Last week, the Department of Education released the most recent batch of scores on the NAEP history exam, and the results for 12th graders were abysmal. Once you learn a little about the National Council for Social Studies (NCSS), the 26,000 member organization of teachers of history, geography, political science, economics, sociology, and psychology, you may not be surprised that history scores are so bad. In the May 6 issue of The Weekly Standard, Kay Hymowitz of the Manhattan Institute takes a look at what the NCSS and its members-the professionals who are in charge of turning the nation's young into effective citizens-have had to say about citizenship since September 11 and over the past decade. After the attacks, the NCSS magazine warned that they would provide the excuse Americans wanted to indulge their reflexive racism and revenge-oriented ideology. But the deep cynicism of the NCSS about America is nothing new. For the most part, the NCSS aims to "de-exceptionalize" both America and the Western world as a whole ("We're just another country and another group of people") and to help students think of themselves not as Americans but as members of the global community. The curriculum standards that NCSS promulgated for social studies in 1994 include a list of performance expectations that cover culture, economics, technology, "continuity and change," and personal identity, but no American history, no major documents, and only a smattering of references to government at all, writes Hymowitz. Many states have embraced the NCSS idea that you don't need to know any American history to be an effective citizen, and use the NCSS curricular guidelines as the model for their state social studies standards. NCSS theoreticians reject the notion of America's Founders that self-governing citizens must learn their country's Constitution and political history well, for only those who understand their country would love it, and only those who love it would be willing to undertake the work and sacrifice to sustain it, Hymowitz writes. "Anti-Social Studies," by Kay Hymowitz, The Weekly Standard, May 6, 2002 (subscribers only)
According to an article in Sunday's Washington Post, advisers to President Bush are developing a package of policies to boost civics education in the United States in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. The ideas they're considering include federal incentives to states to adopt civics education classes in public schools, expansion of "service learning" classes that give credit for community volunteer work, drafting of a civics curriculum, and the use of the presidential bully pulpit. From the 1920s to the 1960s, at least half of American high school students took civics classes, but by 1994, that number had fallen to 10 percent as civics education was replaced by government classes that do not deal with citizens' involvement. "Revival in Civics Education is Explored," by Dana Milbank, The Washington Post, May 12, 2002
Anyone looking for resources that can be used to teach history and geography in grades K-6 should take a look at a fine new series of books developed by the Core Knowledge Foundation to supplement or supplant ordinary textbooks. At the first grade level, teachers (or parents) can choose from slim, colorful books on Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, Three World Religions, Mexico Today, Early Civilizations of the Americas, Early Explorers and Settlers, From Colonies to Independence, and Exploring the West; at the fourth grade level, the offerings, which are equally engaging but even more packed with content, include Using Maps, World Mountains, Europe in the Middle Ages, The Spread of Islam, African Kingdoms, Dynasties of China, The American Revolution, The United States Constitution, Early Presidents: Washington through Jackson, and American Reformers. There are other selections for all grades from K-6. For more information, contact E.D. Hirsch at [email protected], Pearson learning at 1-800-321-3106, or surf to http://www.pearsonlearning.com/plearn/html/cat_progseries.cfm?sub_id=S7&grade=-1,12&prog_id=88362005&area_id=A228.