Thanks & Congratulations! On to the Social Studies Standards Hearing!

Congratulations and thank you very much to all of you who took your precious time to help preserve the teaching of American principles and heritage of freedom! Your hard work has paid off! The scheduled December 20th hearing on the Minnesota social studies standards will proceed. Please see below for details. Both to those who sent in a request who may wish to add more information and to those that care about this issue but were not able to submit a request, please know that you may attend the hearing and give oral testimony or submit written testimony that day or while the hearing record is open. More information will soon follow.

The hearing requests that were sent to us contained many excellent reasons for opposing these standards.  As an example, here is a quote from the chairman of History at Bethany Lutheran College, Professor Ryan MacPherson’s request posted with his permission (the full request is available here):

As a college professor who instructs students pursuing Minnesota licensure for elementary and secondary education, I am concerned that the 2011 proposal will not adequately ensure that K-12 schools meet the stated objectives of preparing the rising generation for citizenship, higher education, and employment. My specialty is American history, including constitutional law. I am alarmed that the 2011 proposal removes references to the natural, inalienable rights to life, liberty, and property and that the 2011 proposal also loses the emphasis, present in the 2004 rules, that it is government’s chief purpose to secure these natural rights. The 2004 rules, attentive to the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence, included these fundamental principles in multiple Benchmarks and Examples. To consider another example, the 2011 proposal also entirely removes all references to Abraham Lincoln and to his Gettysburg address, topics which appeared in multiple required Benchmarks in the 2004 rules. Not only will high school graduates be under-prepared for American civic life without an understanding of these important aspects of our national heritage, but they also will be ill equipped for college coursework.

My concerns about the 2011 proposal are not limited to American history and government. The 2011 proposal surprisingly relegates the Renaissance to a merely optional Example, whereas in 2004 the Renaissance appeared in multiple mandatory Standards and Benchmarks; the 2004 rules in fact classified several Standards under the title “Renaissance and Reformation,” whereas the 2011 proposal marginalizes both of these important movements of world history and requires, obliquely, that students “understand that hemispheric networks intensified as a result of innovations … [during the years] 600-1450,” a Standard for which not a single Benchmark specifically requires any knowledge whatsoever of the Renaissance. Strangely, the 2011 proposal adds as Examples a number of relatively obscure historical persons and events, while jettisoning all references, present in the 2004 Examples, to Confucius, Julius Caesar, Charlemagne, Joan of Arc, Christopher Columbus, Leondardo da Vinci, Martin Luther, Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, William Penn, Thomas Paine, Sacagawea, Chief Joseph, Abraham Lincoln, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Theodore Roosevelt, Adolph Hitler, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Mao Zedong, Margaret Thatcher, and Osama bin Ladin. Cultural literacy requires that a person be familiar with at least most of these individuals, who together represent a diverse spectrum of our international and American heritage. Such cultural literacy is foundational for multiple career paths, as well as for civic participation more broadly, not to mention a wide variety of college majors in the humanities and social sciences.

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Social Studies Hearing Request of Dr. Ryan MacPherson

30 November 2012
Kerstin Forsythe Hahn
Department of Education
1500 Highway 36 West
Roseville, MN 55113
651-582-8583
Kerstin.forsythe@state.mn.us

SUBJECT: REQUEST FOR A HEARING CONCERNING THE
PROPOSED MINNESOTA K-12 ACADEMIC STANDARDS IN SOCIAL STUDIES

Dear Ms. Hahn:

I respectfully request a hearing concerning the proposed Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards in Social Studies 2011 (Rule-Making Draft, February 17, 2012). As requested in the notice of hearing, my name and address are provided above. I oppose the entire set of rules as they are presently drafted, with most of my concerns relating to the Subpart 1: Citizenship and
Government and Subpart 4: History; I desire that the 2004 rules be retained unless and until the 2011 proposal is amended.

As a college professor who instructs students pursuing Minnesota licensure for elementary and secondary education, I am concerned that the 2011 proposal will not adequately ensure that K-12 schools meet the stated objectives of preparing the rising generation for citizenship, higher education, and employment. My specialty is American history, including constitutional law. I am alarmed that the 2011 proposal removes references to the natural, inalienable rights to life, liberty, and property and that the 2011 proposal also loses the emphasis, present in the 2004 rules, that it is government’s chief purpose to secure these natural rights. The 2004 rules, attentive to the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence, included these fundamental principles in multiple Benchmarks and Examples.  To consider another example, the 2011 proposal also entirely removes all references to Abraham Lincoln and to his Gettysburg address, topics which appeared in multiple required Benchmarks in the 2004 rules. Not only will high school graduates be under-prepared for American civic life without an understanding of these important aspects of our national heritage, but they also will be ill equipped for college coursework.

