{"id":26413,"date":"2023-03-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-10T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.historians.org\/news\/action-alert-public-review-of-virginia-history-and-social-science-standards-of-learning\/"},"modified":"2024-06-17T15:19:32","modified_gmt":"2024-06-17T19:19:32","slug":"action-alert-public-review-of-virginia-history-and-social-science-standards-of-learning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.historians.org\/news\/action-alert-public-review-of-virginia-history-and-social-science-standards-of-learning\/","title":{"rendered":"Action Alert: Public Review of Virginia History and Social Science Standards of Learning"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The American Historical Association (AHA) has continued to monitor with concern the revisions process for <a title=\"History and Social Science Standards of Learning for Virginia Public Schools\" href=\"https:\/\/www.doe.virginia.gov\/home\/showpublisheddocument\/42385\/638103461592970000\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">proposed History and Social Science Standards of Learning for Virginia Public Schools<\/a>. Now, the Virginia Board of Education (VBOE) wants to hear from members of the public in preparation for final review. The AHA encourages you to make your voice heard.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Take Action to Support Virginia History Education<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>WHAT?\u00a0<\/strong><a title=\"Submit Written Comments | VDOE\" href=\"https:\/\/virginiadoe.gov1.qualtrics.com\/jfe\/form\/SV_1O0hDq1jYh2LkR8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Provide written comments<\/a> to the Board of Education and attend one or more of six public hearings around the state.<\/p>\n<p><strong>WHEN? <\/strong>Now through March 21, 2023. Each public hearing will begin at 7:00 p.m. Registration of speakers will begin at 6:30 p.m.<\/p>\n<p><strong>WHERE? <\/strong>Full details are available on the Virginia Department of Education <a title=\"Review &amp; Revision of the 2023 History &amp; Social Science Standards of Learning | VDOE\" href=\"https:\/\/www.doe.virginia.gov\/teaching-learning-assessment\/k-12-standards-instruction\/history-and-social-science\/standards-of-learning\/review-revision-of-the-history-social-science-standards-of-learning\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">website<\/a>.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>March 13 \u2013 Jamestown Settlement, Williamsburg<\/li>\n<li>March 14 \u2013 George Washington\u2019s Mount Vernon, Mount Vernon<\/li>\n<li>March 15 \u2013 Piedmont Community College, Charlottesville<\/li>\n<li>March 16 \u2013 O. Winston Link &amp; History Museum of Western Virginia, Roanoke<\/li>\n<li>March 20 \u2013 Southwest Higher Education Center, Abingdon<\/li>\n<li>March 21 \u2013 Robert Russa Moton Museum, Farmville<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>HOW? <\/strong>Appearing in person to testify at public hearings and <a title=\"Submit Written Comments | VDOE\" href=\"https:\/\/virginiadoe.gov1.qualtrics.com\/jfe\/form\/SV_1O0hDq1jYh2LkR8\">submitting written comments<\/a> by March 21.<\/p>\n<p><strong>WHO? <\/strong>You! Bring friends, family, and colleagues. The Board of Education needs to hear from professional historians, teachers, parents, students, and concerned community members.<\/p>\n<p>The AHA has prepared a briefing memo for Virginians who wish to provide comments to the Board of Education.<\/p>\n<p>All <strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">professional historians<\/span><\/strong> in Virginia might wish to emphasize:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The problematic presentation of the history of slavery. The standards ascribe sole responsibility for the \u201cTrans-Atlantic Slave Trade\u201d to \u201cWestern African Empires\u201d (WHII.6d); imply that indentured servitude (\u201cbonded labor\u201d) was a \u201ctype of slavery\u201d (VUS.3b); and remove the term racism (mentioned 22 times in the original August draft) from any of the actual course-level standards.<\/li>\n<li>Concern about a misguided focus on \u201cgreat individuals\u201d and a \u201csingular broad civilization\u201d at the expense of historical thinking.<\/li>\n<li>An ahistorical understanding of American exceptionalism that denies change over time.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you are a Virginia <strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">parent, grandparent, or <\/span>g<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">uardian<\/span>\u00a0<\/strong>(or otherwise wish to stand up for history, civics, and social studies education in our state), you might want to emphasize:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The staggering increase in specific content\u2014including 132 entirely new standards with no additional instructional time.<\/li>\n<li>How the standards currently demand rote memorization of long lists of names and terms at the expense of critical thinking and information literacy.<\/li>\n<li>The dangers of putting politics before the educational priorities of our children. The standards include an unnecessary introduction full of loaded language about preventing \u201cteacher-created curriculum\u201d and ideological statements about socialism.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you are a <strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">history or social studies teacher<\/span>\u00a0<\/strong>in Virginia, you might want to emphasize:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What is lost when history courses culminate with the 1960s, as if the last six decades are little more than an afterthought. The standards ignore or brush over the wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq, and present 9\/11 as the final chapter in the Cold War (USII.7e).<\/li>\n<li>The omission (and, in many cases, deletion) of pivotal topics, including the bubonic plague, fascism, militarism, racism, labor movements, the Transcontinental Railroad, the 2008 Financial Crisis, Medicare, the Great Society, and the Reagan Revolution.<\/li>\n<li>How the dramatic increase in course content will make it difficult to focus on local history and develop lessons in collaboration with museums and other organizations.<\/li>\n<li>The failure to adequately address critical moments in Virginia history. The standards ignore Dunmore\u2019s Proclamation and fail to single out the 9\/11 attacks on the Pentagon. They limit coverage of Bacon\u2019s Rebellion, the Virginia Slave Code of 1705, Powhatan, and Werowocomoco, among other topics, to courses in elementary school where they are least appropriate developmentally.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you <strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">want to support teaching history with integrity <\/span><\/strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">but do not live in Virginia<\/span>, you might consider:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Spreading the word about efforts to preserve the integrity of history standards in Virginia and other states.<\/li>\n<li>Contacting your local, state, and national elected officials to share your concerns about the politicization of history education.<\/li>\n<li>Speaking with or writing for local media outlets about the importance of history education.<\/li>\n<li>Supporting educational organizations in your area.<\/li>\n<li>Running for school board in your community.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Thank you for your support of this important civic process and ensuring Virginia students receive an education grounded in honest history.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The American Historical Association (AHA) has continued to monitor with concern the revisions process for proposed History and Social Science&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":22296,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"%%post_title%%","_seopress_titles_desc":"The AHA has continued to monitor with concern the revisions process for proposed History and Social Science Standards of Learning for Virginia Public Schools.","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"aha-topic":[63],"month":[554],"geographic-taxonomy":[],"post-type":[777,10,613],"thematic-taxonomy":[45],"year":[105],"class_list":{"0":"post-26413","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"aha-topic-k-12-education","8":"month-march","9":"post-type-action-alerts","10":"post-type-advocacy","11":"post-type-history-education","12":"thematic-taxonomy-state-local-us","13":"year-105","20":"year-2023","21":"has-featured-image"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.historians.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.historians.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.historians.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.historians.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.historians.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26413"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.historians.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26413\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65777,"href":"https:\/\/www.historians.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26413\/revisions\/65777"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.historians.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.historians.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"aha-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.historians.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/aha-topic?post=26413"},{"taxonomy":"month","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.historians.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/month?post=26413"},{"taxonomy":"geographic-taxonomy","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.historians.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/geographic-taxonomy?post=26413"},{"taxonomy":"post-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.historians.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-type?post=26413"},{"taxonomy":"thematic-taxonomy","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.historians.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/thematic-taxonomy?post=26413"},{"taxonomy":"year","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.historians.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/year?post=26413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}