tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/social-studies-30886/articlesSocial studies – The Conversation2024-03-28T20:08:04Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2265622024-03-28T20:08:04Z2024-03-28T20:08:04ZAlberta’s social studies curriculum design has gone woefully wrong<p>Imagine a new school is being built, but it’s amateur builders who get charged with creating blueprints — and the education minister insists it is safe because the ministry “consulted” engineers who in reality had no say. </p>
<p>Sounds absurd. And yet, the drafting of <a href="https://curriculum.learnalberta.ca/curriculum/en/s/sss?s=SSS">Alberta’s new kindergarten to Grade 6 social studies curriculum</a> is following a similar trajectory. The recently released draft was created through an opaque process that effectively shut out Alberta’s foremost educational experts. </p>
<p>It raises alarm bells because it neglects <a href="https://edmontonjournal.com/opinion/columnists/opinion-why-albertas-new-social-studies-curriculum-gets-a-failing-grade">basic Canadian social studies content</a>, <a href="https://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/profoundly-disappointing-education-experts-weigh-in-on-how-the-draft-social-studies-curriculum-missed-the-mark">such as major aspects of colonization</a>. </p>
<p>Curriculum experts have also detailed how it contains <a href="https://alberta-curriculum-analysis.ca/minister-nicolaides-its-time-to-listen/">little skill development, misses the mark on child development</a> and <a href="https://alberta-curriculum-analysis.ca/an-analysis-of-the-k-6-social-studies-draft-curriculum-skills-procedures-through-the-lens-of-blooms-taxonomy-of-educational-objectives/">lacks adequate opportunities for critical thinking</a>. It represents a huge step backward. </p>
<h2>Authorship, process problems</h2>
<p>These inadequacies result from <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/10363548/alberta-social-studies-curriculum-criticism/">a process that, despite assurances of transparency and attentiveness to feedback, failed to deliver</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://open.alberta.ca/publications/social-studies-curriculum-engagement">Alberta Education did commission a Leger survey</a> inviting input from Albertans about “what they would like students to learn in new social studies curriculum.” But, <a href="https://open.alberta.ca/dataset/aef409dd-bb55-4629-8c49-1091435735f3/resource/2bfa6a7d-17b8-4c3a-8f68-6b28646571fb/download/educ-social-studies-survey-report-2023-12.pdf">despite 12,853 Albertans</a> having their say, many of their priorities, like critical thinking, are poorly addressed in the draft.</p>
<p>While soliciting public opinion is not unreasonable, curriculum design should be more than a popularity contest. Specialized, research-based knowledge is indispensable, which means having the right people at the table during curriculum design. This begs the question of who wrote the draft. </p>
<p>With no named authors, it is reasonable to suppose that the curriculum was written by a few <a href="https://www.alberta.ca/albertaFiles/includes/DirectorySearch/goaBrowse.cfm?txtSearch=Education&Ministry=EDUC&levelID=154870">Alberta Education employees</a> under the watchful direction of Minister of Education Demetrios Nicolaides. </p>
<p>There is no indication of what training and experience they might have had — or lacked — for this work, and Nicolaides himself is a <a href="https://www.demetriosnicolaides.com/demetrios_nicolaides">political scientist who does not report formal training in elementary or secondary education in the biographical information provided on his website.</a> </p>
<h2>Strong research basis needed</h2>
<p>The education minister touts <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/10363548/alberta-social-studies-curriculum-criticism/">consulting 300 stakeholders</a> in addition to the survey, but by the time Albertan education researchers were finally “consulted,” the written product had already been generated. They had major reservations. The minister nonetheless barrelled ahead, <a href="https://alberta-curriculum-analysis.ca/an-open-letter-on-the-new-social-studies-curriculum-march-15-2024/?fbclid=IwAR3JBvt7ovSafpuHgVrP5TBiEmfA7IHuNFiIvlPWC2SV5dpW8I9IE7CEtcY">rejecting recommendations and releasing a substantially unmodified curriculum over their objections</a>.</p>
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<img alt="A school building seen with a flag flapping in wind." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/585085/original/file-20240328-18-sxkw9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/585085/original/file-20240328-18-sxkw9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/585085/original/file-20240328-18-sxkw9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/585085/original/file-20240328-18-sxkw9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/585085/original/file-20240328-18-sxkw9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/585085/original/file-20240328-18-sxkw9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/585085/original/file-20240328-18-sxkw9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Albertan students deserve a curriculum anchored in solid educational research. Hillhurst elementary school, in Calgary, Alta., in Jan. 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<p>Even after they detailed the abysmal process and serious curriculum shortcomings in an open letter, <a href="https://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/profoundly-disappointing-education-experts-weigh-in-on-how-the-draft-social-studies-curriculum-missed-the-mark">the minister failed to acknowledge their concerns</a>. </p>
<p>The fact that Alberta Education has ignored advice from those with advanced expertise in social studies education is particularly troubling, given that having a curriculum with a strong research basis is linked to positive student outcomes. </p>
<p>For example, the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-91959-7_5">curriculum in Finnish schools draws extensively on the work of educational researchers</a>. Their schools have some of the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/why-finland-s-schools-are-the-best-in-the-west-1.1088886">highest-performing</a> and <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/nickmorrison/2017/04/19/it-may-surprise-you-to-learn-where-the-worlds-happiest-students-live/?sh=37ce3d177413">happiest students</a> in the world. Albertan students, by contrast, won’t get a curriculum anchored in solid research.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-finnish-phenomenon-where-students-learn-how-to-ask-not-only-answer-questions-130183">A Finnish phenomenon: Where students learn how to ask, not only answer, questions</a>
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<h2>Ignoring expertise</h2>
<p>Why has the UCP dodged meaningful involvement from educational experts, now and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/adriana-lagrange-alberta-curriculum-jonathan-teghtmeyer-1.5444974">in previous curriculum drafting</a>? </p>
<p>The minister isn’t saying, but his decision-making seems right from the American-style far-right playbook, <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-danielle-smith-won-in-alberta-and-what-it-means-for-canada-191238">a hallmark of Alberta’s United Conservative Party under Danielle Smith</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://fsi.stanford.edu/global-populisms/global-populisms-and-their-challenges">The far-right populist view</a> derides experts as elites who aim to destroy what ordinary citizens hold dear. This discourse claims, contrary to evidence, that education professors (and teachers) are hellbent <a href="https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/history-group-finds-little-evidence-of-k-12-indoctrination/2024/03">on indoctrinating</a> children. </p>
<p>But, as the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) explains, “<a href="https://www.aaup.org/file/ACASO07FreedomClassrmRpt.pdf">to expect students to comprehend ideas and apply knowledge that is accepted as true within a relevant discipline</a>” is not indoctrination. </p>
<p>Helping students develop knowledge, understandings, and skills that are evidence-based and widely accepted in a field — like the fact that residential schools existed — is not indoctrination. That’s solid teaching — and in the case of residential schools, <a href="https://nctr.ca/about/history-of-the-trc/truth-and-reconciliation-commission-of-canada/#">critical for Truth and Reconciliation</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-fact-checked-residential-school-denialists-and-debunked-their-mass-grave-hoax-theory-213435">We fact-checked residential school denialists and debunked their 'mass grave hoax' theory</a>
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<p>Indoctrination would be if someone insisted students embrace a contestable idea where opinions legitimately vary, as truth. <a href="https://alberta-curriculum-analysis.ca/an-open-letter-on-the-new-social-studies-curriculum-march-15-2024/?fbclid=IwAR3JBvt7ovSafpuHgVrP5TBiEmfA7IHuNFiIvlPWC2SV5dpW8I9IE7CEtcY">None of the changes that the education researchers are seeking, and that the minister failed to embrace</a>, appear to fall into that category. </p>
<h2>Critical perspectives on resource extraction?</h2>
<p>Most ironically, this draft doesn’t avoid indoctrination. A Grade 3 outcome states that <a href="https://curriculum.learnalberta.ca/curriculum/en/c/sss3?s=SSS">“Alberta’s natural resources played a critical role in Alberta’s success.</a>” <a href="https://curriculum.learnalberta.ca/curriculum/en/c/sss2?s=SSS">Grade 2 students</a> are supposed to learn to distinguish fact from opinion in the draft, but apparently that distinction is hard for some adults, since that statement — an opinion — is falsely presented as fact. </p>
<p>Focusing exclusively on the benefits of natural resources without critical perspectives or factual information about their role in <a href="https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/five-drivers-nature-crisis">environmental degradation</a> and <a href="https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/science/causes-effects-climate-change#:%7E:text=Fossil%20fuels%20%E2%80%93%20coal%2C%20oil%20and,they%20trap%20the%20sun's%20heat.">climate change</a> will not help students examine an urgent issue from various legitimate perspectives. </p>
<p>Indeed, examining an issue from multiple perspectives is the very kind of critical thinking that <a href="https://open.alberta.ca/publications/social-studies-curriculum-engagement">Albertans value</a> and that social studies scholars have identified as <a href="https://teachinghistory.org/teaching-materials/ask-a-master-teacher/23610">crucial for students</a>. <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/historical-thinking-concepts">Others are</a> equally vital, and also largely missing. Arguably, the very skills students need in order to avoid indoctrination are ones this curriculum hasn’t incorporated. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/wildfires-in-alberta-spark-urgent-school-discussions-about-terrors-of-global-climate-futures-206065">Wildfires in Alberta spark urgent school discussions about terrors of global climate futures</a>
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<h2>Not yet final</h2>
<p>The education minister has invited more <a href="https://your.alberta.ca/k-6-curriculum-engagement/survey_tools/public-feedback">feedback</a> until April 2, though <a href="https://edmontonjournal.com/opinion/columnists/opinion-language-arts-curriculum-fails-to-incorporate-albertans-feedback">if previous UCP-led curriculum revisions are any indication</a>, this will be ignored. </p>
<p>Still, Albertans should speak up: the current curriculum draft deserves a failing grade. Just as we would not put Albertan children into a structurally unsafe school, we should not subject them to a structurally unsound curriculum.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/226562/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maren Aukerman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Alberta’s new social studies curriculum misses the mark on child development, lacks adequate opportunities for critical thinking and neglects teaching about colonization.Maren Aukerman, Werklund Research Professor of Education, University of CalgaryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2137822023-10-03T19:35:30Z2023-10-03T19:35:30ZHistory teaching in South Africa could be vastly improved – if language skills were added to the mix<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549746/original/file-20230922-16-n0uvt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Combining content learning and language skills is a boon for academic performance.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Epicurean</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In recent years there’s been <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Russell-Cross-3/publication/343283423_CLIL_in_Multilingual_and_English-Background_Contexts_Expanding_the_Potential_of_Content_and_Language_Integrated_Pedagogies_for_Mainstream_Learning/links/64ab7f63b9ed6874a509e50b/CLIL-in-Multilingual-and-English-Background-Contexts-Expanding-the-Potential-of-Content-and-Language-Integrated-Pedagogies-for-Mainstream-Learning.pdf">growing recognition</a> among education experts that <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1279084.pdf">integrating content and language learning</a> is key to promoting comprehensive academic achievement.</p>
<p>This is particularly relevant in multilingual education systems where English serves as the primary medium of instruction. </p>
<p>So, in 2013, South Africa’s Department of Basic Education, which is responsible for primary and secondary education, set out to enhance academic performance through a strategy called <a href="https://www.education.gov.za/Portals/0/Documents/Manuals/Manual%20for%20Teaching%202.pdf?ver=2015-04-24-153244-727">English Across the Curriculum</a>. This approach involves integrating language skills in content subjects such as history. Language skills include listening and speaking; reading and viewing; writing and presenting; and language structures and conventions. </p>
<p>The initiative was designed to guide teachers in public schools who lacked prior experience in merging content subjects like history, <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-72009-4_4">physical sciences</a> and mathematics with language learning. It was a compulsory tool to reinforce the use of English as a language of learning and teaching and a way to address language barriers to academic success in primary and high schools. </p>
<p>Four years later, the department released <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books/about/English_Across_the_Curriculum_EAC.html?id=_hgdywEACAAJ&redir_esc=y">a report</a> revealing that many content teachers were not using the strategy effectively. As an expert in curriculum studies, I wanted to know what was holding teachers back. I conducted <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/tesj.748">qualitative research</a> that focused on grade 8 social science educators teaching history at four schools in the Eastern Cape province. </p>
<p>My findings suggest that most educators were not intentionally choosing or setting out to integrate English language learning skills with history content. Two of the four schools did not have formal, explicit policies to use English Across the Curriculum. </p>
<p>But, intriguingly, I found that the history teachers at the schools without such policies still worked to impart language skills to their pupils. They were able to do so for several reasons. </p>
<p>Firstly, they adjusted their teaching to encompass both language and subject skills, driven by their extensive understanding of how their subject is taught and the support needed for learners to develop historical competence. Second, they were personally committed to imparting language skills. And third, they were proficient in the English language themselves.</p>
<p>This underscores the idea that effective teaching practices transcend mere policy implementation. They also require educators to be well-equipped with both skills to teach in any context to ensure that their pupils learn with comprehension as opposed to just implementing policies. </p>
<h2>What teachers told me</h2>
<p>I had the opportunity to interview 15 teachers who teach grade 8 history at seven schools. Grade 8 is the entry level to South Africa’s secondary school; the average age of pupils at this level is 14 or 15.</p>
<p>In my initial discussions with these 15 teachers, 11 indicated that, while they were aware of the English Across the Curriculum approach, they were not using it.</p>
<p>I ultimately interviewed four teachers from four schools. All were intentionally choosing to integrate content and language teaching. Two did so because of their schools’ policies. They taught at what are often referred to as <a href="https://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/server/api/core/bitstreams/a5993764-50b3-450a-b5b1-cf6e3b48fb30/content">former model C schools</a> (reserved for white students before 1994 and fairly well-resourced). </p>
<p>The other two schools were in highly populated and resource-constrained communities and did not have English Across the Curriculum policies. However, the teachers I interviewed took the initiative and used language teaching as an academic support mechanism for their learners. </p>
<p>All four teachers primarily employed activities such as vocabulary development, clustering exercises, and the use of writing frames that encompassed sentences and paragraphs. Clustering activities allowed the learners to use mind maps and word associations as a way of encouraging them to organise historical ideas into interconnected categories and narratives. They said these exercises helped to make learning more engaging and interactive. One of the teachers told me: </p>
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<p>For grade 8s, these activities help organise their thoughts and language structures. It allows for free-writing and peer feedback. When they have ideas and points on what to write, they complete their tasks satisfactorily. I am saying satisfactorily because for most of them, the language is a struggle. You know sometimes, I wish they could just write in isiXhosa or Afrikaans.</p>
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<p>The teachers also told me they knew it was important to impart language skills because some of their grade 8 learners, emerging from the COVID pandemic, had not fully developed their vocabulary and writing abilities in primary school. One of the teachers explained that: </p>
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<p>Instead of just teaching history, I also work on helping them with their language skills. History needs learners that can read with comprehension, so it would be pointless to teach them without providing reading strategies. While this approach may be time-consuming, it is helpful to my learners. </p>
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<h2>Training is key</h2>
<p>My findings suggest that, while English Across the Curriculum policies are undoubtedly important, educators’ individual commitment and adaptability, coupled with their expertise in subject-specific language, play an important role in achieving successful integration of language and content instruction. </p>
<p>There are several ways that my findings could be integrated into training. The Department of Basic Education requires in-service teachers to pursue continuous professional development. The coordinators of that development must prioritise English as a medium of instruction alongside content teaching in secondary schools.</p>
<p>Trainee teachers, meanwhile, should be equipped with the pedagogical skills needed to seamlessly integrate content and language teaching in the secondary school curriculum. </p>
<p>My findings also emphasise the crucial role that schools play in nurturing a sense of agency among teachers. The two teachers whose schools did not have a policy were still empowered to teach in a manner that fostered effective learning. They used their knowledge about their schools’ communities and their individual students to facilitate language development. </p>
<p>But policies are still important: a structured approach to integrating content and language teaching indicates a collaborative effort between a school’s administration and its educators.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213782/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nhlanhla Mpofu does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There’s more to effective teaching than just implementing school policies.Nhlanhla Mpofu, Chair- Curriculum Studies, Stellenbosch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2054522023-06-02T12:39:40Z2023-06-02T12:39:40ZHow teachers can stay true to history without breaking new laws that restrict what they can teach about racism<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529148/original/file-20230530-17-vjqji5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C25%2C5600%2C3697&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A growing number of states have passed laws that restrict what teachers can teach about racism.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/portrait-of-concerned-black-ethnicity-student-royalty-free-image/1279902711?phrase=social+studies+class&adppopup=true">FangXiaNuo via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When it comes to America’s latest “<a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-fog-of-history-wars">history war</a>,” one of the biggest consequences is that it has made many K-12 educators <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/02/14/critical-race-theory-teachers-fear-laws/">scared and confused</a> about what they can and can’t say in their classrooms.</p>
<p>Since 2021, at least <a href="https://crtforward.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/UCLA-Law_CRT-Report_Final.pdf">28 states</a> have adopted measures that restrict how teachers can teach the history of racism in the U.S. Many more states have proposals on the table. The laws have been portrayed in the media as measures that would prevent teachers from teaching “<a href="https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/legal-challenges-to-divisive-concepts-laws-an-update/2022/10">divisive concepts</a>” or lessons that would cause “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2022/02/09/florida-history-discomfort/">discomfort, anguish or guilt</a>.”</p>
<p>As a historian who studies some of the most brutal aspects of American history – from <a href="https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p063459">anti-Black lynching in the South</a> after the Civil War to the <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674244702">use of torture</a> during the war on terror – I don’t believe teachers have as much to worry about as <a href="https://kappanonline.org/wexler-no-anti-crt-laws-dont-actually-outlaw-lessons-that-might-make-students-uncomfortable-russo/">many may think</a>. Some observers have posited that the wave of new education laws will have a <a href="https://theconversation.com/bans-on-critical-race-theory-could-have-a-chilling-effect-on-how-educators-teach-about-racism-163236">chilling effect</a> on how history is taught. But a close look at these laws shows that they are generally written so broadly that they can’t effectively stop teachers from teaching history in a way that’s fair, accurate and true.</p>
<h2>Weaknesses seen</h2>
<p>I’m not the first to make this point. For instance, one media critic has noted that coverage of the laws has “<a href="https://kappanonline.org/wexler-no-anti-crt-laws-dont-actually-outlaw-lessons-that-might-make-students-uncomfortable-russo/">focused more on educators’ perceptions</a> of and emotions about the legislation than on the actual language.” A law professor has argued that the mainstream media “<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-the-public-doesnt-get-anti-crt-lawmakers-are-passing-pro-crt-laws-171356">distorts reality by mischaracterizing the laws</a>” as bans against critical race theory, or CRT. Critical race theory is a concept that holds that racism is not just something that takes place among individuals, but rather has been <a href="https://www.edweek.org/leadership/what-is-critical-race-theory-and-why-is-it-under-attack/2021/05">embedded in American law and policy</a>.</p>
<p>Some, such as law professor Jonathan Feingold, go so far as to say most of the laws actually call for <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-the-public-doesnt-get-anti-crt-lawmakers-are-passing-pro-crt-laws-171356">more CRT, not less</a>. I wouldn’t go that far. However, I do see a lot of leeway and loopholes in the laws. Here, I offer several examples of ways teachers can introduce difficult subjects that involve racism in the U.S. without violating the new laws that govern how teachers can discuss it.</p>
<h2>Focus on the free market</h2>
<p>In teaching about the history of American free markets, teachers would be justified to point out that slavery – and the associated industries of <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/12/empire-of-cotton/383660/">cotton</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.5309/willmaryquar.68.3.0327">tobacco</a>, to name just two – were all <a href="https://equitablegrowth.org/new-research-shows-slaverys-central-role-in-u-s-economic-growth-leading-up-to-the-civil-war/#:%7E:text=The%20estimates%20based%20on%20this,18.7%20percent%20and%2024.3%20percent.">major components of the economy</a> before the Civil War. </p>
<p>To make this more relatable to children, teachers could discuss something that every child understands: food and hunger. Historical records reveal that <a href="https://www.nber.org/system/files/chapters/c6966/c6966.pdf">slaveholders cut costs by underfeeding enslaved children</a>. They often did this until the children were old enough to become productive laborers. Slave owners also <a href="https://archive.org/details/adviceamongmaste0000unse">published extensive advice</a> on how to reward and punish the people they had enslaved. Teachers can point out that for all the prowess of America’s free market, before the Civil War, that free market was <a href="https://equitablegrowth.org/new-research-shows-slaverys-central-role-in-u-s-economic-growth-leading-up-to-the-civil-war/#:%7E:text=The%20estimates%20based%20on%20this,18.7%20percent%20and%2024.3%20percent.">largely dependent on the violence and forced labor</a> that slavery involved.</p>
<h2>Examining the concept of liberty</h2>
<p>Considerable debate has taken place as of late over <a href="https://fee.org/articles/forcing-children-to-pledge-allegiance-is-undesirable-and-unconstitutional-so-why-is-it-still-happening/">whether students should be required to say the Pledge of Allegiance</a> – a daily school ritual that ends with the reciting of the words “and liberty and justice for all.”</p>
<p>Since liberty has been a long-standing pillar of American society, no teacher could be faulted for having students examine if and how the nation historically has lived up to the notion that liberty had truly been secured “for all.”</p>
<p>For instance, when Patrick Henry reportedly exhorted his fellow Virginians “<a href="https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/on-this-day-patrick-henrys-most-famous-quote#:%7E:text=On%20March%2023%2C%201775%2C%20Patrick,%2C%20or%20give%20me%20death!%E2%80%9D">Give me liberty, or give me death!</a>” in an effort to persuade them to declare independence from Great Britain, he was himself a slaveholder. So were <a href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/2019/9/10/20859458/fact-check-declaration-independence-slaves-trumbull-painting-arlen-parsa">most of the signers of the Declaration of Independence</a>, which famously describes liberty as an “inalienable” God-given right.</p>
<p>Teachers could also examine the starkly different visions of liberty that developed over time. For instance, students could compare and contrast the visions of liberty <a href="https://www.civilwarcauses.org/anderson.htm">espoused by Confederates</a> in relation to the views held by <a href="https://politicalrhetoricarchive.wcu.edu/speech/address-at-sanitary-fair-by-abraham-lincoln/">President Abraham Lincoln</a> and other Unionists.</p>
<h2>Paying homage to freed men in battle</h2>
<p>In an effort to encourage patriotism, the <a href="https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2022/7/?Tab=BillText">“Stop Woke” law in Florida</a> – adopted in 2022 – requires teachers to educate students about the sacrifices that veterans and Medal of Honor recipients have made for democracy. This serves as a great reason to teach about <a href="https://www.cmohs.org/news-events/history/honoring-the-african-american-recipients-of-the-civil-war/">formerly enslaved men</a> – including <a href="https://www.cmohs.org/recipients/lists/black-african-american-recipients">those who were awarded the Medal of Honor</a> – who joined the Union army and helped defeat the Confederacy.</p>
<p>By studying these men and the reason they received these medals, students will learn the role that Black people themselves played in the abolition of slavery – the largest expansion of liberty in American history.</p>
<p>Given the current political climate in the U.S., there is no reason to assume more laws that govern what can be taught in public schools will not be passed. But based on how the laws are being written, there are still plenty of ways for teachers to tackle difficult subjects, such as racism in American society</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205452/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>W. Fitzhugh Brundage does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A history scholar sees leeway and loopholes in a wave of new state laws that seek to control what teachers can say about racism in America’s past.W. Fitzhugh Brundage, Professor of History, University of North Carolina at Chapel HillLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2052812023-05-29T12:29:09Z2023-05-29T12:29:09ZWhat really started the American Civil War?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527606/original/file-20230522-23-ijaoe1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C17%2C5770%2C4022&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">More than 600,000 soldiers died during the American Civil War.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/illustration/battle-of-kennesaw-mountain-royalty-free-illustration/1152759368?adppopup=true">Keith Lance/Digital Vision Vectors via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/curious-kids-us-74795">Curious Kids</a> is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to <a href="mailto:curiouskidsus@theconversation.com">curiouskidsus@theconversation.com</a>.</em></p>
<hr>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>What really started the Civil War? – Abbey, age 7, Stone Ridge, New York</strong></p>
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<hr>
<p><a href="https://www.boundless.com/immigration-resources/citizenship-test-questions-and-answers/#american-history-">The U.S. citizenship test</a> – which immigrants must pass before becoming citizens of the United States – has this question: “Name one problem that led to the Civil War.” It lists three possible correct answers: “slavery,” “economic reasons” and “states’ rights.” </p>
<p>But as <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=SsoLG_0AAAAJ&hl=en">a historian and professor</a> who studies slavery, Southern history and the American Civil War, I know there’s really only one correct answer: slavery. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527601/original/file-20230522-4578-n3onvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="1862 photo of enslaved people and soldiers on a plantation, standing for the camera." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527601/original/file-20230522-4578-n3onvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527601/original/file-20230522-4578-n3onvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527601/original/file-20230522-4578-n3onvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527601/original/file-20230522-4578-n3onvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527601/original/file-20230522-4578-n3onvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527601/original/file-20230522-4578-n3onvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527601/original/file-20230522-4578-n3onvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Enslaved people and soldiers on a South Carolina plantation in 1862.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/view-of-enslaved-people-and-soldiers-on-the-plantation-of-news-photo/1402910706">Henry P. Moore/LOC/Archive Photos via Getty Images</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>White Southerners left the Union to establish a slave-holding republic; they were <a href="https://www.nps.gov/liho/learn/historyculture/slavery-cause-civil-war.htm">dedicated to the preservation of slavery</a>. </p>
<p>What’s more, unlike slavery in the ancient world, slavery in the United States <a href="https://chssp.sf.ucdavis.edu/resources/curriculum/lessons/was-slavery-always-racial">was based on race</a>. By the time of the Civil War, Black people were the ones enslaved; white people were not. </p>
<p>Every American citizen, whether born in this country or naturalized, should understand that the conflict over slavery is what caused the Civil War. </p>
<h2>The history</h2>
<p>Slavery in the U.S. began at least as early as 1619, when a Portuguese ship brought about <a href="https://www.nps.gov/fomr/planyourvisit/first-african-landing.htm">20 enslaved African people to present-day Virginia</a>. It grew so quickly that by the time Colonists fought for their independence from England in 1775, slavery was <a href="https://law.marquette.edu/facultyblog/2012/12/before-there-were-red-and-blue-states-there-were-free-states-and-slave-states/#:%7E">legal in all 13 Colonies</a>.</p>
<p>As the 19th century progressed, Northern states <a href="https://www.thirteen.org/wnet/slavery/experience/freedom/history.html#:%7E">slowly abolished slavery</a>; but Southern states made it central to their economy. By 1860, nearly 4 million enslaved people lived in the South. </p>
<p>Increasingly, the North and South were at odds over the future of slavery. White Southerners believed slavery had to expand into new territories or it would die. In 1845, they pressured the federal government <a href="https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/annexation">to annex Texas, where slavery was legal</a>. They also supported an effort to <a href="https://loveman.sdsu.edu/docs/1854OstendManifesto.pdf">purchase Cuba and add it as a slave state</a>. </p>
<p>In the North, people generally opposed the expansion of slavery into new territories, and many favored the gradual emancipation of enslaved people. A smaller group, known as abolitionists, <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/abolitionist-movement">wanted slavery to end immediately</a>. </p>
<p>But even though many Northerners opposed the expansion of slavery, they <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2957.html">did not favor equal rights for Black people</a>. In most Northern states, segregation was rampant, Blacks were barred from voting and violence against them was common.</p>
<p>By the 1850s, it became more difficult for the federal government to satisfy either side. <a href="https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/compromise-of-1850#:%7E">The Compromise of 1850</a>, a series of bills that tried to solve the problem, pleased almost no one.</p>
<p>The publication of the 1852 novel “<a href="https://www.harrietbeecherstowecenter.org/harriet-beecher-stowe/uncle-toms-cabin/">Uncle Tom’s Cabin</a>” – about the pain and injustice inflicted on an enslaved man – turned Northerners against slavery even more. In the <a href="https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/dred-scott-v-sandford">1857 Dred Scott decision</a>, the Supreme Court ruled that enslaved people were not U.S. citizens, nor could Congress ban slavery in a federal territory. Two years later, the abolitionist John Brown <a href="https://www.battlefields.org/learn/topics/john-browns-harpers-ferry-raid">attacked a federal arsenal in Harpers Ferry, Virginia</a>, in an unsuccessful attempt to supply weapons to enslaved people.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528041/original/file-20230524-21-b3wwpj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Dressed in a three-piece suit, Abraham Lincoln sits for a photograph." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528041/original/file-20230524-21-b3wwpj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528041/original/file-20230524-21-b3wwpj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=743&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528041/original/file-20230524-21-b3wwpj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=743&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528041/original/file-20230524-21-b3wwpj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=743&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528041/original/file-20230524-21-b3wwpj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=933&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528041/original/file-20230524-21-b3wwpj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=933&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528041/original/file-20230524-21-b3wwpj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=933&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A digitally restored photograph of President Abraham Lincoln, taken during the American Civil War.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/portrait-of-president-abraham-lincoln-royalty-free-image/640971707">National Archives/Stocktrek Images via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<h2>Lincoln becomes president, secession follows</h2>
<p>Amid this swirl of troubles, the presidential election of 1860 took place. A new political party, the Republican Party, was opposed to the spread of slavery throughout the western territories. With four major candidates running for president, <a href="https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/abraham-lincoln">Abraham Lincoln</a> won the electoral vote – but only 40% of the popular vote. </p>
<p>The election of a president from a party that opposed slavery jolted white Southerners to action. Less than two months after Lincoln won, South Carolina delegates, meeting in Charleston, decided to secede from the Union – that is, to <a href="https://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/csa_scarsec.asp">formally withdraw membership in the United States</a>. </p>
<p>Other Southern states followed and said slavery was the primary reason for secession. Texas delegates wrote the abolition of slavery “would bring <a href="https://www.tsl.texas.gov/ref/abouttx/secession/2feb1861.html">inevitable calamities upon both races and desolation</a>” in the slave states. The <a href="https://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/csa_missec.asp">Mississippi secession document</a> said “our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery – the greatest material interest in the world.” </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZKWrxZN5jmM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The hundreds of brutal, bloody battles of the Civil War took a terrible toll on the country.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Confederate supporters made their position clear</h2>
<p>The vice president of the Confederacy, Alexander Stephens, also said slavery was the reason for secession, and that Thomas Jefferson’s words in the <a href="https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript">Declaration of Independence</a> – that all men are created equal – were wrong. </p>
<p>“Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea,” <a href="https://www.battlefields.org/learn/primary-sources/cornerstone-speech">Stephens told a crowd</a>. “Its foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition.” </p>
<p>Although the evidence shows slavery caused the Civil War, some Southerners created a myth – <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Lost-Cause">the “Lost Cause</a>” – that transformed Confederate generals into heroes who were defending freedom. To some degree, that myth has, unfortunately, taken hold. Some schools are still <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/17/us/confederate-schools-trnd/index.html">named after Confederate generals</a>; <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/us-military-bases-honoring-confederate-figures-slated-to-get-new-names-/6641654.html">so are some military bases</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/symbols-of-the-confederacy-are-slowly-coming-down-from-us-military-bases-3-essential-reads-205729">although that is changing</a>. </p>
<p>It’s important to know the real reason for the Civil War so the country no longer celebrates historical figures who fought to establish a slave-holding republic.</p>
<p><em>This article has been updated to clarify that the colonies became states in the United States of America.</em></p>
<hr>
<p><em>Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to <a href="mailto:curiouskidsus@theconversation.com">CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com</a>. Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live.</em></p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert Gudmestad does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There was one central reason the Civil War happened.Robert Gudmestad, Professor and Chair of History Department, Colorado State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1803792022-05-18T12:14:13Z2022-05-18T12:14:13ZPublic education is supposed to prepare an informed citizenry – elementary teachers have just two hours a week to teach social studies<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462314/original/file-20220510-14-crjvgp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=43%2C0%2C5717%2C3840&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A student listens to a U.S. history lesson in a New Mexico classroom.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/EducationSocialStudies/27cb0809521a44c4b5fdee2a7cb72187/photo">AP Photo/Cedar Attanasio</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The founders of the United States were <a href="https://iep.utm.edu/american-enlightenment-thought/">intentionally building a nation</a> <a href="https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/creating-the-united-states/founded-on-a-set-of-beliefs.html">based on the ideals of the Enlightenment</a>, a movement centered on <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Enlightenment-European-history">individual happiness, knowledge and reason</a>. This new approach to defining a country – rather than basing it on language, ethnicity or geographic proximity – meant the new United States would have to educate its citizenry with the ideas, skills and values necessary to build and grow their democracy.</p>
<p>As a result, the founders <a href="https://www.visitthecapitol.gov/exhibitions/artifact/northwest-ordinance-1787">called for schools to be established</a> and funded. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and others believed it was the <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED606970.pdf">responsibility of the government</a> to provide that education. Jefferson believed that education would <a href="https://www.deseret.com/opinion/2015/2/27/20759428/in-the-words-of-thomas-jefferson-why-education-matters">serve as the moral foundation of the nation</a> and redress the effect of poverty because education would be available to all children.</p>
<p>Though public schools did not become widespread <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED606970.pdf">until the 19th century</a>, the goal of educating informed citizens capable of inquiry and critical thinking was part of the democratic republic from the start. But nearly 250 years after the nation’s founding, its schools struggle to achieve that goal.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455652/original/file-20220331-15-bbb91w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A wood engraving depicts a young student speaking to a school class" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455652/original/file-20220331-15-bbb91w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455652/original/file-20220331-15-bbb91w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455652/original/file-20220331-15-bbb91w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455652/original/file-20220331-15-bbb91w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455652/original/file-20220331-15-bbb91w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=731&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455652/original/file-20220331-15-bbb91w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=731&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455652/original/file-20220331-15-bbb91w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=731&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An illustration in Harper’s Weekly in 1874 depicts a village school lesson in rhetoric.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/cph.3b03482/">Harper's Weekly via Library of Congress</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A fourth basic subject</h2>
<p>Foundational American educational theorist <a href="https://www.neh.gov/article/john-dewey-portrait-progressive-thinker">John Dewey</a>, who worked and wrote in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, promoted education that would help build and maintain a democracy made up of different groups of people. In his 1916 book “<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/852/852-h/852-h.htm">Democracy in Education</a>,” he warned that focusing education only on the “<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/852/852-h/852-h.htm">three Rs: reading, ‘writing and 'rithmetic was not enough to educate a useful citizen</a>.”</p>
<p>It is no accident that Dewey’s career in educational philosophy coincided with the rise of a new field of education, <a href="https://www.socialstudies.org/sites/default/files/publications/se/5907/590702.html">called social studies</a>, aimed at cultivating good citizenship to build a stronger American society. </p>
<p><a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED374072&msclkid=a0283c7dcfd111ecbc4ada5d4ee48e1a">In 1916</a>, the term was used by the National Education Association to “designate formal citizenship education and [place] squarely in the field all of those subjects that were believed to contribute to that end.”</p>
<p>That purpose remains today. According to the National Council of the Social Studies, the current goal of <a href="https://www.socialstudies.org/about">social studies education</a> “is to help young people develop the ability to make informed and reasoned decisions for the public good as citizens of a culturally diverse, democratic society in an interdependent world.” </p>
<p>But since at least the 1980s, the nation’s public schools have consistently put social studies on the <a href="https://www.proquest.com/openview/e18c582e6d1248932c183470595e70e6/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=48205">back burner</a>. This process accelerated with the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, which <a href="https://theconversation.com/no-child-left-behind-fails-to-work-miracles-spurs-cheating-38620">required schools to focus</a> on the “three Rs,” to the <a href="https://www.historians.org/publications-and-directories/perspectives-on-history/summer-2007/no-child-leaves-the-social-studies-behind">exclusion of social studies</a>.</p>
<p>A 2010 study demonstrated the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2015/03/31/social-studies-education-facing-crisis-as-class-time-is-slashed-departments-closed/">relative importance of social studies</a> when it reported that elementary school teachers spent <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00933104.2010.10473418">2.5 hours on social studies</a>, 11.6 hours on Language Arts, and 5.3 hours on math per week. </p>
<h2>A lower priority</h2>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=nGjdMkkAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">scholar of social studies education</a>, I have noticed that social studies is <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0895904812453998">often a lower priority</a> than reading, writing and math in <a href="https://hechingerreport.org/how-social-studies-can-help-young-kids-make-sense-of-the-world/">many schools</a>.</p>
<p>For instance, from 1993 to 2008, the time allotted to social studies instruction <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00933104.2010.10473418">dropped by 56 minutes per week</a> in third through fifth grade classes in the U.S. Over the same time, math, English and language arts instruction increased. This trend continued, with a 2014 study that documented an “<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0895904812453998">an average of 2.52 hours of social studies instructional</a> time per week.”</p>
<p>This reduction in social studies instruction has affected minority students more than others. Federal statistics show that since at least 1998, <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/civics/">Black students have tended to score lower</a> on tests of civics knowledge <a href="https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/highlights/civics/2018/">than white students</a>. </p>
<p>One study described how that this civic education gap contributes to a <a href="http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:8454069">civic participation gap</a>, in which poorer people and those from nonwhite ethnic groups vote less. That study declared the gap “challenges the stability, legitimacy, and quality of our democratic republic.” Those comments echo those of Jefferson and Dewey, who believed that the purpose of schools was to prepare children to be citizens. </p>
<p>There was a need for civic education in their time – and the complexity of modern society and the increasingly obvious fragility of U.S. constitutional government indicate that social studies is more relevant and more vital now than ever before.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180379/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kenneth Anthony receives funding from the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources Program. He is a past president and member of the Mississippi Council for the Social Studies. </span></em></p>From the founding of the U.S., public schools were seen as a key way to develop an informed, active citizenry. Social studies educators struggle to achieve that goal today.Kenneth Anthony, Associate Professor of Elementary Education, Mississippi State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1612742021-06-24T20:10:16Z2021-06-24T20:10:16ZPodcasting overcomes hurdles facing unis to immerse students in the world of workers’ experiences<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/407797/original/file-20210623-26-1w1zxe2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5742%2C3828&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/pensive-woman-wearing-wireless-headphones-relaxing-1953753604">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Podcasting is helping to revolutionise tertiary education. Universities have found themselves caught between shrinking budgets and an official insistence that they make graduates job-ready. Academics have had to be creative and flexible about how they engage their students with crucial learning, and podcasting is one way to do this. </p>
<p>In the past year, universities have been <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/australian-pm-no-special-deal-universities-bailouts">denied JobKeeper</a> payments to retain staff, seen the government’s “<a href="https://www.dese.gov.au/job-ready">job-ready graduates</a>” funding and tuition fee changes <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-government-is-making-job-ready-degrees-cheaper-for-students-but-cutting-funding-to-the-same-courses-141280">prioritise some disciplines</a> over others, and then had <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/may/13/australian-universities-brace-for-ugly-2022-after-budget-cuts">funding cut</a> despite <a href="https://theconversation.com/as-hopes-of-international-students-return-fade-closed-borders-could-cost-20bn-a-year-in-2022-half-the-sectors-value-159328">international student revenue losses</a>. </p>
<p>Despite the constraints of this post-COVID world, universities must still produce graduates for the caring professions <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/people-and-communities/gender-indicators-australia/latest-release">dominated by women</a>, such as health and community services, that we arguably need most. The budget did increase funding for sectors such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/budget-package-doesnt-guarantee-aged-care-residents-will-get-better-care-160611">aged care</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/an-extra-1-7-billion-for-child-care-will-help-some-it-wont-improve-affordability-for-most-160163">child care</a> – but what about the education of the future workers needed to provide social services? </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/big-spending-recovery-budget-leaves-universities-out-in-the-cold-160439">Big-spending 'recovery budget' leaves universities out in the cold</a>
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<p>The business world has been talking about “pivoting” in the post-COVID environment, and academics have had to do the same. Universities have been known for their large lecture theatres, but these are <a href="https://theconversation.com/lecture-theatres-to-go-the-way-of-the-dodo-9893">no longer acceptable</a> in a world of social distancing. </p>
<p>Instead, university courses are now being taught either remotely, with students studying from home, or in a blended fashion involving a combination of home engagement and smaller face-to-face classes. Academics have had to meet the challenge with shorter pre-recorded lectures, smaller classes and flexible modes of delivery that students can engage with from home. </p>
<p>This has been easier for some degrees than for others. It’s a challenge for health and social sector degrees, such as social work and human services, that have a large practical component. </p>
<p>We know the best way to teach a student to work with people is to have them work with people. In the current climate, this has become more difficult. </p>
<p>Despite these challenges, academics have found it’s possible to teach core practice skills remotely. Using technologies such as podcasting is one way to prepare students for eventually working with people. </p>
<h2>Why are academics choosing podcasting?</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.statista.com/chart/10713/podcast-listeners-in-the-united-states/">popularity of podcasting</a> has <a href="https://apo.org.au/node/308947">increased in recent years</a> as a direct and accessible way to consume large amounts of content, and this includes its use in education. Increasing numbers of education-focused podcasts are appearing on free online platforms. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/michelle-obama-podcast-host-how-podcasting-became-a-multi-billion-dollar-industry-142920">Michelle Obama, podcast host: how podcasting became a multi-billion dollar industry</a>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/407791/original/file-20210623-15-33r0c0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Members of the Social Work Stories Podcast team" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/407791/original/file-20210623-15-33r0c0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/407791/original/file-20210623-15-33r0c0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=592&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407791/original/file-20210623-15-33r0c0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=592&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407791/original/file-20210623-15-33r0c0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=592&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407791/original/file-20210623-15-33r0c0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=744&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407791/original/file-20210623-15-33r0c0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=744&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407791/original/file-20210623-15-33r0c0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=744&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The Social Work Stories team has been creating podcasts tailored to students’ needs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>It has been a natural step for academics to use these podcasts in their teaching. They are also creating their own podcast content. This ensures these podcasts are discipline-specific and tailored to their students’ needs.</p>
<p>Podcasting has the potential not only to tell stories for passive listening, but also to engage the listener in the practice of <a href="https://theconversation.com/thinking-about-thinking-helps-kids-learn-how-can-we-teach-critical-thinking-129795">critical thinking</a>. Critical thinking is highly regarded across disciplines as a key graduate attribute that contributes to a job-ready workforce. </p>
<p>It is crucial in the flexible study environment that students are able to engage in critical thinking, regardless of where that study takes place. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/thinking-about-thinking-helps-kids-learn-how-can-we-teach-critical-thinking-129795">Thinking about thinking helps kids learn. How can we teach critical thinking?</a>
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<p>The discipline of social work, taught at universities across Australia, is no exception. As an allied health profession employed largely in the health and community services sector, current circumstances have had direct impacts on social work practices and education. Job-ready graduates need to have professional practice skills built into their studies.</p>
<h2>The Social Work Stories Podcast</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://socialworkstories.com">Social Work Stories Podcast</a> showcases examples of de-identified cases from the coalface. The hosts analyse the anonymous social workers’ stories. Drawing out the complexities of social work practice enables listeners to critically engage with the content along the way. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403250/original/file-20210528-15-vd0aq1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403250/original/file-20210528-15-vd0aq1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=678&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403250/original/file-20210528-15-vd0aq1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=678&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403250/original/file-20210528-15-vd0aq1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=678&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403250/original/file-20210528-15-vd0aq1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=851&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403250/original/file-20210528-15-vd0aq1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=851&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403250/original/file-20210528-15-vd0aq1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=851&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://socialworkstories.com">The Social Work Stories Podcast</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>Listeners are asked to “listen out” for theories that are being used, or moments of practice dilemmas or inspiration. In this way they are getting a taste of the experience of social work. </p>
<p>In one episode a social worker discusses the dilemmas involved in providing end-of-life care in hospital. In another a social worker discusses the challenges of providing information on consent to a group of male adolescents. It is as though listeners themselves are working on the cases being discussed. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-are-in-a-bubble-that-is-set-to-burst-why-urgent-support-must-be-given-to-domestic-violence-workers-141600">'We are in a bubble that is set to burst'. Why urgent support must be given to domestic violence workers</a>
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<p><audio preload="metadata" controls="controls" data-duration="266" data-image="" data-title="Social Work Stories audio clip" data-size="8527956" data-source="" data-source-url="" data-license="Author provided" data-license-url="">
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Social Work Stories audio clip.
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span><span class="download"><span>8.13 MB</span> <a target="_blank" href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/audio/2189/sw-stories-promo.mp3">(download)</a></span></span>
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<p>The Social Work Stories Podcast comes from a collaboration between the University of Wollongong and social work practitioners. It now has an international reach of 96 countries and more than 250,000 downloads. Social work graduate programs regularly use the podcast in their curriculum across Australia. </p>
<p>Podcasting has allowed academics to be creative in their course delivery despite the political and financial pressures on the sector. It offers one way forward in a difficult time for academia in Australia. </p>
<p>The Social Work Stories Podcast is available on iTunes and Spotify, with Twitter handle and Instagram @SOWKStoriesPod.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/podcasts-and-cities-youre-always-commenting-on-power-114176">Podcasts and cities: 'you’re always commenting on power'</a>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mim Fox receives funding from the National Health & Medical Research Council.</span></em></p>Tight funding and COVID-related limits on face-to-face contact have forced academics to find other ways to expose students to the real-life work they are preparing them for.Mim Fox, Senior Lecturer in Social Work, University of WollongongLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1528842021-01-11T19:47:48Z2021-01-11T19:47:48ZHow should schools teach kids about what happened at the US Capitol on Jan. 6? We asked 6 education experts<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377853/original/file-20210108-19-13erzdf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C14%2C4920%2C3260&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Trump supporters clash with police and security forces as they storm the U.S. Capitol.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/trump-supporters-clash-with-police-and-security-forces-as-news-photo/1230454032">Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em><a href="https://www.dallasnews.com/news/education/2021/01/07/texas-teachers-students-confront-history-lessons-in-real-time-as-mob-stormed-the-us-capitol/">Teachers scrambled</a> to create <a href="https://noorali-01.medium.com/lesson-plan-ideas-for-01-06-21-caef96bf0639">lesson plans</a> to help students make sense of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/us-capitol-protesters-egged-on-by-trump-are-part-of-a-long-history-of-white-supremacists-hearing-politicians-words-as-encouragement-152867">Jan. 6 siege of the U.S. Capitol</a> right after it happened.</em></p>
<p><em>It’s a <a href="https://twitter.com/DingleTeach/status/1346907988297134082">fraught task</a>. Even the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-insurrection-at-the-capitol-challenged-how-us-media-frames-unrest-and-shapes-public-opinion-152805">news media wasn’t sure</a> what to call this unprecedented attack on U.S. democracy. <a href="https://theconversation.com/was-it-a-coup-no-but-siege-on-us-capitol-was-the-election-violence-of-a-fragile-democracy-152803">Was it a coup</a>? A riot? An act of <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/07/media/domestic-terrorism-capitol-hill-reliable-sources-january-6/index.html">domestic terrorism</a>?</em></p>
<p><em>Likewise, it’s not clear where lessons should begin.</em></p>
<p><em>The Conversation U.S. asked six education experts how teachers – and parents – can help young people comprehend, analyze and process what happened.</em></p>
<p></p><hr><p></p>
<h2>Don’t avoid the topic</h2>
<p><strong>Dr. David Schonfeld, director of the National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and professor of clinical pediatrics, University of Southern California</strong></p>
<p>Educators may worry they don’t know the right thing to say and will unnecessarily upset students. But <a href="https://www.healthychildren.org/English/healthy-living/emotional-wellness/Pages/Responding-to-Childrens-Emotional-Needs-During-Times-of-Crisis.aspx">saying nothing can say a lot to children</a> – that adults are unaware, unconcerned, unable or unwilling to provide support in difficult times.</p>
<p>Teachers and parents can begin by asking students what they have heard and understand about the event. As kids explain it, it’s important to look for misunderstandings and ask about worries and concerns. </p>
<p>Children often have very different fears than adults. Some may be based on limited information or misunderstandings. For example, children might fear that it’s unsafe to go into any government building and worry about a parent who works in a post office. The goal of these conversations is to help children understand what happened in order to address their worries and concerns. </p>
<p>Especially in the midst of a pandemic, when children and adults are worried about illness and death and many families are dealing with financial concerns and other sources of stress, it’s not a time for teachers to introduce their personal take on what elected officials did right or wrong or to speculate about potential future dangers.</p>
<p>The events of Jan. 6 are a harsh reminder that even in the U.S. people are never completely safe from violence. But adults can use this opportunity to express a hopeful perspective for the future and reassure children that what happened at the Capitol should not make them feel unsafe in their home, at school or in their community.</p>
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<h2>No business as usual</h2>
<p><strong>Paula McAvoy, assistant professor of social studies education, North Carolina State University</strong></p>
<p>I believe that social studies teachers should not return to business as usual in early 2021. Instead, they should spend ample time helping students understand what happened on Jan. 6, what precipitated the mayhem and what should happen going forward.</p>
<p>Once students have had space to process, the priority is to help them become more informed. When engaging in this work, teachers must not treat the question, “Did Joe Biden legitimately win the 2020 election?” as open to interpretation. He most definitely did. Likewise, teachers should not give any credence to the idea that the election was stolen, as the angry mob that wreaked havoc in the Capitol alleged. Instead, teachers should <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Election_results_certification_dates,_2020">affirm each state’s certification</a>. They should be clear that <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/judges-trump-election-lawsuits/2020/12/12/e3a57224-3a72-11eb-98c4-25dc9f4987e8_story.html">over 80 judges</a> – including some appointed by Trump – rejected the baseless claim that fraud affected the outcome. They should do this because it is true.</p>
<p>The question, “Should President Trump be impeached again?” is, however, open for interpretation. Engaging students in an extended inquiry into this question as members of Congress grapple with it in real time creates an opportunity to closely read parts of the Constitution, including the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/amendment-25#amdt25_hd1">25th Amendment</a>, parse out the difference between a violent insurrection and a protest, and evaluate Trump’s words and actions.</p>
<p>This moment is an opportunity for everyone to deepen their understanding about democracy. And social studies teachers should not let it slip away.</p>
<p></p><hr><p></p>
<h2>Focus on white supremacy</h2>
<p><strong>Tiffany Mitchell Patterson, assistant professor of secondary social studies, West Virginia University</strong></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/us-capitol-mob-highlights-5-reasons-not-to-underestimate-far-right-extremists-148610">White supremacy has always been violent</a>, protected and upheld in America’s institutions. This is <a href="https://lithub.com/white-supremacy-has-always-been-more-powerful-than-its-loudest-proponents/">well documented</a> and we must teach it. The world witnessed yet another example on Jan. 6, 2021.</p>
<p>I believe it’s a good idea for teachers to devote some class time to allow students to share their thoughts, feelings and questions on what they have seen and heard about the insurrection in a way that does not harm students of color. This is also an opportunity to engage students in spotting many <a href="https://apnews.com/article/congress-storming-black-lives-matter-22983dc91d16bf949efbb60cdda4495d">racial double standards</a> by having students analyze the media coverage, political rhetoric and law enforcement responses to the Black Lives Matter protests across the nation in 2020, and this unprecedented attack that followed smaller-scale operations at some <a href="https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-coronavirus-pandemic-oregon-elections-idaho-688fc8894f44992487bb6ee45e9abd77">state capitols</a>.</p>
<p>I do understand that some teachers may be reluctant to address what happened. Those educators need to be honest with themselves about why that is and do the necessary self-reflective work needed to overcome their hesitation.</p>
<p>Teachers also must resist the urge to view what I consider a coup attempt as an isolated incident. Instead, they should place it in a historical context.</p>
<p><a href="https://beyondthestoplight.com/2021/01/06/resources-for-teachers-on-the-days-after-the-attack-on-the-u-s-capitol/">Many resources are available</a>. The <a href="https://www.zinnedproject.org/?s=white+supremacy">Zinn Education Project</a> and the Southern Policy Law Center’s <a href="https://www.tolerance.org/search?query=white+supremacy">Teaching Tolerance</a> initiative, among others, provide lesson plans and resources to learn and <a href="https://theconversation.com/trumps-appeals-to-white-anxiety-are-not-dog-whistles-theyre-racism-146070">teach about racism</a> and white supremacy. For some teachers this is ongoing work, and for others this siege is sure to be a catalyst for change. But progress toward the goal of dismantling white supremacy can happen in K-12 classrooms – if teachers choose to do the critical work that it requires.</p>
<p></p><hr><p></p>
<h2>Kids are, sadly, familiar with violence</h2>
<p><strong>Kyle Greenwalt, associate director of teacher preparation and associate professor of education, Michigan State University</strong></p>
<p>School curriculum and children’s own life experiences both oblige teachers to discuss with their students events like those that happened at the U.S. Capitol.</p>
<p>In Michigan, for example, state <a href="https://www.michiganecon.org/resources/Documents/Final%20Social%20Studies%20Standards%20Document%20(5)%20copy.pdf">standards for kindergarteners</a> require them to consider several important civic ideals. These include the notion that “people do not have the right to do whatever they want” and that democracy requires cooperation as well as “individual responsibility.”</p>
<p>But it’s not only educational standards that make it necessary to teach kids about such events and engage them in related discussions. The reality children face in their daily lives also demands it.</p>
<p>Children and teens are no strangers to disagreement, questions of fairness and, unfortunately, scenes of violence like those we saw in the Capitol. For example, schools commonly have <a href="https://theconversation.com/active-shooter-drills-may-reshape-how-a-generation-of-students-views-school-93709">active-shooter drills</a> that can leave children feeling confused, scared or angry. I believe that teachers have a moral responsibility to help students process these experiences. </p>
<p>In a truly democratic society, students are not only taught about democracy but are encouraged to practice it. That is, students are empowered to use what they have learned to engage in civic life outside of the classroom walls.</p>
<p>That’s what happened when students led the <a href="https://theconversation.com/march-for-our-lives-awakens-the-spirit-of-student-and-media-activism-of-the-1960s-93713">March for Our Lives</a> after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. A youthful passion for engagement is also what <a href="https://theconversation.com/fridays-for-future-how-the-young-climate-movement-has-grown-since-greta-thunbergs-lone-protest-144781">inspired the Swedish teen Greta Thunberg</a> and a wave of <a href="https://theconversation.com/youth-climate-movement-puts-ethics-at-the-center-of-the-global-debate-123746">climate strikes</a>.</p>
<p>Young people are capable of showing their elders what it means to live democratically and take care of the common good.</p>
<p></p><hr><p></p>
<h2>Connect events to the past and the future</h2>
<p><strong>Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg, director of the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life at Tufts University</strong></p>
<p>Most students today have never seen our elected leaders and political systems work well, let alone live up to America’s constitutional ideals. Many are confused by what they’ve seen, if not angry and traumatized. It’s important for teachers to communicate that all kinds of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1521/jscp.2011.30.2.163">emotional reactions are valid</a>.</p>
<p>Let students express and process what they feel safely. Do not dehumanize any student because of their opinion – but teach them to always consider the intent and impact of their response. If appropriate, encourage <a href="https://doi.org/10.1192/apt.11.5.338">methods like journaling</a> that allow for reflection without sharing.</p>
<p>This is also an opportunity to connect current events with other moments in American history when the nation’s institutions were tested or our leaders fell short in their commitment to core American values. </p>
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<p>Even with younger students, I don’t believe educators should shy away from the fact that some people violated not just social norms but their professional, political and moral duties – and why their actions threaten the health of our republic.</p>
<p>These conversations can enhance students’ understanding of the past and present and inspire a passion to build a better future for all Americans.</p>
<p></p><hr><p></p>
<h2>Explain what ‘dissent’ is</h2>
<p><strong>Sarah Stitzlein, professor of education and affiliate professor of philosophy at University of Cincinnati</strong></p>
<p>I believe teachers should <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Teaching-for-Dissent-Citizenship-Education-and-Political-Activism/Stitzlein/p/book/9781612052298">teach students what political dissent is</a>, why it matters to a healthy democracy and how to engage in it. </p>
<p>Ideally with the support of their school administrators and local community, teachers should help students distinguish justified protest from the violent siege that occurred at the Capitol. They should explain how good dissent seeks to understand problems, critiques injustice, sparks discussion between people with different views, bases claims on evidence and employs democratic processes. </p>
<p>Teachers should empower students with the skills of dissent. These include raising awareness, forming persuasive arguments, building coalitions and using critical thinking to challenge misinformation. Students should practice putting forward solutions that can be discussed and tested. Young people should be encouraged to imagine how life can be better in America as a way to build hope with their peers.</p>
<p>It’s important that they realize how dissent and hope together can help strengthen U.S. democracy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/152884/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg receives funding from the McCormick Foundation. She is affiliated with Generation Citizen as a director of the Board. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paula McAvoy receives funding from an external research grant managed by Street Law. She is also serves on an academic advisory board for the Close Up Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Stitzlein receives funding from the Spencer Foundation and Hewlitt Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tiffany Mitchell Patterson is affiliated with Teaching for Change as a member of its board. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Schonfeld and Kyle Greenwalt do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Teachers shouldn’t avoid this topic, no matter how uncomfortable it might make them to discuss it with children and teens.David Schonfeld, Director, National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement, University of Southern CaliforniaKei Kawashima-Ginsberg, Director, Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement in the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life, Tufts UniversityKyle Greenwalt, Associate Professor of Education, Michigan State UniversityPaula McAvoy, Assistant Professor of Social Studies Education, North Carolina State UniversitySarah Stitzlein, Professor of Education and Affiliate Faculty in Philosophy, University of Cincinnati Tiffany Mitchell Patterson, Assistant Professor of Secondary Social Studies, West Virginia UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1271722019-11-27T13:49:38Z2019-11-27T13:49:38ZStudents should learn about impeachment in school – here’s how to make it work<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/303826/original/file-20191126-180279-cpx5ze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Two of Alexander Hamilton's Federalist Papers addressed impeachment.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Hamilton-Washington/8b4cd6a11a4f49a68bfd415eff7bff1e/14/0">AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When Congress weighs whether to <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/impeachment-5663">impeach the president</a>, it is a question of national urgency.</p>
<p>Teachers can help their students understand the impeachment hearings by cultivating the skills required to consider the evidence. They can also help young Americans understand why people see this process in different ways – often based on their political views. Many teachers do this by devoting some time every week to helping students make sense of what is happening.</p>
<p>I’ve been either teaching social studies or researching <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=KOCxM_sAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">civics education for the past 25 years</a>. Based on this experience, I have three suggestions for teachers who are grappling with the challenge and ethics of bringing politics into the classroom at this divisive moment in the nation’s history.</p>
<h2>1. Emphasize history</h2>
<p>It makes sense to start by brushing up on what the Founders of the U.S. government intended.</p>
<p>Depending on how old their students are, teachers can start by <a href="https://apnews.com/2c782aa14dc647c88a74db60b17fc20f">explaining or reviewing the process of impeachment</a> as described in the Constitution.</p>
<p>They can also study other relevant documents.</p>
<p>A good one is <a href="https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/fed65.asp">Federalist No. 65</a>, in which <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/11/18/779938819/fractured-into-factions-what-the-founders-feared-about-impeachment">Alexander Hamilton</a> argued that impeachable offenses involve the “abuse or violation of some public trust” and “injuries done immediately to the society itself.” Returning to these documents provides insight into what was meant by “high crimes and misdemeanors.”</p>
<p>Another is <a href="https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/fed69.asp">Federalist No. 69</a>, in which Hamilton outlined the ways in which the Constitution limits the power of the president. Among these are that a president has term limits, can be impeached and can be tried for crimes once removed from office. </p>
<p>Understanding the <a href="https://sharemylesson.com/collections/impeachment">purpose of impeachment</a> helps students keep up with the news and consider the charges being brought.</p>
<h2>2. Study original sources</h2>
<p>Teachers ought to ask their students to read the <a href="https://www.npr.org/series/771270514/trump-impeachment-inquiry">documents and testimony</a> coming before the public.</p>
<p>To that end, teachers may ask students to read parts of the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/context/read-the-whistleblower-complaint-regarding-president-trump-s-communications-with-ukrainian-president-volodymyr-zelensky/4b9e0ca5-3824-467f-b1a3-77f2d4ee16aa/">whistleblower’s account</a>, opening statements of people testifying before congressional committees and show <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/Trump-impeachment-inquiry">video excerpts from witnesses’ testimony</a>.</p>
<p>Studying these original sources is a civics lesson in and of itself. Students see members of Congress in action, how professionals answer questions and the importance of speaking and writing clearly.</p>
<p>Of course students, like virtually all citizens, can’t make the time to watch all of the proceedings. They must also rely on reporting from news outlets – creating an opportunity to enhance their <a href="https://theconversation.com/beyond-fact-checking-5-things-schools-should-do-to-foster-news-literacy-126485">news literacy</a>.</p>
<p>Teachers can help students become more adept news consumers by watching testimony and then looking at how it is reported by different news sources. Students can then discuss whether the reporting accurately reflects their impressions of what they read and viewed.</p>
<h2>3. Address polarization</h2>
<p>It may be tempting to think that a teacher could just “stick to the facts” of this impeachment inquiry. But that is not possible or desirable.</p>
<p>Consider the question, “Did Ukraine interfere in the 2016 election?” Is this a credible possibility, as the <a href="https://apnews.com/92fd8a4743e8447a8f8a7ec301ebe993">president contends</a>?</p>
<p>Or is that theory, to use former White House adviser Fiona Hill’s characterization, a “<a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/11/08/777511592/read-testimony-of-fiona-hill-ex-white-house-russia-policy-official">fictional narrative</a>”? </p>
<p>A teacher will have to be ready to a help students sort fact from fiction and identify the political motives behind these views. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/303828/original/file-20191126-112499-5czpk5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/303828/original/file-20191126-112499-5czpk5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/303828/original/file-20191126-112499-5czpk5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303828/original/file-20191126-112499-5czpk5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303828/original/file-20191126-112499-5czpk5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303828/original/file-20191126-112499-5czpk5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303828/original/file-20191126-112499-5czpk5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303828/original/file-20191126-112499-5czpk5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In her testimony before the House Intelligence Committee, former White House aide Fiona Hill denounced what she called a ‘domestic political errand’ carried out in Ukraine.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Trump-Impeachment/e0aab248418f49cd8d7432fcdd764f3d/4/0">AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The reality is that young people are growing up in a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/curi.12000">politically polarized country</a>. In my view, if students are going to be prepared for that reality, then educators need to teach about partisanship and ideology. </p>
<p>Though, they may be worried about doing that.</p>
<p>The American Enterprise Institute, a think tank, found in a 2011 survey that <a href="http://www.citizenship-aei.org/wp-content/uploads/Contested-Curriculum.pdf">Republicans and Democrats have strikingly different views</a> about what should be taught in civics. Republicans are more supportive of emphasizing facts and how the government works. Democrats are more supportive of teaching values like equality and tolerance.</p>
<p>It’s no wonder then, that teachers may be avoiding discussions about impeachment. </p>
<p>They may also fear that they do not have the support of administrators. My coauthors and I found in a report on <a href="https://civicyouth.org/do-states-require-students-learn-about-political-ideology/">social studies standards</a> released in 2016 that 43 states expect students to learn about political parties, but only 10 connected that learning to contemporary issues.</p>
<p>The greatest challenge for teachers is that, though impeachment is a question of national urgency, it also aggravates partisan divides. Despite these trends, I have <a href="https://www.tolerance.org/magazine/fall-2016/polarized-classrooms">written about</a> and <a href="http://thepoliticalclassroom.com">researched</a> with the dean of University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Education, <a href="https://ci.education.wisc.edu/ci/people/faculty/diana-hess">Diana Hess</a> how teachers do find ways to engage students in political discussion in ways that their parents and other members of their communities support.</p>
<p>We found that the most successful teachers prepare students with context, evidence and the opportunity to discuss. Young people told us that this approach made them more engaged, more interested in politics and more willing to discuss politics with family and friends.</p>
<h2>How widespread is current events instruction?</h2>
<p>It’s not possible to know just yet how many students are getting this opportunity to learn about civics and history through the prism of this impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.edweek.org/ew/section/multimedia/data-most-states-require-history-but-not.html">Forty states</a> require high school students to take at least one U.S. history course. And 42 states and Washington D.C. require <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/multi-chapter-report/the-2018-brown-center-report-on-american-education/">at least one semester of civics</a>.</p>
<p>Even when not required at the state level, local policies typically require every high school student to take at least one course that includes learning about the Constitution. <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/2018-Brown-Center-Report-on-American-Education_FINAL1.pdf">A study</a> by the Brookings Institution, a think tank, that reviewed 2010 federal data found that 82% of high school students said they had discussed current events at least once or twice a month and 63% said they discussed them at least weekly in class.</p>
<p>My experience shows that teachers often feel like they don’t have enough time to teach their regular curriculum and do justice to current events. Ideally, history and civics teachers can connect the inquiry to other lessons about presidential power, checks and balances or the Cold War. </p>
<p>Still, there are times in which the issues of the day deserve everyone’s attention. Even <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/13/podcasts/the-daily/impeachment-hearings.html">elementary school students</a> can learn from current events, if adults are willing to take the time to engage them.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paula McAvoy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Teachers grappling with how to teach current events at divisive times should emphasize history, study original sources and address polarization.Paula McAvoy, Assistant Professor of Social Studies Education, North Carolina State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1100132019-02-01T11:40:29Z2019-02-01T11:40:29Z3 ways to improve education about slavery in the US<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256702/original/file-20190131-124043-7q7ksb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Textbooks often do a poor job when it comes to teaching students about slavery in the U.S.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/years-slave-657173227?src=3agCZltIQa_nIG3hMFF_-g-1-6">Dusan Pavlic from www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When it comes to teaching students about slavery in the United States, teachers often stumble through the topic. In the worst cases, they use poorly conceived lessons that end up inflaming students, parents and communities about a subject that is already difficult to deal with because of the inhumanity involved.</p>
<p>For instance, in 2018 a Bronx middle school teacher “<a href="https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/education/bronx-teacher-sparks-outrage-cruel-slavery-lesson-article-1.3793930">shocked and traumatized</a>” her social studies class when she had black students lie on the floor, then “<a href="https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/education/bronx-teacher-sparks-outrage-cruel-slavery-lesson-article-1.3793930">stepped on their backs to show them what slavery felt like</a>.” </p>
<p>In 2012 in Georgia, a third-grade teacher resigned after an investigation found the teacher and three others had <a href="http://www.gpb.org/news/2012/01/19/teacher-quits-over-slavery-math-lesson">assigned math homework with word problems about slavery</a>, such as, “If Frederick got two beatings each day, how many beatings did he get in one week?”</p>
<p>As a former social studies teacher and now as an assistant professor who <a href="https://cehs.wvu.edu/news/enews-archive/0818/2018/10/17/faculty-spotlight-tiffany-mitchell-patterson">helps prepare educators</a> to teach social studies, I have no shortage of ideas on how educators – or parents or anyone who is interested in learning more about slavery in the United States – can do a better job of understanding the subject and presenting it to others. Here are three of those ideas:</p>
<h2>1. Identify the slaveholding presidents</h2>
<p>Every American should know that several U.S. presidents – including some of the Founding Fathers – were slaveholders. <a href="https://www.history.com/news/how-many-u-s-presidents-owned-slaves">Twelve U.S. presidents</a> held anywhere from one to hundreds of people as slaves. The nation’s first president, George Washington, <a href="https://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/slavery/ten-facts-about-washington-slavery/">enslaved over 300 people</a> and held slaves for 56 years. Thomas Jefferson, the nation’s third president, held <a href="https://www.monticello.org/site/plantation-and-slavery/property">600 persons as slaves</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256700/original/file-20190131-42594-1xxcwj3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256700/original/file-20190131-42594-1xxcwj3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256700/original/file-20190131-42594-1xxcwj3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256700/original/file-20190131-42594-1xxcwj3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256700/original/file-20190131-42594-1xxcwj3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256700/original/file-20190131-42594-1xxcwj3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=611&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256700/original/file-20190131-42594-1xxcwj3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=611&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256700/original/file-20190131-42594-1xxcwj3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=611&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">George Washington standing among slaves harvesting grain at Mt. Vernon.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/george-washington-plantation-owner-standing-among-245963809?src=3agCZltIQa_nIG3hMFF_-g-2-2">Everett Historical from www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This often comes as a surprise to students. In my experience, many students have also been taught that the presidents were nice and humane to their slaves. I would emphasize to students that treating a person as property is neither nice nor humane.</p>
<p>About three years ago, critics prompted Scholastic to <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/01/18/463488364/amid-controversy-scholastic-pulls-picture-book-about-washingtons-slave">stop distribution</a> of a book, <a href="https://www.cbcbooks.org/cbc_book/a-birthday-cake-for-george-washington/">“A Birthday Cake for George Washington,”</a> that depicted <a href="https://www.teachingforchange.org/gw-birthday-cake-not-recommended">“happy”</a> slaves and which Scholastic itself admits may have given a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/18/business/media/scholastic-halts-distribution-of-a-birthday-cake-for-george-washington.html">“false impression of the reality of the lives of slaves.”</a></p>
<p>Slavery should be taught from the perspectives of those who were enslaved. For example, the young reader’s edition of <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Never-Caught-the-Story-of-Ona-Judge/Erica-Armstrong-Dunbar/9781534416178">“Never Caught, The Story of Ona Judge: George and Martha Washington’s Courageous Slave Who Dared to Run Away</a>,” sheds light on an aspect of George Washington’s life as a slaveholder that is not widely told to children.</p>
<p>Similarly, students should contemplate the life of <a href="https://www.monticello.org/sallyhemings/">Sally Hemings</a>, an enslaved house servant with whom Thomas Jefferson – <a href="http://www.americaslibrary.gov/aa/jefferson/aa_jefferson_declar_1.html">author</a> of the <a href="https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript">Declaration of Independence</a> – fathered six children, <a href="https://www.monticello.org/sallyhemings/">beginning when she was 16</a>. Jefferson <a href="https://www.americanheritage.com/content/thomas-jefferson%E2%80%99s-unknown-grandchildren">never publicly acknowledged</a> his children with Hemings.</p>
<h2>2. Move beyond textbooks</h2>
<p>When it comes to dealing with slavery, textbooks often use inadequate or inaccurate descriptions. For instance, in 2015, a high school freshman noticed that his geography textbook referred to Africans brought to plantations in the United States between the 1500s and 1800s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/06/us/publisher-promises-revisions-after-textbook-refers-to-african-slaves-as-workers.html">as “workers” instead of as slaves</a>. This <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2015/10/23/450826208/why-calling-slaves-workers-is-more-than-an-editing-error">sparked widespread outrage</a> as McGraw-Hill is a <a href="https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/78030-global-publishing-leaders-2018-mcgraw-hill-education.html">major textbook publishing company</a>. McGraw-Hill <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2015/10/05/slave-workers-mcgraw-hill-textbook/73404632/">apologized</a> and agreed to revise the textbooks.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256693/original/file-20190131-127151-1ntst0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256693/original/file-20190131-127151-1ntst0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256693/original/file-20190131-127151-1ntst0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256693/original/file-20190131-127151-1ntst0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256693/original/file-20190131-127151-1ntst0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256693/original/file-20190131-127151-1ntst0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256693/original/file-20190131-127151-1ntst0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256693/original/file-20190131-127151-1ntst0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A page from a McGraw-Hill textbook that referred to enslaved Africans transported to plantations in the United States as</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2015/10/23/450826208/why-calling-slaves-workers-is-more-than-an-editing-error">NPR</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The McGraw-Hill textbook controversy was hardly an isolated issue. In 2018, <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/teaching-hard-history-american-slavery">the Southern Poverty Law Center found</a> that when it comes to teaching students about American slavery, “textbooks do not have enough material about it.” Even the best textbook examined in the center’s analysis scored just 70 percent on a rubric designed to assess how good the textbooks were teaching various aspects of U.S. slavery, such as how the nation’s founding documents – the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution – <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/09/how-the-constitution-was-indeed-pro-slavery/406288/">contain protections for slavery</a>, or how <a href="https://www.history.com/news/slavery-profitable-southern-economy">slave labor was critical to the nation’s economy</a>. The average book scored 46 percent.</p>
<p>Parents and educators would be wise to encourage the use of primary sources to fill in what the textbooks are missing. Primary sources include records and firsthand accounts.</p>
<p>Since slavery in the U.S. was not <a href="https://www.archives.gov/historical-docs/13th-amendment">formally abolished</a> until the 13th Amendment was <a href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/13th-amendment-ratified">ratified in 1865</a>, today’s student might think there’s no way they could actually hear the voices of former slaves. But as demonstrated by <a href="https://www.loc.gov/collections/voices-remembering-slavery/about-this-collection">Voices from the Days of Slavery: Former Slaves tell their Stories</a> – a collection on file at the Library of Congress and available online – a person can actually hear firsthand accounts of life during slavery.</p>
<p>Hearing the voices of those who were enslaved is more powerful than what could ever be captured in a textbook.</p>
<p>Similar primary sources can be found in in the <a href="https://www.tolerance.org/frameworks/teaching-hard-history/american-slavery">Framework for Teaching Hard History of American Slavery</a>. Picture books and novels, such as those on a list titled “<a href="https://socialjusticebooks.org/booklists/slavery/">Slavery, Resistance and Reparations</a>,” are also a great way to engage children of all ages.</p>
<h2>3. Get out of the classroom</h2>
