America Needs History and Civics Education to Promote Unity
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Editor's note: This article is signed by six former U.S. education secretaries: Lamar Alexander, Arne Duncan, John King, Rod Paige, Richard Riley and Margaret Spellings.
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Following years of polarization and the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, the world's oldest constitutional democracy is in grave danger. We stand at a crossroads, called to protect this democracy and to work toward unity. Current and future generations will look back to examine how we chose to act, and why.
A key part of our task is to reinvigorate teaching and learning of American history and civics in our nation's schools. A constitutional democracy requires a citizenry that has a desire to participate, and an understanding of how to do so constructively, as well as the knowledge and skills to act for the common good. Yet a history and civics education for the 21st century must also grapple with the difficult and often painful parts of our history -- including enslavement, segregation and racism, indigenous removals, Japanese-American internment, denials of religious liberty and free speech, and other injustices.
We need teaching and learning that pursues an account of U.S. constitutional democracy that is honest about the wrongs of the past without falling into cynicism, and appreciative of the American founding without tipping into adulation. To turn pluribus into unum, we need curriculums that achieve a more plural and complete story of U.S. history, while also forging a common story, the shared inheritance of all Americans.
Regrettably, civics, which teaches skills of participation and the knowledge that sustains it, and history, which provides a frame of reference for the present, have been sorely neglected over the past half-century in U.S. schools. This cannot continue to be the case.
Right now, we collectively spend about 1,000 times more per student on science, technology, engineering, and math education than we do on history and civics. Where civics education is taught, it is often hampered by a lack of consensus about what to teach and how.
But there is a way forward that will let us rebuild civics and history alongside STEM education.
Despite our differences on policy and priorities, we believe that the Roadmap to Educating for American Democracy provides a promising path. The project is the result of a 19-month collaboration among more than 300 scholars, educators, practitioners and students from diverse backgrounds. The ambition of this plan is to re-establish civics and American history as essential components of education.
The Roadmap aims to renew the study of history and to rebuild civic education from the ground up, by providing guiding principles for states, local school districts and educators across the U.S. They, in turn, can establish their own standards and tailor curricular materials to their local communities. For example, using the plan, Texas may choose to devote more attention to the war between the U.S. and Mexico in the 1840s, while Massachusetts may choose to look more closely than others at the early phases of the colonial conflict with Great Britain, in which Boston played a dominant role. The plan recommends key content and instructional strategies for history and civics at every grade level. And it does so with an eye toward meeting the wide-ranging needs of today's students.
The Educating for American Democracy Initiative offers a new vision for history and civics that supports educators in dealing effectively with fundamental tensions inherent in civic learning, integrates a diversity of experiences and perspectives throughout, and cultivates civil disagreement and reflective patriotism. As an example, the Roadmap can help teachers guide conversations among students about how we can integrate the perspectives of Americans from all backgrounds when analyzing the content of the philosophical foundations of American constitutional democracy. The recommendations of the Roadmap weave history and civics together and inspire students to learn by asking difficult questions, such as "What does our history reveal about the aspirations and tensions captured by the motto E pluribus unum?" then seeking answers in the classroom through facts and discussion.
Importantly, the Roadmap is not a set of national standards or a national curriculum. It is instead a call to action to invest in strengthening history and civic learning. It lays a foundation to deliver opportunities for excellence in civic learning equitably to all students.
The American K-12 education system has always worked to respond to the needs of the nation. The early republic emphasized history, reading and math. In the mid-20th century, the launch of the Soviet satellite Sputnik and the dawn of an era of global economic competition drove a turn toward investment in STEM education. And during the early part of this century, our attention has turned to preparing students from marginalized communities to succeed in high school and college.
Now the fragility of our democratic institutions is in plain sight. This is the time to give priority to history and civics education for American children.
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When it comes to history, whose interpretation should be taught?
Left wing, right wing, or what really happened?
It should be taught from different perspectives, not just those of the victors or the ones who happened to be in charge at the time.
Colonization and the westward expansion are great examples, they look very different when looked at from the native perspective.
"If you can't read, interpret and think critically, you're going to support white supremacy – even if you're a person of color."
"Our old textbooks are based on white literature, white history. That's the nature of the beast."
"There's an urgency for them to know the issue of inequality. ... This kind of knowledge is needed for their survival."
The University of Toronto found in 2017 that babies as young as six months showed a racial bias.
"It is impossible to teach the Civil War without teaching about slavery and its effects on it ... "
Nationally, 79% of teachers are white and almost an equivalent are women.
In Montgomery, most public school teachers are Black women who teach in majority-Black classrooms.
"I don't remember even reading a Black writer in school."
Alabama's teachers are more than 75% white and female and 59% of its students are white.
"It's the teacher's role to teach students how to think, not what to think."
It wasn't long after Nirmala Erevelles and her late-husband enrolled their daughter in a Tuscaloosa preschool that they started to notice changes in her behavior. It concerned them. So much so that the parents decided to approach the school.
At three years old she was like a sponge; as curious as any toddler and eager to make sense of the world around her. She described her classmates at school as girls and boys with pink skin, or brown skin, like hers, while others had yellow or orange hair.
"Nobody was Black for her because she was very clear with colors," said Erevelles who is a professor of social and cultural studies in education at the University of Alabama.
Until they were — which wasn't necessarily a problem for the couple. Erevelles is of Indian descent and her husband, also a UA professor, was African American. It was the context that disturbed them.
"One day she came home and she told my husband that 'Papa is Black' and 'Mama is white.' And she said something like, 'Mama should come and pick me up from school,'" Erevelles said.
When the parents spoke with school administrators about the incident, their views were dismissed. The daycare said its children knew nothing about race.
Research proves contrary.
Investigators studying racial-bias at the University of Toronto found in 2017 that babies as young as six-months showed a preference for members of their own race and bias against those of other races. Five countries took part in that study.
The well-known Clark "doll test" conducted in the 1940s and repeated in 2010 measured race identification and preference among Black and white children and confirmed that both were more likely to assign positive traits to a white doll, while they were more likely to describe the Black doll negatively. The children in the 1940 study were 3 to 7 years old; in 2010 they were 4 and 5 and 9 and 10.
All too often, critics say, U.S. students are met with an education system that elides discussions of racial difference and prejudice in favor of a so-called colorblind approach that is as transparent as it is ineffective.
People like Erevelles argue that race is ever-present; perhaps no more glaringly so than when it's ignored. Furthermore, they say representations of people of color in text books and assigned literature are limited, superficial and even inaccurate; minimizing their importance to the American story and reinforcing a narrative of white superiority.
" How does the school curriculum not just deal with culture in a way of saying, 'these are the wonderful things Black people did. But also, to challenge white supremacy. How do we talk about the ways racism exists and more importantly what are those histories, which kids don't get, about how racism is challenged?" she said.
Alabama and the South are ripe with stories of Black and indigenous resistance to oppression and white supremacist violence, narratives that follow the colonization and industrialization of the country and play an outsize role, despite these groups' "minority" status, in the formation of the U.S. and the struggle to ensure it fulfill its democratic ideals.
Yet it's evident from the views of some of the state's secondary school graduates that these narratives are often excluded in favor of simple bromides that dismiss the hallowed significance of the civil rights movement, and paint slavery as a slightly unfavorable detour on the road to democracy, critics say.
Never mind Indigenous land theft and mass murder. All problems of the past with little relation to the present. Even though students are seeing a vastly different reality play out before them on TV and social media.
Many of these renewed calls to reform curricula emerged last summer, following spring protests when hundreds of thousands of people across the country flooded the streets to decry the police killing of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other Black victims who died at the hands of law enforcement and racially-motivated violence.
"There's an urgency for them to know the issue of inequality. ... This kind of knowledge is needed for their survival," she said.
Why the ongoing obsession with alleged racism, and never ending denigration of White people?
[Deleted] greg, as a white male I am doing just fine and do not feel denigrated at all. I am wealthy, white, and have absolutely nothing to complain about when it comes to how I am treated by society, still doesn’t get any better than being a white male.
Racism has played a significant role in American history effecting. Everything from the nations economic development, to its foreign policy, governmental policies, and overall societal development. Hell there was even a civil war fueled by it and the system of slavery it spawned. It is not gone and it’s past effects are still widely evident today.
To ignore it or minimize it is to turn a blind eye to our nation’s history.
There will always be racism amongst individuals or small groups, but its extent systemically is highly exaggerated by some on the left.
and you intentionally minimize it.
and highly discarded by many of the far right.
That's why I try real hard to stay in the middle.
Where sanity resides.
Maybe Kinda gives one a taste of what the native Americans when thru eh ?
I looked at the numbers of different races of humans on this earth long ago and knew that as caucasian americans were already outnumbered world wide by a good amount.
I also figured sooner or later we would see that race ratio shift here more and more as more human beings are added to those numbers.
But IF we really want equal rights It's inevitable that all races share power and pain.
Hell Dude I really don't like it any more than many, But I see no sense making myself nuts over the worlds inevitable and constant changing. Kinda like living the serenity prayer ...lol
The world will not stop changing. Hope ya have a nice day Greg.
A depressing chunk of Americans cannot name the three branches of government, cannot name the governments founding document, or tell you what is in the first amendment of that same document. And yet, these idiots are allowed to vote.
No wonder we are in the current position we are in.
Agreed. When there is more emphasis on meeting standardized tests than teaching students how to learn as well as teaching them history, civics, etc, you end up with people who are easily led to believe whatever the loudest voice shouts. Like so many ideas, it looks great on paper but the reality is often less than the desire. Teaching both sides of history is a good goal, but too often you have people who rather than teach will inject their feelings and emotions and biases into the education and it turns more into indoctrination. Educating to eliminate racism is a wonderful goal, but how often does it turn to vengeance.
The list of Secretaries of Education is a good recent list, but do they also recognize their failings in the system or do they continue the politicians game of blaming others for their failings?
Lamar Alexander : 1991 - 1993 under George H.W. Bush
Richard Riley : 1993 - 2001 under Bill Clinton
Rod Paige : 2001 - 2005 under George W Bush
Margaret Spellings : 2005 - 2009 under George W. Bush
Arne Duncan : 2009 - 2016 under Barack Obama
John King : 2016 - 2017 under Barack Obama
An uneducated public is a easily manipulated public.
It's also the downfall of society.
Quite true !
It doesn't help when some of the public also prefer to be willfully ignorant too.
Some people really do not like to change.
My parents were like that.
Thankfully my grandmother understood the world was gonna change whether she wanted it too or not and adapted the philosophy of changing with it as best she could.
She lived to 93 and was always fairly happy. Mom and Dad unfortunately were always unhappy and died at 76 each.
I try to adapt to the changes. I've seen the benefits first hand.
I feel fortunate to have lived the contrasting philosophies many havent been so fortunate. Maybe if more people had that firsthand contrast they'd be more willing to try to change some as the world does. Not to leaves one behind and usually unhappy because of it.
I knew an old airplane mechanic that refused to learn how to use the compurtized manuals, soon he wasn't an airplane mechanic anymore.
His choice.
You just described my 50 year old husband... except about cars. He is not a fan of computerized tech in any way, shape or form... and I'm in IT. Go figure.
Some people hate or are frightened by change. Theyou prefer to live in the past. That also describes certain NT users here.
That's why Biden won
The educated public voted for Biden, it's the uneducated who voted for that other guy . . .