I live in the state of Maryland where the national Common Core standards were implemented this school year. My early comparisons between Maryland who enthusiastically adopted the standards and Nebraska (where we moved from) who has resisted the pull has me seriously concerned. Let me share with you just one example (I could give many) from our most recent encounter.
I was particularly concerned yesterday when we took a walk and Ted asked me, "Mom, what do you do when a teacher asks you to answer a question and you know the answer your supposed to give but it isn't what you believe is true?" Of course my concern was peaked at this question and I asked him a series of questions to better understand the problem.
He went on to explain that he was going to be writing an end of the unit essay worth a lot of points toward his grade and that he was concerned that if he didn't answer as he is supposed to his grade might suffer. He told me the essay question asked if based on the "source documents" reviewed in class do they think America is the land of the free as it claims to be?
My inquiries uncovered a perplexing problem, that the context in which the source documents were presented, coupled with similar lessons in history class taught at the same time, produced a weighted focus on deficits in American freedom rather than the successes. This left my son with the overall impression that the curriculum was prompting students to conclude that America is not the land of the free it claims to be.
After speaking with his teacher, who I respect, he told me that he had no intention of any student feeling pressured to answer in any certain way. He said that "the unit is designed to show that American freedom, though limited in its early history, has been expanded to all people over time, thereby celebrating how America truly is the land of the free." His teacher was surprised that some students concluded that our nation isn't the land of the free since he believed he had provided balance.
I wonder, can a student come to another conclusion when they are taught that our founders primary motivations for breaking with England was for economic gain rather then liberty, that westward expansion was the beginning of "American Imperialism", that the ideas of Manifest Destiny and "American Exceptionalism" are almost entirely to blame for the demise of native tribes, that US "invasions" of Canada played a significant role in conditions leading to the War of 1812, and that the primary motivation of Alamo defenders was slavery rights not the military dictatorship of Santa Anna that threatened their liberty? At the very least this curriculum will lead students to seriously question the premise on which their freedoms are founded.
Since I know my son to be a perceptive diligent student my take away was that even with his teachers best efforts to "celebrate" American freedom the negative impressions left by the curriculum could not be overcome even with a student inclined to look for the good in his country's history.
I know very well that or nation is not perfect and has had some very sad chapters in its history but In light the brilliance of our founders generation, the timeless system of government they devised, and the extraordinary good that has come as a result of the founding of our nation to both expand personal liberties within our nation as well as to facilitate the spread of free democracies throughout the globe America is certainly the home of the free!
It of course won't surprise you that my son shares my view of our nation and his studies of America at home have informed his love of country. I would hope that our public school curriculum hasn't fallen so far as to purposefully bleed students of this love of country and the freedoms our nation provides us.
Not only is it a serious concern when students feel constrained to answer questions in a way that does not represent their own knowledge or belief, but it is a dire threat to education when we construct curriculum to lead students to one overriding conclusion. Historians take the same facts, the same sources and come to opposing views. The key in a solid education is not constructing curriculum to produce a desired belief in students but to present sources and facts that are thorough, factual, and balanced.
I am very concerned about setting national standards and assessments that will inform curriculum far removed from the oversight of local boards and parents. This makes curriculum more susceptible to political agendas to control the way our children think by controlling the facts they have access to.
It appears to me that the curriculum Maryland is using is designed to challenge traditional American ideals of Republicanism and convince students that the US is a imperial colonialist oppressor whose ideals are mere lip service to liberty. I wonder when the textbooks have been rewritten to line up with Common Core will there be anything left of American history that we recognize.
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