Fox News Incorrectly Says North Carolina Schools May Cut Out Part of U.S. History

Sunday, February 07, 2010
Abraham Lincoln stil a part of U.S. history

Educators in North Carolina want to restructure the teaching of American history, provoking outrage among some parents and conservative organizations fearful of revisionism.

 
To give high school students the opportunity to delve deeper into 20th century U.S. history, the state board of education is proposing to limit classes in eleventh grade to events and subjects from 1877 on. This change resulted in an alarmist story by Fox News that gave the impression students wouldn’t learn about Abraham Lincoln or the Civil War, let alone the Founding Fathers or the American Revolution.
 
In actuality, early U.S. history would be taught in elementary and junior high school, freeing up high school instructors to spend more time on key modern periods. The change comes in response to criticism that the history curriculum was “a mile wide and an inch deep.”
 
Despite assurances from state education officials that early American history would still be taught in public schools, Called2Action chairman Steve Noble complained that “progressive, historical revisionism” was trying to “undermine the Judeo-Christian heritage of our nation.”
 
Actually, the plan calls for tenth-graders to study the Constitution and the Federalist Papers, while eleventh-graders would focus on history after 1877.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
 
History Course Shift Sets Off Uproar (by Lynn Bonner, Raleigh News & Observer)

Comments

Tom 14 years ago
This article uses the same wording as an editorial in the star news. They are both taking the word of some DPI official. READ the objectives. Examine what is written. Check out K-12 social studies and it will freak you out. Proof? Just two examples of putting political agenda in the curriculum...Quote: Formative Item: Using three Supreme Court Cases (e.g., Brown v Board, Roe v Wade, Korematsu v US) as support explain how the US Supreme Court has upheld rights against oppressive government? Which of these was an international benefit of the Cuban Revolution of 1959? A. Cuba and the Soviet Union establish diplomatic relations. B. Cuba eventually nationalized all U.S. business, industry and commercial property. C. Castro disassociated himself from prevailing "Communist ideas." D. Cuba’s export of health and education services to developing nations in Africa. These are the most clear examples for the layman to easily understand. The "teacherspeak" can be difficult to wade through, but you'll find you can't believe what you are reading.
Jason 14 years ago
The story is actually more accurate than you are giving credit. It is ridiculous to think that adequate time in middle school will be given to the detailed in-depth study of the early part of our nation that DPI is describing. First of all, social studies is not tested in the middle grades and therefore does not receive equal time with math, science, and English. Secondly, how many 6th, 7th, or 8th graders are truly capable of understanding John Locke's social contract theory and how it affected Jefferson in writing the Declaration of Independence. Many average high schoolers have difficulty with this. The real truth of the matter is that there are too many high school teachers who are not covering the entire course from a lack of planning and pacing. The solution is not erasing a part of our history but insisting that we teach it properly.

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