Ideological Demands in Establishing New Social Studies Standards Undermine Liberal and Radical Objectives

In her article, “Why we need new social studies standards” (Opinion Exchange, Feb. 11),  Aaliyah Hodge makes reference to a number of items for inclusion as she and other members of the Minnesota Social Studies Standards Committee establish new standards for the school districts of the state.  She is naïve and unaware of many of the realities of public education in Minnesota and the nation, and her ideological emphasis undermines her own purposes.

Hodge complains that “Across the country, those in the global majority have been cast as tertiary characters in the predominately Euro-American narrative of history textbooks.  This is also mirrored in our current state standards, through clear sanitizations of colonialism and the historical racist roots of our country, as evidenced by the fact that the word racism only appears twice, and in both instances referring to the time period of 1870-1920.  While slavery appears more often, it is often referred to as just “one reason” for the Civil War or as an “economic system.”

Hodge also asserts, in a manner similar to that of the education establishment, that (uncited) “research shows” that the “overwhelming predominance of Euro-American perspectives leads many Black, Indigenous, people of color (BIPOC) to disengage from academics.”

But as is the case also for Katherine Kersten, whose article (“Woke revolution looms for schools,” Opinion Exchange, Feb. 7), she opposes in her own, Hodge understands very little about the actual conditions in the social studies classrooms of the state, and by extension classrooms wherein other subject matter is putatively taught.

The reality is that very little is taught in the Minneapolis Public Schools and most other school districts across the state and the nation.  Teachers are incapable of conveying very much information, either from a Euro-American or BIPOC slant, because of low knowledge bases and pedagogical incompetence traceable to teacher training programs.  The opportunity exists now for teachers to present BIPOC material to students, but they do not do so.  Prospective elementary school teachers have the most academically insubstantial training of any students matriculating on a college or university campus;  and few secondary teachers have mastery over the subject matter for which they are formally certified.  They have no mastery of the history, literature, and fine arts of Native Americans, African Americans, Latinas/Latinos, Hmong, or Somali students.  Their main pedagogical recourse is to distribute boring worksheets, assign individual and group projects with little background information, and to show videos that go unexplained and undiscussed as to reason presented and pertinence to topic studied.  This is the main reason why students of all demographic descriptors “disengage from academics.”

And as an ideological leftist feminist, I marvel at the lack of understanding manifested by Hodge as to what would best advance the life prospects for those in demographic groups particularly ill-served by our system of public education.  What we should want most in the way of overhaul is the construction of knowledge-intensive curriculum that as objectively as possible conveys high quality information relevant to United States history, world history, government, geography, and economics (the most important subjects in the woefully conceived category, “social studies”);  and also biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, music and the fine arts---  taught by teachers retrained for capability to impart such a curriculum. 

Overhauled curriculum if objective would by definition be multiethnic and the substantive nature of the design would give students multiple options to go forth to any vocations of their aspiration.

Overhauling curriculum and teacher training for knowledge-intensity would give young people from families mired in dilemmas of cyclical poverty and family functionality at the urban core the chance for life success and satisfaction that would finally address the injustices of history.

That would meet my ideological objectives as a leftist feminist and those of all ideological inclinations who care about the best conditions of life for all people on this one earthly sojourn.