<p>Another way to learn about slavery is to visit museums and historic sites. Smaller state and local museums with exhibits, plantations, cemeteries, auction blocks and historical markers might be located in your state or local community. A librarian or archivist at a local library might be able to share unique local histories of slavery.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256698/original/file-20190131-109820-np652w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256698/original/file-20190131-109820-np652w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256698/original/file-20190131-109820-np652w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256698/original/file-20190131-109820-np652w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256698/original/file-20190131-109820-np652w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256698/original/file-20190131-109820-np652w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256698/original/file-20190131-109820-np652w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256698/original/file-20190131-109820-np652w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A 2001 photo at the New York State Museum in Albany, New York, shows a depiction from the exhibit of ‘A Slave Ship Speaks: The Wreck of the Henrietta Maria.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Associated-Press-Domestic-News-New-York-United-/fc992c6c52e1da11af9f0014c2589dfb/109/0">Jim McKnight/AP</a></span>
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<p>Plan family trips or field trips to larger national museums that highlight the histories of slavery. In Washington, D.C., the <a href="https://nmaahc.si.edu/">Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture</a> has a <a href="https://nmaahc.si.edu/slavery-and-freedom">“Slavery and Freedom” exhibition</a>. There is also the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/frdo/index.htm">Frederick Douglass National Historic Site</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.freedomcenter.org/">National Underground Railroad Freedom Center</a> in Cincinnati, Ohio, <a href="http://lwfsm.com/">Lest We Forget Black Holocaust Museum of Slavery</a> in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the <a href="https://museumandmemorial.eji.org/museum">Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration</a> in Montgomery, Alabama, all provide a more comprehensive lens on the systemic oppression of slavery.</p>
<p><em>This article was updated on September 27, 2023 to correct how the name of Southern Poverty Law Center was written.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/110013/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tiffany Mitchell Patterson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A former social studies teacher lists three ways educators and others can better understand the difficult subject of slavery in the US, including a way to hear directly from freed slaves themselves.Tiffany Mitchell Patterson, Assistant Professor of Secondary Social Studies, West Virginia UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1057242018-10-30T10:44:52Z2018-10-30T10:44:52Z7 ways to teach civil discourse to students<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/242561/original/file-20181026-7056-1u2teli.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Lessons in civil discourse can start in the classroom.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/high-school-students-taking-part-group-199091393?src=CReX_IZ5RtOeAviHeTfpDg-1-5">Monkey Business Images/www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>If young people are to engage in democracy and society, young people need to learn how to respectfully disagree. Yet, educators often find it <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/04/the-case-for-contentious-classrooms/524268/">challenging</a> to lead discussions on contentious issues.</p>
<p>Based on my experience as a <a href="https://www.tcpress.com/teachers-as-allies-9780807758861">middle school social studies educator</a>, I’ve discovered that there are ways teachers and others who work with young people can show them how to deal effectively and respectfully with controversial topics – as well as what controversial topics to take up. Though the list of seven ideas I have created below were designed with educators in mind, they are applicable beyond the classroom.</p>
<h2>1. Avoid personal attacks</h2>
<p>In my former classroom, we had a mantra: “We address the ideas, we don’t attack the person.” When a person feels attacked, they stop listening. </p>
<p>Collectively determine what respect looks and feels like within these types of discussions. For example, a student may raise their voice as they passionately discuss a topic, but that can be perceived as yelling. Have a conversation on students prior to discussion on tone, style and how to engage in a topic when it becomes heated.</p>
<p>The educator’s role as a facilitator is to ensure that students maintain respect for their peers as they passionately express themselves. Making this investment will pay off tremendously for any discussion you have, whether in a classroom or another venue. If young people don’t feel like their viewpoints will be heard and respected, they will likely not speak up. </p>
<h2>2. Try easy topics first</h2>
<p>Before you dive into a more contentious topic, practice the skills of debate and disagreement with a topic such as school uniforms or cellphone use in classrooms. </p>
<p>A critical element of disagreement must also be empathy. Lived experiences often shape beliefs. Allow young people to share their experiences and their rationale. You may not agree, but you can be sensitive and try to understand their perspective. Remind students to seek to understand without focusing on being right.</p>
<h2>3. Introduce familiar as well as new topics</h2>
<p>To engage students, select social issues that young people are passionate about. This allows them to utilize their own experiences and knowledge as a frame of reference. It’s important that you truly know and ask your students what they’re interested in. Do not make assumptions. At the same time, recognize that there are topics or issues students may not aware of such as racism, global warming, indigenous and LGBTQ struggles for justice, and that this can be an opportunity to introduce them to narratives outside of their lived experiences or interests.</p>
<p>Be mindful when discussing issues that are connected to young people’s lived experience. Understand that certain topics can evoke strong emotions.</p>
<h2>4. Keep discussions structured</h2>
<p>Effective discussions are structured, whether it is a formal debate or <a href="https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/teaching-strategies/socratic-seminar">Socratic seminar</a> where students facilitate their own learning through group discussion rooted in shared texts or sources. No matter the format, establish and communicate clear rules. This will make it easier for you as a facilitator to enforce the rules of engagement and respect.</p>
<h2>5. Have students prepare</h2>
<p>Students should be prepared for the discussion, which means they should have read, viewed and researched multiple sources on the topic. It’s important to emphasize that students understand the topic from various viewpoints. Allowing time for students to prepare will ensure that all students will be able to contribute and engage in the discussion.</p>
<h2>6. Take politics head on</h2>
<p>Election season provides an array of topics to analyze, which will provide lots of material to inform student opinions for the discussion. With the midterms, students can discuss and evaluate candidate platforms as they relate to various social issues and their proposals for change. Ballot measures and amendments such as abortion in West Virginia, transgender rights in Massachusetts, and voting rights in Florida are vital to evaluate as well. Have students read and question the ballot. There are many social issues embedded within ballot measures and examining them prepares students to be informed voters when they are a little older. The midterms can serve as a springboard, but you can continue having these discussions throughout the school year.</p>
<h2>7. Examine social movements</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/242575/original/file-20181027-7047-l7h6ki.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/242575/original/file-20181027-7047-l7h6ki.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/242575/original/file-20181027-7047-l7h6ki.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242575/original/file-20181027-7047-l7h6ki.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242575/original/file-20181027-7047-l7h6ki.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242575/original/file-20181027-7047-l7h6ki.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242575/original/file-20181027-7047-l7h6ki.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242575/original/file-20181027-7047-l7h6ki.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A police officer leads an arrested National Woman’s Party protester away from a woman’s suffrage bonfire demonstration at the White House in 1918.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/policeman-leads-arrested-national-womans-party-242816698?src=o5qViRmtllJyxR76nZSR5w-1-1">Everett Historical/www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>The complexities of social movements such as <a href="https://www.tolerance.org/classroom-resources/tolerance-lessons/womens-suffrage">women’s suffrage</a> and <a href="https://www.teachingforchange.org/books/our-publications/putting-the-movement-back-into-civil-rights-teaching">civil rights</a> are not highlighted enough in middle school and high school curricula. There is usually a focus on leaders and not the long-term collective actions of individuals. </p>
<p>Examining historical and contemporary social movements like pro-choice and pro-life, Black Lives Matter and All Lives Matter, and the LGBTQ movement, provides fertile ground for diverse individual and collective perspectives of an issue. Students can analyze the websites, news articles of social movements, or engage in a <a href="https://www.procon.org/view.background-resource.php?resourceID=006121">pro/con exercise</a> to grapple with perspectives of a social issue. Questions can be posed to students such as: “Why are people organizing?” or “How does each group see the issue differently?” You could facilitate writing projects to legislators and activists or design a research project where students investigate the purpose, perspective and civic actions of a social movement. A lot of insight can be gleaned from social movements that can enhance discussions. More importantly, young people can find ways to engage in civic action themselves beyond the classroom.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/105724/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tiffany Mitchell Patterson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A former middle school teacher offers a series of tips on how educators can teach young people to engage in more civil discourse.Tiffany Mitchell Patterson, Assistant Professor of Secondary Social Studies, West Virginia UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/998862018-07-18T20:39:52Z2018-07-18T20:39:52ZNixing plans to add Indigenous content to Ontario curriculum is a travesty<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228291/original/file-20180718-142428-1detfxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In 2016, the Ontario government promised the province's schools would teach all students about residential schools and add more Indigenous perspectives into the provincial curriculum. The newly elected Conservative government has scrapped those plans.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Library and Archives Canada</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Ontario’s newly elected government <a href="https://ipolitics.ca/2018/07/09/doug-ford-scraps-reconciliation-curriculum-writing-sessions/">has dismissed a plan to revise the province’s social studies and history curriculums</a> to add Indigenous content. There was no reason offered for Premier Doug Ford’s decision. </p>
<p>I was part of the group rewriting the curriculum. I am not annoyed at the Ontario government’s decision for partisan reasons, or for the fact that so many taxpayer dollars that had been spent on rewriting curriculum are now wasted. </p>
<p>As an educator who teaches aspiring teachers, I am aghast because the need to Indigenize curriculum in Canada is not up for debate. <a href="http://www.trc.ca/websites/trcinstitution/File/2015/Findings/Calls_to_Action_English2.pdf">The calls from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission</a> are not suggestions. When Canadians are called, we must respond. Every single call is formidable, and ignored at our peril. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228129/original/file-20180717-44070-a72ndc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228129/original/file-20180717-44070-a72ndc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228129/original/file-20180717-44070-a72ndc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228129/original/file-20180717-44070-a72ndc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228129/original/file-20180717-44070-a72ndc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228129/original/file-20180717-44070-a72ndc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228129/original/file-20180717-44070-a72ndc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Doug Ford is congratulated by Lisa Thompson, now the province’s education minister, after he was named the leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservatives in March. The province is cutting the Truth and Reconciliation curriculum revision.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The commission asks all levels of government to consult with survivors, educators and Indigenous peoples on a mandatory curriculum that includes Indigenous history, including the legacy of residential schools. Other provincial governments have undertaken those revisions.</p>
<p>Having the privilege and responsibility to revise curriculum in social studies and history for Ontario meant that I would have had the opportunity to support future teachers’ work in ways that I was not supported as a new teacher. </p>
<h2>Learned a lot about European explorers</h2>
<p>Let me explain.</p>
<p>A few years ago, as a classroom teacher in Toronto, I was assigned a Grade 6 class. We had three themes in that year’s curriculum: Canada and the World, European Explorers and Native Studies. As a student years earlier, I couldn’t remember learning about the first and third themes, but I certainly remembered hearing all about the European explorers. </p>
<p>Distinctly: <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/samuel-de-champlain/">Samuel de Champlain</a> founded Québec City in 1608. Before him, <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/montreal/">Jacques Cartier founded Montréal</a>. Others, mostly French, founded many things. <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/henry-hudson/">Henry Hudson</a> has a corporation, a bay and a river named in his honour. It was interesting to learn about the exploits of people who were apparently so intrepid and brave.</p>
<p>Later, I learned that none of this actually happened the way it had been taught to us in school. It was one narrative drawing on particular sources and claims to truth. I was an unlearned student, and later on, an unlearned teacher. I taught as I learned, repeating narratives passed down to me.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/this-is-why-most-teachers-need-indigenous-coaches-82875">This is why most teachers need Indigenous coaches</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>Contemplating knowledge, and how we know things, matters. Knowledge is often constructed. This means that we do not inherit narratives, but instead we construct them. Therefore we must question them. </p>
<p>In that vein, Ontario’s social studies and history curriculums have increasingly asked students to inquire about the past, not just to memorize it. There is a big distinction, after all, between repeating a narrative and building a plausible one based on evidence. History education in Ontario is certainly better than it used to be and has <a href="https://www.thestar.com/yourtoronto/education/2016/01/23/ontario-lauded-for-high-school-history-curriculum.html">been applauded by historians.</a> </p>
<h2>New narratives needed</h2>
<p>But what evidence and what narratives do we ask students to consider? That’s the question at hand. </p>
<p>The calls of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission mean that we can no longer simply repeat the stories that we have heard and memorized. We must rewrite them with dignity and respect for the peoples that lived in Canada for centuries before the European explorers showed up, colonized and planted the seeds for further colonization.</p>
<p>In our 151st year as a country, social studies and history must be areas of study in which our students explore and question the events that have shaped our past, and what may shape our future. We must question how those events are talked about and taught. If that’s not considered important to Doug Ford and the government of Ontario, I am at a total loss as an educator.</p>
<p>Ontario’s move to dismiss the addition of new Indigenous content as it revises its history curriculum is dangerous. We now have a very narrow idea of what our history is, and we continue to tell students a narrative that is demonstrably and woefully incomplete.</p>
<p>Ontario’s social studies and history students, even as they are encouraged to ask questions about the past, are also taught past one-sided narratives that have gone unchallenged in history books since the foundation of the province’s public school system. </p>
<p>There is now, in Ontario, a missed opportunity to tell the full and complicated story of what Canada was, is and can be. There is less space for constructing knowledge. Memorizing and repeating colonial narratives amounts to the most dangerously dishonest, not to mention boring, history education imaginable.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/99886/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Theodore Christou receives funding from SSHRC.</span></em></p>Ontario’s move to ignore the calls of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to add Indigenous content to its history and social studies curriculum is foolish and dangerous.Theodore Christou, Associate Professor, Social Studies and History Education, Queen's University, OntarioLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/828902017-09-07T23:29:52Z2017-09-07T23:29:52ZA new way to reduce playground bullying<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185004/original/file-20170906-9862-il178m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">As kids head back to school this week across Canada, many will be victims or perpetrators of bullying. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>For some teachers, back-to-school excitement comes with jitters over how best to address new curriculum mandates. And for many parents, there are other worries, including concerns about their children’s social interactions and fears of playground bullying. </p>
<p>As a researcher in children’s literature, I have developed a literary mentorship program that tackles both of these challenges. <em>Read for Your Rights!</em> uses children’s fiction to engage young children on the concepts of rights and responsibility, and with the content of the <a href="https://www.unicef.org/crc/">United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child</a> (UNCRC). </p>
<p>The program also aims to reduce bullying at school. And preliminary data from a pilot at a Chilliwack elementary school in British Columbia during 2017 shows success. </p>
<p>Participating teachers observed fewer instances of negative social behaviour after their students participated in <em>Read for Your Rights!</em> They also observed scenarios in which an altercation broke out and children made specific references to the program in attempts to elicit better treatment of one another. </p>
<p>Can you imagine hearing the words: “Remember to ‘Choose Kind’!” or “We’re like the Bully Blockers!” ring out over the playground? That’s what happened in Chilliwack after the children participated in the program. </p>
<h2>Teaching rights and responsibilities</h2>
<p>In B.C., teachers are wondering how to meet <a href="http://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/education-training/k-12/teach/curriculum">new requirements</a> to cover human rights within social studies lessons. Teachers are now expected to teach treaties such as the UNCRC beginning in Kindergarten. But how can such a complex legal document be made accessible for the youngest learners when even adults find it nebulous?</p>
<p>The key to making human rights real for children is making them concrete. Connecting some of the UNCRC’s abstract principles with familiar, everyday situations allows even kindergarteners to begin to grapple with concepts of rights and responsibilities. Using children’s books is an effective way to make it work.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185123/original/file-20170907-9573-mw2uau.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185123/original/file-20170907-9573-mw2uau.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185123/original/file-20170907-9573-mw2uau.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185123/original/file-20170907-9573-mw2uau.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185123/original/file-20170907-9573-mw2uau.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185123/original/file-20170907-9573-mw2uau.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185123/original/file-20170907-9573-mw2uau.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Grade 5 kids working with undergraduate mentors on the Read for Your Rights! pilot in a Chilliwack elementary school.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>That’s exactly what we did in <em>Read for Your Rights!</em> We piloted the program at a Chilliwack elementary school in February 2017. Students from my <a href="http://www.ufv.ca/english/">University of the Fraser Valley English</a> course <em>Children’s Literature and Children’s Rights</em> were involved in mentoring students in Grade 5 and then helping those children mentor kindergarteners.</p>
<p>First of all, the students read the <a href="https://www.unicef.org/rightsite/files/uncrcchilldfriendlylanguage.pdf">UNCRC in child-friendly language</a>. The UNCRC alone is too abstract, so we made it more tangibly real by bringing in a work of children’s literature and drawing connections between the story and the document. </p>
<p>The Grade 5s then read <a href="http://rjpalacio.com/book.html"><em>Wonder</em></a> by R. J. Palacio, while the kindergarteners read <a href="https://www.albertwhitman.com/book/the-bully-blockers-club/"><em>The Bully Blockers Club</em></a> by Teresa Bateman. My students, who read both stories, identified the most relevant UNCRC articles relating to each book and used them to create program activities. When that was done it was finally time to bring everybody — and everything — together. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185002/original/file-20170906-9202-kdgqcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185002/original/file-20170906-9202-kdgqcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=921&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185002/original/file-20170906-9202-kdgqcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=921&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185002/original/file-20170906-9202-kdgqcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=921&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185002/original/file-20170906-9202-kdgqcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1157&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185002/original/file-20170906-9202-kdgqcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1157&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185002/original/file-20170906-9202-kdgqcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1157&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Wonder’ by R. J. Palacio.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Handout</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To deliver the program, my students supported the Grade 5 children in various activities ranging from group discussions, to literature circles, to skits, to making a (paper) friendship quilt. During four of these hour-long sessions, the children worked to connect <em>Wonder</em> and <a href="https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0ahUKEwj4y_eHrJPWAhUM3GMKHUvjCYoQFggmMAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.unicef.org%2Fcrc%2Ffiles%2FRights_overview.pdf&usg=AFQjCNFqFlwsmxaTAjRz3TWm34ednn-CRw">Articles 2, 12 and 29 of the UNCRC</a>. These relate to non-discrimination, respect for children’s views and the right to an education that helps them develop their talents and live peacefully.</p>
<p>Using a similar approach, my students and the Grade 5 children spent two sessions working with kindergarteners to find common ground between Articles 15 and 19 — which include the right to protection from all forms of violence — and <em>The Bully Blockers Club</em>. During this portion of the program, activities included small and large group discussions, skits and friendship bracelets.</p>
<h2>‘We’re like the Bully-Blockers!’</h2>
<p>The program also aimed to reduce bullying at school. There are plenty of studies suggesting that children’s literature can <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ664307">help children understand bullying</a> behaviour and that <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15388220.2015.1095100">school-based programs might be effective</a> in reducing it. However, none bring in the UNCRC. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185001/original/file-20170906-9823-1oc2rx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185001/original/file-20170906-9823-1oc2rx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=761&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185001/original/file-20170906-9823-1oc2rx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=761&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185001/original/file-20170906-9823-1oc2rx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=761&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185001/original/file-20170906-9823-1oc2rx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=956&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185001/original/file-20170906-9823-1oc2rx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=956&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185001/original/file-20170906-9823-1oc2rx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=956&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘The Bully Blockers Club’ by Teresa Bateman.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Handout</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Since I have argued that the <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/628009">UNCRC is the foundation to developing a more child-centred approach to children’s literature</a>, I brought together various well-established practices — mentoring, literature circles, artistic activities and rights education — into a brand new program. My theory was that by linking rights and responsibilities, and at the same time inviting children to observe the emotional consequences of bullying through the “neutral” medium of story, they would begin to take responsibility for treating one another more kindly at school. </p>
<p>But does it work? Can reading for their rights really help children to better understand both the UNCRC <em>and</em> a work of literature — all leading to reduced bullying?</p>
<p>While the pilot was admittedly small, preliminary data collected through questionnaires and field observations does clearly indicate children’s increased understanding and application of their rights and responsibilities. </p>
<p>For example, before participating in <em>Read for Your Rights!</em> only eight per cent of the Grade 5 children who responded to the questionnaires reported knowing about the UNCRC or children’s rights. After the program, 96 per cent said they knew about these things. </p>
<p>Before the program, only 46 per cent of Grade 5 children believed that bullying relates to children’s rights; after the program, 64 per cent believed this. Before the program, 92 per cent of children didn’t know how to stop bullying. Afterwards, only 72 per cent reported not knowing. kindergarten results were similar (although less pronounced). </p>
<h2>In the classroom</h2>
<p>Any teacher can use elements of <em>Read for Your Rights!</em> You don’t need two dozen eager university students to begin enjoying some of the program’s benefits. Teachers can tick off a tricky item on the new curriculum To Do list anytime by:</p>
<ol>
<li>Identifying an area of human rights that relates to a behaviour observed in your classroom. </li>
<li>Finding a children’s book that focuses on that behaviour (a work of literature rather than a didactic tale or non-fiction). </li>
<li>Reviewing the UNCRC to select relevant articles. </li>
<li>Designing activities and projects that bring together the book and the articles. </li>
<li>Following up with discussion questions to ensure that children are taking away points of key importance.</li>
</ol><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82890/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Superle does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A new mentorship program uses fiction to teach children’s rights, and to help kids understand and prevent bullying.Michelle Superle, Assistant Professor, University of The Fraser ValleyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/749722017-03-31T20:29:08Z2017-03-31T20:29:08ZHow should World War I be taught in American schools?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163500/original/image-20170331-27263-1ug7790.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Modern high school students are learning two very different approaches to World War I.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/classmate-friends-classroom-597114503?src=lSrbukCX8E_Tq0AlybtDZA-2-25">Africa Studio / Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The centennial of the end of World War I is reminding Americans of a conflict that is rarely mentioned these days.</p>
<p>In Hungary, for example, World War I is often remembered for the Treaty of Trianon, a peace treaty that ended Hungarian involvement in the war and cost Hungary two-thirds of its territory. The treaty continues to be a <a href="http://www.americanhungarianfederation.org/news_trianon.htm">source of outrage</a> for Hungarian nationalists.</p>
<p>In the United States, by contrast, the war is primarily remembered <a href="https://academic.oup.com/dh/article/38/4/727/2754606/The-World-War-and-American-Memory">in a positive light</a>. President Woodrow Wilson intervened on the side of the victors, using idealistic language about making the world “<a href="http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=65366">safe for democracy</a>.” The United States <a href="http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/world-war-one/world-war-one-and-casualties/first-world-war-casualties/">lost relatively few soldiers</a> in comparison to other nations.</p>
<p>As a professor of social studies education, I’ve noticed that the way in which “<a href="https://archive.org/details/warthatwillendwa00welluoft">the war to end war</a>” is taught in American classrooms has a lot to do with what we think it means to be an American today.</p>
<p>As one of the first wars fought on a truly global scale, World War I is taught in two different courses, with two different missions: U.S. history courses and world history courses. Two versions of World War I emerge in these two courses – and they tell us as much about the present as they do about the past.</p>
<h2>WWI: National history</h2>
<p>In an academic sense, history is not simply the past, but the tools we use to study it – it is the process of historical inquiry. Over the course of the discipline’s development, the study of history became deeply entangled with <a href="http://www.h-france.net/vol2reviews/vol2no91kramer.pdf">the study of nations</a>. It became “partitioned”: American history, French history, Chinese history. </p>
<p>This way of dividing the past reinforces ideas of who a people are and what they stand for. In the U.S., our national historical narrative has often been taught to schoolchildren as one where more and more Americans gain more and more <a href="http://teachinghistory.org/issues-and-research/research-brief/23488">rights and opportunities</a>. The goal of teaching American history has long been <a href="http://www.socialstudies.org/publications/socialeducation/september2006/social-studies-wars-now-and-then">the creation of citizens</a> who are loyal to this narrative and are willing to take action to support it.</p>
<p>When history is taught in this way, teachers and students can easily draw boundaries between “us” and “them.” There is a clear line between domestic and foreign policy. Some <a href="http://www.oah.org/about/reports/reports-statements/the-lapietra-report-a-report-to-the-profession/">historians have criticized</a> this view of the nation as a natural container for the events of the past.</p>
<p>When students are taught this nationalist view of the past, it’s possible to see the United States and its relationship to World War I <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-one/inside-first-world-war/part-nine/10801898/why-america-joined-first-world-war.html">in a particular light</a>. Initially an outsider to World War I, the United States would join only when provoked by Germany. U.S. intervention was justified in terms of making the world safe for democracy. American demands for peace were largely based on altruistic motives.</p>
<p>When taught in this manner, World War I signals the arrival of the United States on the global stage – as defenders of democracy and agents for global peace.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163478/original/image-20170331-27277-y5xopk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163478/original/image-20170331-27277-y5xopk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163478/original/image-20170331-27277-y5xopk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163478/original/image-20170331-27277-y5xopk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163478/original/image-20170331-27277-y5xopk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163478/original/image-20170331-27277-y5xopk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163478/original/image-20170331-27277-y5xopk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163478/original/image-20170331-27277-y5xopk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">President Woodrow Wilson addressing Congress, April 8, 1913.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.loc.gov/item/ggb2005011653/">Bain News Service / Library of Congress [LC-B2- 2579-2]</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>WWI: World history</h2>
<p>World history is a relatively new area of study in the field of historical inquiry, gaining particular ground in the 1980s. Its addition to the curriculum of American schools is <a href="http://worldhistoryconnected.press.illinois.edu/1.1/lintvedt.html">even more recent</a>.</p>
<p>The world history curriculum has tended to focus on the ways in which economic, cultural and technological processes have led to <a href="https://www.learner.org/courses/worldhistory/whatis.html">increasingly close global interconnections</a>. As a classic example, a <a href="http://en.unesco.org/silkroad/about-silk-road">study of the Silk Road</a> reveals the ways in which goods (like horses), ideas (like Buddhism), plants (like bread wheat) and diseases (like plague) were spread across larger and larger areas of the globe.</p>
<p>World history curricula do not deny the importance of nations, but neither do they assume that nation-states are the primary actors on the historical stage. Rather, it is the processes themselves – trade, war, cultural diffusion – that often take center stage in the story. The line between “domestic” and “foreign” – “us” and “them” – is blurred in such examples.</p>
<p>When the work of world historians is incorporated into the school curriculum, the stated goal is most often <a href="http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/oct02/vol60/num02/Growing_Good_Citizens_with_a_World-Centered_Curriculum.aspx">global understanding</a>. In the case of World War I, it’s possible to tell a story about increasing <a href="http://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/the_way_to_war">industrialism, imperialism and competition for global markets</a>, as well as the deadly integration of <a href="http://theconversation.com/as-the-u-s-entered-world-war-i-american-soldiers-depended-on-foreign-weapons-technology-75034">new technologies</a> into battle, such as tanks, airplanes, poison gas, submarines and machine guns.</p>
<p>In all of this, U.S. citizens are historical actors caught up in the same pressures and trends as everyone else across the globe.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163486/original/image-20170331-27277-wmi5oz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163486/original/image-20170331-27277-wmi5oz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163486/original/image-20170331-27277-wmi5oz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163486/original/image-20170331-27277-wmi5oz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163486/original/image-20170331-27277-wmi5oz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163486/original/image-20170331-27277-wmi5oz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163486/original/image-20170331-27277-wmi5oz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163486/original/image-20170331-27277-wmi5oz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The British Mark IV Tank ‘Britannia’ was brought to New York City and put on exhibit to help sell war bonds. Oct. 25, 1917.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/ggbain.25571/">Bain News Service / Library of Congress [LC-B2- 4379-7]</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The US school curriculum and World War I</h2>
<p>These two trends within the field of historical inquiry are each reflected in the American school curriculum. In most states, both U.S. history and world history are <a href="http://ecs.force.com/mbdata/mbprofall?Rep=HS01">required subjects</a>. In this way, World War I becomes a fascinating case study of how the same event can be taught in different ways, for two different purposes.</p>
<p>To demonstrate this, I’ve pulled content standards from three large states, each from a different region of the United States – <a href="http://www.michigan.gov/documents/mde/SS_COMBINED_August_2015_496557_7.pdf">Michigan</a>, <a href="http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/documents/histsocscistnd.pdf">California</a> and <a href="http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/rules/tac/chapter113/ch113c.html#113.41">Texas</a> – to illustrate their treatment of World War I.</p>
