SCHOOLS DIRECTED TO EXPAND HISTORY COURSES
Michael Gormley
Associated Press
Sept 28 2005
ALBANY, N.Y. – State legislators across the country are increasingly
directing their schools to teach students more about the struggles
and triumphs of different races and ethnic groups – a move critics
say amounts to politically correct meddling.
In the latest such example, a new commission in New York will examine
whether the “physical and psychological terrorism” against Africans in
the slave trade is being adequately taught in schools. The commission
is named for the slave ship Amistad, which was commandeered by slaves
who eventually won their freedom in the U.S.
Supreme Court.
The recommendations could mean rewriting textbooks, which may influence
educators in other states, according to the National Council for the
Social Studies.
A number of other states have enacted similar measures in the last
five years, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Illinois also created an Amistad commission this year and added lessons
on the Holocaust, while New Mexico’s legislature required Indian
education lessons be bolstered in kindergarten through sixth grade.
In 2001, New Jersey created an Amistad commission and the Commission
on Italian and Americans of Italian Heritage Culture and Education
to advise policy makers.
California created Cesar Chavez Day in 2000 and directed schools
to include lessons about the farm labor activist. That same year,
Rhode Island directed schools to teach about genocide and human
rights violations including the slave trade, the Irish potato famine,
the Armenian genocide of the early 1900s, the Holocaust and Italian
dictator Benito Mussolini’s fascist regime.
Virginia also directed schools that year to teach about the
accomplishments of people from different ethnic backgrounds and races,
women and disabled people.
But while most legislatures enact curriculum changes recommended by
education departments, teachers and researchers, New York’s Amistad
Commission is a case of the Legislature trying to circumvent the
state’s policy-setting Board of Regents, according to the law’s
co-sponsor.
“We feel there is, indeed, a void in our education curriculum
in New York state when it comes to the issue of slavery and the
dehumanization of Africans,” said Assemblyman Clarence Norman Jr.,
a Brooklyn Democrat. He said the Board of Regents hasn’t acted and
needs to be prodded by the Legislature.
Critics say the goal of the commission is laudable but that teachers
already have limited time to teach American history. They also say
educators are needed on the panel to make sure its recommendations
are feasible.
The commission will include 19 unpaid members. Eight will be appointed
by the governor, and the rest will be picked by the state secretary
of state, the state education commissioner and the majority leaders
of the Legislature. Panelists need not be academics.
“It’s like taking a group of teachers and telling doctors how to
practice,” said Peggy Altoff, president-elect of the National Council
for the Social Studies. “And yet it seems to me that it’s fairly
standard practice that everyone seems to be able to tell teachers
what to teach.”
New York already requires children to learn about the Irish famine,
the Holocaust, the Underground Railroad and “a great deal” about
slavery, said state Education Department spokesman Jonathan Burman.
“There’s no question that it’s dabbling,” said Carl Hayden, the former
New York state schools chancellor who led the Board of Regents in
developing higher academic standards. “The single most difficult
standard that the regents dealt with was the history standard,
because it is so potentially controversial.”
Candace de Russy, a State University of New York trustee and national
lecturer and writer on academic issues, said she believes the
state’s commission opens the door to endless group advocacy-oriented
legislation.
“Inherent in it, Jews will decide how to teach the Holocaust, the
Irish the Great Famine, Armenians the Turkish genocide, Indians the
French and Indian War, and so on,” she said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress