Social Studies Academic Standards
Proposed MN Social Studies Standards Giant Leap Forward
St. Paul Pioneer Press - Posted on Sat, Jan. 03, 2004
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
New social studies standards are giant step in right direction
The new social studies standards, released Dec. 19, are a giant step in the right direction for Minnesota students. The mere fact that we are publicly debating actual content shows we are finally serious about remembering our past.
Nearly all of us know appalling anecdotes of how a contentless curriculum has allowed ideology to triumph over learning. The low point, for me, was trying to use speeches by Lincoln as part of a college composition class, and discovering that students had no concept of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the Dred Scott case, the Northwest Ordinance or the original constitutional convention.
I will be blunt: As director of a college humanities program in Western culture, I must assume that Minnesota high school graduates know nothing of the historical origins of our chief concepts: the value of the individual, our notions of beauty, the responsibilities of a superpower, just war, the separation of religious from political authority, the origins of romantic love, the separation of powers, republican democracy and many other concepts.
The committee has listened to its critics, and Commissioner Yecke has wisely corrected elements that would cause needless disputes. The committee has helpfully added suggested "examples" as ways of teaching its required "benchmarks" suggesting Dred Scott, for instance, as a way of teaching the Fugitive Slave Act (a "benchmark" issue). The examples and benchmarks will make the standards a living document, where our memories of the past and hopes for the future may be debated, studied and passed on to the next generation.
DANIEL E. RITCHIE St. Paul The writer is director of the humanities program at Bethel College.
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