New guest column posted over at the South Dakota Political News from Board of Regents member Tony Venhuizen:
The Department’s proposed standards are an improvement. Compared to the current standards, they increase coverage of U.S. history and government and of South Dakota-specific topics. They emphasize the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, the structure of our federal, state, local, and tribal governments, and key historical events like the Revolution, the Civil War, both World Wars, and the Cold War. As I already described, they greatly increase coverage of Native American topics, including tribal history and government.
Yet, there is always room to improve. The Department will be soliciting feedback in the coming months, in writing and during four in-person hearings, starting this week in Aberdeen. I would encourage you to read each version of the standards for yourself and make your own judgments. We owe it to our young people to get this right.
Go read it here.
Related
From the article: “The summer draft standards mention Native American or tribal topics 63 times. This is far out of proportion to other topics. For comparison, the summer draft mentions topics relating to the U.S. Constitution 24 times; the American Revolution 8 times; the Declaration of Independence 5 times; the Civil War 5 times; the abolition of slavery 1 time; and the Second World War 4 times.”
I’d bet dollars to donuts the Native American topics will be used by some to push leftwing politics on students as well.
Thoughtful and thought provoking.
It is extremely comforting to me knowing all my grandchildren will be attending all of their educational years here in South Dakota.