Continue reading »

Celebrate Thanksgiving by Preserving Good Social Studies Standards – Request a Hearing!

The nation is approaching the Thanksgiving holiday and the chance to reflect upon and give thanks for the many blessings and liberties that we still have and for which so many have sacrificed. Education Liberty Watch believes that one very appropriate way to celebrate is to preserve the teaching of the American heritage and American exceptionalism by requesting a hearing for the very flawed social studies standards discussed in our last alert.. Many thanks to those that have already sent in requests.  We are making good progress but need a few more to be able to have a hearing. Here are the requirements and a few reminders for a hearing request:

• Hearing requests must be sent to Kerstin.forsythe@state.mn.us by 4:30 PM CST on Friday, November 30, 2012.
• According to the Department of Education, to be considered valid, a request must contain the following three elements:

1. A statement requesting a hearing on the proposed rules;
2. Name and address; and
3. A statement that you either 1) object to the rule in its entirety or 2) what specific parts/sections of the rule you object to. If you have any recommendations or  suggestions please include those as well.

• The standards are available here for review. The standards with the benchmarks and examples are available here. Only standards and benchmarks are taught and tested. Examples are not.
• If possible, please forward or blind copy your email to office@edlibertywatch.org so that we may keep a count.  Please do not include any other email addresses in the note to the Depart of Education.
• You do not have to be a Minnesota resident or attend the hearing to request one.

Here are a few reasons to oppose the standards that you may incorporate into your hearing request or use in your comments if you choose:

General:

Overall lack of rigor with an emphasis on content free skills instead of teaching the content necessary to perform the skills Association with the Common Core English standards that have been reviewed to be only 6th to 8th grade level for the supposedly “college ready” high school standards
The word liberty is not mentioned as an unalienable right or in the context of the sacrifices made in its defense.
There is very little discussion of religion of any kind, either as the right of religious freedom  and how it was a major animating factor for the American Founding or as a source of motivation/conflict in World History except for Native Americans..
Securing inherent rights has made the America the freest, most prosperous, and most generous nation in the history of the world.  Yet the concept of American exceptionalism is completely absent from these standards.  Instead, there is an incredibly out of balance emphasis on the concept of America as an oppressive culture with an almost obsessive focus on racism, slavery and the wrongs done to the indigenous peoples.

Civics:

Failure to contrast God-given unalienable rights as stated in the Declaration of Independence and implemented in the Constitution with man or government-given rights as found in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Failure to list or describe all of the 1st amendment rights, especially religion, except in the untested examples
No mentions, even in the examples, of patriotism

Economics:

Failure to properly contrast the deprivation, failure, and death associated with communism compared to the benefits of capitalism and free markets.
The standards are too neutral regarding the failure of government over-regulation

Geography:

There is too much emphasis on human geography without adequate study of physical geography.

U.S. History:

There are numerous examples of omissions of major people and events and bias, almost too numerous to mention
The alleged “institutional racism” of America is discussed at the standards level, but important liberty principles or positive events are mentioned either as untested examples or mentioned in the benchmarks, if at all.
American exceptionalism and the contributions that America has made in liberating millions of people from tyranny are not mentioned

World History

The important  contributions of Western Civilization are greatly minimized
Important topics like the Global War on Terror and the evils of communism are barely mentioned, if at all.
The long-standing dating convention of BC/AD is replaced by BCE/CE to remove reference to the most important historical figure of all time.

Any contribution that you can make on this front is incredibly appreciated.  THANK YOU!!

Please Help Change Minnesota’s Social Studies Standards for the Good

The Minnesota Department of Education is about to complete the “extreme makeover social studies standards edition” process of the well rated 2004 version. Instead of following the law which says to “revise and align” the standards, there has been a top to bottom rewriting with alarming changes in emphasis.  This process began in 2011 and we have endeavored to keep you informed:

• Comments Submitted for Final Draft of Minnesota Social Studies Standards
• Comments on US History Standards from an Attorney and Teacher of the Constitution
• National Association of Scholars Review of MN Social Studies Standards
• John Fonte Review of Minnesota Social Studies Standards
• Southern Poverty Law Center Review
• Please Comment!! Social Studies Standards Continue Disastrous Course in Final Draft!
• Alert! New PC Social Studies Standards are a Disaster!!

The 2011 version, (official rule version available here and standards with benchmarks available here), is about to be put into permanent rule.  The only way to have a hope of any more influence on the final outcome is for at least 25 people to request a hearing by November 30, 2012. The actual hearing itself is scheduled for December 20th but will be cancelled if there are not enough requests.

The full details to request a hearing and or to comment on the standards are contained in the Dual Use notice.  Here are the important highlights: