The recent violent events surrounding Civil War statues in Charlottesville, Virginia and ensuing protests, defamations, and vandalism at other sites across the country could have their root in what is taught, and not taught, in our nation’s schools, The Washington Post reports:
“The Civil War lessons taught to American students often depend on where the classroom is, with schools presenting accounts of the conflict that vary from state to state and even district to district.
Some schools emphasize states’ rights in addition to slavery and stress how economic and cultural differences stoked tensions between North and South. Others highlight the battlefield acumen of Confederate commanders alongside their Union counterparts. At least one suggests that abolition represented the first time the nation lived up to its founding ideals.
The differences don’t always break down neatly along geographic lines.
“You don’t know, as you speak to folks around the country, what kind of assumptions they have about things like the Civil War,” said Dustin Kidd, a sociology professor at Temple University in Philadelphia.
Lessons on the war and its causes usually begin in the fifth through eighth grades. That means attitudes toward the war may be influenced by what people learned at an age when many were choosing a favorite color or imagining what they wanted to be when they grew up.
The effect may not be obvious until a related issue is thrust into the spotlight like this month’s violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the resulting backlash against Confederate symbols.”
The Post just now realized what kids are taught in schools has consequences? Good job, WaPo. And now, since what kids were taught in government schools seemingly contributed to the Charlottesville disaster, how about we put two and two together and get government out of schooling?
SOURCE: The Washington Post
IN THIS ISSUE:
School Choice Roundup
- MAINE: Maine is seeing an uptick in the number of homeschooling students.
- MEMPHIS: Only three of 14 charter school applicants make the grade in Memphis.
- GALLUP: People think private schools do a much better job of educating kids than public schools do, a new Gallup poll finds.
- ARIZONA: Education savings account opponents in Arizona are gathering signatures to get rid of the popular, successful, and recently expanded school choice program.
Common Core and Curriculum Watch
- TRANSGENDER: Kindergarten kids in California are discussing being transgender, and parents aren’t pleased.
- STEM: A new study finds older kids are losing interest in STEM: science, technology, engineering, and math.
- COMMON CORE: A Common Core advocate plans to challenge Gov. Scott Walker for his seat in Wisconsin.
Education Today
- CHICAGO: Chicago lawmakers are still negotiating over school funding for the coming school year.
- LESS SCHOOL TIME: A Chicago school is seeing success by providing less classroom time and more time interning.
- AMAZON: Amazon is venturing into the education world by offering teachers online curricula.
- OLDER AND WISER: Older kids do better in school, all the way up to college, a new report finds.