wingers refer, in their curricula, to West Africans immigrating to the United States instead of to enslavement.
The idea that truth/what we know, “…changes as historians [science] learn more,” is anathema to such conservatives and other defenders of racism and inequity. Ambiguity and flexibility are the enemy of authoritarians trying to protect their entrenched privilege and power.
nailed it
the Youngkin draft refers to Native Americans and indigenous peoples as “the first immigrants.”
That’s actually true. They immigrated from Asia about 20,000 years ago across the Bering land bridge.
And if you go back even further, everyone immigrated from Africa.
So, African Americans were actually here in America before anybody else.
By all rights, African Americans should own the damned place.
That’s not just my opinion.
It’s what the science tells us.
So anyone who disagrees can take it up with Leaky et al.
This use of “immigrants” is anachronistic because the term is used to refer to movement of foreign-born people into a NATION STATE.
My tongue was so far into my cheek that it hurts.
But take it up with Leaky.
But I take anachronistic as a complement (or maybe a supplement)
Besides, all the stuff in my comment was actually written by autocorrect.
Haaaa!
This was also true of my first composition textbook. I had nothing to do with it. It was entirely time-traveling autocorrect.
Bob
Has anyone ever told you that you’re a sucker for rabbit holes?
don’t give me an opening like that
Native Americans were not the First Americans
The Natives weren’t first
Cuz Leaky made it clear
That hominids were nursed
In Africa, not here
Well, you called it on Garland. He has appointed a Special Counsel to investigate Trump and will ride it out until the whole country loses interest and the Counsel comes out with a 10,000-page report saying that crimes might have been committed but it’s up to Congress to prosecute or some such utter BS because this a nation of laws for the little people.
Garland’s behavior is about as difficult to predict as the sun’s rising at the beginning of each day.
Garland Also Rises
Garland, like the Sun
Arises every day
And kicks the can (for fun)
The special counsel’s way
yup
No one is above the law”
“No one is above the law”
(Except the ones who are)
The quote’s a much repeated saw
Of one who was a liar
“Here we go round the Mueller-berry bush”
Here we go again
Special counsel way
Round to where we’ve been
Nothing more to say
To the tune of Merrily we roll along (And Merrick had a Little Lamb)
Merrickly we roll along
Roll along roll along
Merrickly we roll along
Till a new AG
Let’s see.
Giuliani?
Garland declines to indict (✔️)
Gaetz?
Garland declines to indict (✔️)
Trump?
Garland’s declines to indict (✔️)
Now he can retire, knowing that he has accomplished what he set out to do (nothing)
Dumb average Joes and Jills from Podunk who heeded Trump’s call to storm the Capitol?
Garland chooses to indict.
Second down at the 1 yard line.
As Coach, Garland chooses to punt.
Backwards, toward the opposite end of the field.
To avoid the appearance of game interference.
OMG. SomeDAM, that is perfect!
If you have enough money and influence, you can get away with murder, quite literally
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/11/18/egregious-kaine-slams-biden-move-shield-saudi-prince-khashoggi-murder
“With Liver tea and Just us for all.” — Saudi Prince of Darkness
haaaa
Having said all that, I agree with autocorrect (and Dr. leaky) that African Americans were here first and hence have the most legitimate claim to the place.
Autocorrect and I don’t see eye to I on most things, so our agreement in this case is particularly meaningful.
And Dr. Leaky’s view is meaningful as well, though to a lesser extent.
Make that “Autocorrect and I don’t agree I to AI on most things”
Since “parents’ rights” are a big issue here:
Exactly what rights do parents have who want their kids educated to have a complete knowledge of US history, including existing points of view & interpretations?
…or is this a “some parents are more equal…” situation?
Only straight white Christian parents have “parental rights.”
Those would be the rights of God the Father.
Cuz mothers have no rights (except the right to have babies)
Ah! Pardon my confusion. Thank you for clarifying!
And fetuses have rights, of course.
But in many places, women increasingly have only the “right” to be an incubator.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/11/18/deadly-polish-abortion-ban-treats-women-incubators-critics-say-eu-hearing
Poland is almost exclusively (93%) made up of Catholics who are obviously willing to sacrifice women on the altar of their religion.
But many US states have also passed extreme antiabortion laws which effectively put the life of the fetus ahead of that of the woman.
And the Catholics in the US Supreme Court majority are every bit as extreme as the ones in Poland.
hmmm … Does this remind anyone of that illustrious curriculum (gag) “EngageNY?”
“The “Code of Hammurabi” is now listed as required content for First Grade (SOL 1.1c). The Code of Hammurabi not only requires considerable historical context for students to understand Ancient Babylon, but many of the codes are inappropriate as they address topics such as adultery, sex, and capital punishment. The time period, as well as the graphic nature of the content, is highly inappropriate for 1st graders. The inclusion of the Code of Hammurabi may come into conflict with the recently passed legislation that forbids the inclusion of sexually explicit content in curriculum.
“The Fertile Crescent, Mesopotamia, and the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers are now required content in SOL 1.1 for First Grade. Students in primary grades have limited context of their own communities and the world around them. Therefore, they need to focus on basic map skills and geographic features such as continents and oceans – not on specific locations that require in-depth knowledge about ancient civilizations. it should be noted that the previous revision version of the Standards placed this content appropriately in secondary courses such as World History I and World Geography that is typically taught in 8th or 9th grade. Asking our youngest learners to learn about “civilization” before they have any context of their own “communities” shows a clear lack of understanding about what is developmentally appropriate in grades K-1.”
Here’s what I thought about it in 2015. Thank you, Diane, for quoting me”
“Governor Raimondo recently selected Deputy Commissioner of Education Ken Wagner as the new State Superintendent in Rhode Island. In Néw York, he was known as a strong supporter of high-stakes testing, VAM, and corporate reforms.
“Sheila Resseger, a teacher in Rhode Island for many years, was unhappy with Raimondo’s choice. She wrote, in response to a post about Néw York’s Common Core curriculum called EngageNY:
“’Here was my comment to the post that Diane referenced. I am going to make it my mission to inform Rhode Islanders about the total disdain that Ken Wagner has for authentic teaching and learning. According to the RI Dept of Ed and Gov. Raimondo, he “developed” EngageNY. By his own admission he is opposed to Opt Out and for data collection. These are the trifecta of evil in my book: Common Core/Pear$on testing/data mining.
“’I find this so profoundly disturbing that I can hardly see straight to type this comment. I live in RI. As you may know, our Governor, Gina Raimondo, recently nominated NY State Deputy Commissioner of Ed Dr. Ken Wagner to be our new Commissioner of Education (replacing Broad-trained Deborah Gist). This past Monday night the RI Board of Education and Council on Elementary and Secondary Education met to decide whether or not to confirm Dr. Wagner. I was the only one to speak against his confirmation. Dr. Wagner was credited with developing EngageNY, and seemed to be delighted that it has been downloaded for free 20 million times. He also declared that the Common Core does not script lessons, but actually frees up teachers to teach creatively. [!!!] Another egregious comment of his was that we don’t have to be concerned with Piaget’s developmental stages–that theory is passé. Now we know that children can do SO much more than we had expected of them before. Yes, every first grader is delighted to learn about the Code of Hammurabi.
Hate to tell you, Diane, but teaching about the Sumerians to first graders is straight out of Hirsch’s Core Knowledge stuff. According to Hirsch, at least 10 years ago, when I read up on it, first graders are supposed to learn all about ancient cultures and learn vocabulary that I, a seasoned history and geography teacher, had to look up.
I know Core Knowledge is pretty universally loved here, and I agree that more social studies should be taught in elementary schools, but I have always thought Hirsch’s sequence of learning was developmentally inappropriate for younger grades.
Gotta remember that HIRSCH was a UVA English prof who didn’t know much about child development, what little kids can do
You’re exactly right, Diane. But here we are.
I would just be happy if my 9th graders came to my Geography class already knowing which way the cardinal directions are on many maps and how many continents there are. I have such low expectations these days.
Here’s a fun thing to do (if it won’t get you in trouble these days): When I taught middle school Louisiana history and they wondered why slaves didn’t just go north, I asked them to close their eyes, point north, leave your arm where it is, open your eyes, and look around. Everyone was pointing everywhere. “Now you see a big part of the problem…” I proceeded. Try that one–without the slave reference–in your class and see what kind of laugh you get out of the kids.
I guess there’s an unspoken political lesson in that example. If we don’t know where or how to find where North is, how can we do anything together at all?
“The Hammurabi code of laws, a collection of 282 rules, established standards for commercial interactions and set fines and punishments to meet the requirements of justice.”
Only 282 rules?
Memorization should be no problem for first graders.
As we praise Liz Cheney for her principled opposition to the cult, let us not forget the toxic mess that is her mother. Lynne Cheney singlehandedly destroyed the concept of education standards, which contributed significantly to supporting the Contract with (sic: should be on) America that ushered in Newt and mess we have today.
Although I was not involved in the creation of the National Civics Standards that were released in 1994, I was with their promotion and dissemination. As Cheney disingenuously attacked the History and English standards to undermine the entire effort, she indelibly undermined the whole concept of what standards were supposed to be: supplements to assist teachers, not checklists to apply to their lessons. Diane was involved with creating those standards and Justice David Souter endorsed them. The intent was for teachers to use the standards to give them ideas to apply to their classes. It was not an instruction manual. Nor a political cudgel.
The current definition applied to standards has nothing to do with their origin. Much like the idea of charter schools as expressed by Al Shankar.
The deletions shown at the link are shocking and turn my stomach. Watch what they do, they are telling you right out loud who they are.
What an embarrassment.
Is Youngkin watching DeSantis? [Do bears s in the woods?] U VA is ranked 3rd best public U in the country by USNWR, #1 by Money Magazine, #1 by Forbes. U VA, William & Mary, VA Tech, U of Richmond, George Mason and VA Commonwealth– 5 of VA’s 9 public U’s– are ranked Tier 1 National Universities by USNWR. I wonder if Youngkin wants to mess with that.
footnote: I recognize USNWR rankings are questionable at best, but presumably they give an indication that these U’s are well-respected…
There is a lot to unpack here. On top of everything inappropriate, inaccurate, and racist, unqualified people now authored the curriculum.
Hi Diane. We met when I booked you to speak at GAO. Since retired, now I’m running for the Virginia state legislature. Background here: sawicky.substack.com. Education will be the primary subject of my campaign.
Thanks, Max. I will check out your website.