<p>In U.S. history, the content standards of all three states place World War I within the rise of the United States as a world power. In all three sets of state standards, students are expected to learn about World War I in relationship to <a href="http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nchist-newsouth/5488">American expansion</a> into such places as Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Hawaii. The ways in which the war challenged a tradition of <a href="http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/washing.asp">avoiding foreign entanglements</a> is given attention in each set of standards.</p>
<p>By contrast, the world history standards of all three states place World War I under its own heading, asking students to examine the war’s causes and consequences. All three sets of state standards reference large-scale historical processes as the causes of the war, including <a href="http://hti.osu.edu/world-war-one/main/lessonplans/why_did_they_fight">nationalism, imperialism and militarism</a>. Sometimes the U.S. is mentioned, and sometimes it’s not.</p>
<p>And so, students are learning about World War I in two very different ways. In the more nationalistic U.S. history curriculum, the United States is the defender of global order and democracy. In the world history context, the United States is mentioned hardly at all, and impersonal global forces take center stage.</p>
<h2>Whose history? Which America?</h2>
<p>Scholars today continue to debate the wisdom of President Wilson’s <a href="http://www.heritage.org/political-process/report/remaking-the-world-progressivism-and-american-foreign-policy">moral diplomacy</a> – that is, the moral and altruistic language (like making the world “safe for democracy”) that justified U.S. involvement in World War I. At the same time, a recent poll by the Pew Research Center has shown that the American public has <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/12/04/americans-put-low-priority-on-promoting-democracy-abroad/">deep concerns</a> about the policy of promoting democracy abroad.</p>
<p>In an age when protectionism, isolationism and nationalism are seemingly <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/berenberg-similarities-trump-brexit-1930s-protectionism-populism-nationalism-2016-11">on the rise</a>, our country as a whole is questioning the relationship between the United States and the rest of the world.</p>
<p>This is the present-day context in which students are left to learn about the past – and, in particular, World War I. How might their study of this past shape their attitudes toward the present?</p>
<p>History teachers are therefore left with a dilemma: teach toward national or global citizenship? Is world history something that happened “<a href="http://www.firstworldwar.com/audio/overthere.htm">over there</a>,” or is it something that happens “right here,” too?</p>
<p>In my own view, it seems incomplete to teach just one of these conflicting views of World War I. Instead, I would recommend to history teachers that they explore competing perspectives of the past with their students.</p>
<p>How do Hungarians, for example, generally remember World War I? Or how about Germans? How about the Irish? <a href="http://www.armenian-genocide.org/genocide.html">Armenians</a>? How do these perspectives compare to American memories? Where is fact and where is fiction?</p>
<p>Such a history class would encourage students to examine how the present and the past are connected – and might satisfy both nationalists and globalists alike.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74972/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kyle Greenwalt does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>High school students in America learn two very different perspectives on World War I in their U.S. and world history classes. But which of these competing viewpoints should take center stage?Kyle Greenwalt, Associate Professor, Michigan State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/647242016-09-06T01:13:18Z2016-09-06T01:13:18ZDo kids who grow kale eat kale?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136447/original/image-20160902-20235-gp0h7c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wwworks/5711747069/in/photostream/">woodleywonderworks</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s back-to-school time in the United States, and for countless children across the nation, it’s also time to get back into the school garden.</p>
<p>For centuries, <a href="http://4h.ucanr.edu/files/1229.pdf">educators and philosophers</a> have argued that garden-based learning improves children’s intelligence and boosts their personal health. In recent years, concerns related to <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/obesity/facts.htm">childhood obesity</a> and <a href="http://richardlouv.com/books/last-child/">young people’s disconnection from nature</a> have led to a revitalized interest in the topic.</p>
<p>Tens of thousands of American schools have some form of school garden. Many are located on school grounds and others are run by external community partners. Most are connected to the <a href="http://www.lifelab.org/for-educators/schoolgardens/">school’s curriculum</a>. For instance, seeds are used in science class to explain plant biology, fruits are used in social studies to teach world geography and the harvest is used in math to explore weights and measures. Some even incorporate food from the garden <a href="http://www.changelabsolutions.org/sites/default/files/SchoolGardenLiability_Memo_FINAL_20130621.pdf">into the school lunch.</a></p>
<p>As a researcher and an activist, I’ve spent the better part of the last decade working to promote a healthy, equitable and sustainable food system. Through this process, I have heard bold claims made about the power of garden-based learning to meet these challenges.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DC3H0sxg4tY?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">School gardens claim a variety of benefits.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Given the enthusiasm that surrounds garden-based learning today, it’s worth taking stock of their overall impacts: Do school gardens actually improve the education and health of young people? </p>
<h2>Promoting school gardens</h2>
<p>School gardens have become a favorite strategy of prominent advocates in the <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2010/06/10/food-movement-rising/">“Good Food Movement.”</a> Both celebrity chef <a href="http://www.jamieskitchengarden.org/">Jamie Oliver</a> and First Lady <a href="http://www.letsmove.gov/school-garden-checklist">Michelle Obama</a> have been vocal supporters. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136324/original/image-20160901-1023-qei1o1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136324/original/image-20160901-1023-qei1o1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136324/original/image-20160901-1023-qei1o1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136324/original/image-20160901-1023-qei1o1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136324/original/image-20160901-1023-qei1o1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136324/original/image-20160901-1023-qei1o1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136324/original/image-20160901-1023-qei1o1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An elementary school garden with six raised beds is meant to help kids learn.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/usdagov/15034204592/in/photolist-oUwef1-rLY5Ds-byvicG-q7EWPu-3cU2sx-4Jcqz7-6Rgdv3-oR7oB7-zy55s-6gQpec-7aSqxR-4JcmWU-sq8LAW-6z2y7i-9LRWZu-bWAuk7-7CDYgj-bY84jS-feikXW-5XjM6e-rZ88Hh-8e1yXP-86w2Jf-4JcnZs-JmYPFJ-g2n8Ba-c1WAw1-iodwji-iYAf82-q7EjCY-JJK4ph-57jSV2-oQtdUN-5xbSXp-7wTtde-sqg7q2-5UhLw5-4rXy9Y-8eC33Z-8cAbi9-qZacsY-8Ef6w6-7J76Sx-5TwvyE-4J85ND-oygA7v-4pkivD-q7TubT-suwYws-5qxPVs#undefined">U.S. Department of Agriculture</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="http://foodtank.com/news/2015/07/urban-farms-and-gardens-are-feeding-cities-around-the-world">Nonprofit and grassroots groups</a>, who see these gardens as a way to provide fresh produce for the <a href="http://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/food-security-in-the-us/definitions-of-food-security.aspx">food insecure</a>, have forged partnerships with local schools. Then there are service-based groups, such as <a href="http://foodcorps.org/">FoodCorps</a>, whose members spend one year in a low-income community to help establish gardens and develop other school food initiatives. </p>
<p>Philanthropic organizations like the <a href="https://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/HealthyLiving/HealthyKids/TeachingGardens/Teaching-Gardens_UCM_436602_SubHomePage.jsp">American Heart Association</a> have also sponsored the construction of hundreds of new school garden plots.</p>
<p>Taken together, upwards of <a href="http://www.bridgingthegapresearch.org/_asset/4q28pc/BTG_gardens_brief_FINAL_March2014.pdf">25 percent of public elementary schools</a> in the United States include some form of garden-based learning. School garden projects are located in every region of the country and serve students of all ages, ethnic backgrounds and socioeconomic classes.</p>
<h2>Transforming kids lives through gardens?</h2>
<p>Advocates argue that gardening helps kids make healthier eating choices. As the self-proclaimed <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/ron_finley_a_guerilla_gardener_in_south_central_la/transcript?language=en#t-448403">“Gangsta Gardener” Ron Finley put it in his popular TED Talk,</a> </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“If kids grow kale, kids eat kale.”</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136333/original/image-20160901-1015-br2wf6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136333/original/image-20160901-1015-br2wf6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136333/original/image-20160901-1015-br2wf6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136333/original/image-20160901-1015-br2wf6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136333/original/image-20160901-1015-br2wf6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136333/original/image-20160901-1015-br2wf6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136333/original/image-20160901-1015-br2wf6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Does garden-based learning help school kids?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ugacommunications/6430961073/in/photolist-aNhmFc-noqgnz-bb3f8k-gKJsiV-k1yPm-8qVJ78-oTt85M-2HfDPD-fUfXdX-2KxMXL-acsMTN-nE3nGz-cGk1vq-eUy4SX-oxHGbp-sAqQS-7Ae3iw-86EUBe-7jMSXn-73CKzJ-cXJdEo-7Aahr4-srfq6V-f26qNf-rufie7-5eDDMb-9mAAqx-oQaz6E-6Wxyhm-tKd6Qp-8KVebW-86EUAe-oNaQ1A-oNaU7w-bWDE1g-5Ukyei-i4Uey1-8QeUgp-eFQ3cq-dqM7sW-eFJwNR-9TbQHt-Curwec-dKWRNj-nj8UUW-932q3K-e4VAqv-JnWz1b-o67vv5-qFZtvv#undefined">UGA College of Ag & Environmental Sciences - OCCS</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Many proponents go even further, <a href="http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/american-heart-association-and-activist-kelly-meyer-team-up-to-plant-teaching-gardens-nationwide-103857488.html">suggesting</a> that garden-based learning can inspire a variety of healthy changes for the whole family, helping to reverse the so-called obesity epidemic. </p>
<p>Others, like <a href="https://edibleschoolyard.org/sites/default/files/Ten%20Years_Final_Single%20Page.pdf">Edible Schoolyard founder Alice Waters,</a> argue that experience in the garden can have a transformative impact on a child’s worldview, making sustainability “the lens through which they see the world.”</p>
<h2>Sure, gardens can help</h2>
<p>There is plenty of anecdotal evidence to suggest that garden-based learning does yield educational, nutritional, ecological and social benefits. </p>
<p>For example, <a href="http://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ822027">several published studies</a> have shown that garden-based learning can increase students’ science knowledge and healthy food behaviors. <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19846682">Other research</a> has shown that garden-based learning can help students better identify different types of vegetables as well as lead to more favorable opinions on eating vegetables.</p>
<p>In general, <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00045608.2014.985627?journalCode=raag20">qualitative case studies</a> of garden-based learning have been encouraging, providing narratives of life-changing experiences for children and teachers alike. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136341/original/image-20160901-1048-k9erm7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136341/original/image-20160901-1048-k9erm7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136341/original/image-20160901-1048-k9erm7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136341/original/image-20160901-1048-k9erm7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136341/original/image-20160901-1048-k9erm7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136341/original/image-20160901-1048-k9erm7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136341/original/image-20160901-1048-k9erm7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Do gardens improve the intake of fresh foods and fruit?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/57811430@N08/9712196647/in/photolist-fNexGk-cyxsjJ-cEzpKW-85hrBB-86S5gF-cEzqSy-cEznJY-bLnmd8-phahFZ-ei3PCx-uEAgph-cEzowu-86Vggq-8dnh5M-cEznYy-zoBxm-7zQE73-nv6Bb-8UC8yh-G2sWAf-7kHnFq-B9DkDT-tUHNV6-xc1hSM-rryQmW-qNb2hL-mKvdtV-8MCUGP-fNexHa-86S5GV-53GTT8-4uKwRs-53M8mN-EmE8D-fNexGv-LKeQN-p1cpTK-86S5t6-oZW8Br-7qnHYh-ec1cGb-gkftBq-pfEDES-2katmV-oZW95v-zbNv-cEzsUQ-oZWr91-5rqcya-oZX9PJ#undefined">RubyDW</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, when it comes to actually increasing the amount of fresh foods eaten by young people, improving their health outcomes or shaping their overall environmental attitudes, quantitative results have tended to show <a href="http://heb.sagepub.com/content/34/6/846.abstract">modest</a> gains <a href="http://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/thesesdissertations/2252/">at best</a>. Some of the most <a href="http://www.schoollunchinitiative.org/downloads/sli_eval_full_report_2010.pdf">highly developed school garden programs</a> have been able to increase student vegetable consumption by about a serving per day. But the research has not been able to show whether these gains are maintained over time. </p>
<p>A lack of definitive evidence has led <a href="https://modeledbehavior.com/2010/09/30/how-progressive-ideology-is-holding-back-the-healthy-schools-movement/">some critics</a> to argue that school gardens are simply not worth the time and investment, especially for lower-income students who could be concentrating on more traditional college prep studies. </p>
<p>The social critic Caitlin Flanagan <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/01/cultivating-failure/307819/">has gone so far as to say</a> that garden programs are a distraction that could create a “permanent, uneducated underclass.”</p>
<h2>There are no magic carrots</h2>
<p>There is no doubt that the power of garden-based learning is sometimes overstated.</p>
<p>Particularly when describing garden projects in low-income neighborhoods and communities of color, <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14733285.2016.1221058">popular narratives</a> imply that a child’s time in the garden will rescue her from a life of poverty and chronic disease. </p>
<p>I call this the “magic carrot” approach to garden-based learning. But as we all know, there are no magic carrots growing in the school garden. </p>
<p>Gardens alone will not eliminate <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/pdf/other/su6203.pdf">health disparities</a>, <a href="http://cepa.stanford.edu/educational-opportunity-monitoring-project/achievement-gaps/race/">close the educational achievement gap</a>, <a href="http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2016/06/27/1-demographic-trends-and-economic-well-being/st_2016-06-27_race-inequality-ch1-07/">fix unemployment</a> or solve <a href="http://ced.berkeley.edu/downloads/research/LUP.parks.pdf">environmental injustice</a>.</p>
<h2>When is a garden successful?</h2>
<p>For gardens to effectively promote learning and health, they must be supported and reinforced by the community as a whole. <a href="https://fluidsurveys.com/share/33316792afbb54f8210b/">Surveys of school garden practitioners</a> show that garden programs have serious potential to enhance school and neighborhood life – but only if certain conditions are met.</p>
<p>Notably, school gardens are most successful when they are not held afloat by a <a href="http://grist.org/article/behind-all-the-photo-opps-with-the-first-lady-school-gardens-are-in-despera/">single dedicated teacher</a>. Instead, multiple involved stakeholders can ensure that a garden doesn’t dry up after only a season or two.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136339/original/image-20160901-1015-ja4dbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136339/original/image-20160901-1015-ja4dbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136339/original/image-20160901-1015-ja4dbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136339/original/image-20160901-1015-ja4dbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136339/original/image-20160901-1015-ja4dbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136339/original/image-20160901-1015-ja4dbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136339/original/image-20160901-1015-ja4dbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">If kids grow kale, do they eat it?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/usdagov/10334288213/in/photolist-gKcVQZ-7hbfxq-cZEHD9-bxaAgu-cZEFYq-cZEQcE-n31Asn-n3cmRR-5bbCuK-n3991Z-n3mQzE-n36iib-opaBP3-fTsywQ-984t1x-fTrrit-fTsWTa-fTsuGV-cZEr9E-9Lev6p-n3chX9-cZEk4h-cZEvgE-n351xk-cZEuKf-bL1Uok-cZEjsb-cZET9y-cZEqvf-cZEx4b-cZEscU-n33uSj-9KTKtj-cZEych-cZEP95-fTrzhA-abJ3CX-cZEaYd-5bfVTL-8eTyXE-8eQhj6-cZExBC-47i3Sb-A6D42H-eWzsPF-zdaqQy-c2dbau-fTsyuy-fTsybj-opaLHV#undefined">U.S. Department of Agriculture</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For example, participation from administrators, families and neighborhood partners can turn a school garden into a <a href="http://foodtank.com/news/2016/08/five-questions-with-tony-hillery-founder-of-harlem-grown">dynamic and sustainable community hub</a>. </p>
<p>Many <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Doing-Nutrition-Differently-Critical-Approaches-to-Diet-and-Dietary-Intervention/Hayes-Conroy/p/book/9781409434795">experienced practitioners</a> have also shown that garden-based learning is more powerful when its curriculum reflects the cultural backgrounds of the young people it serves. When children of Mexican descent grow indigenous varieties of corn, or when African-American youth cultivate collard greens, the process of growing food can become a process of self-discovery and cultural celebration.</p>
<p>In other words, if kids grow kale, they might eat kale, but only if kale <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3759222/">is available in their neighborhood</a>, if their family can afford to buy kale and if they think eating kale is relevant to their culture and lifestyle. </p>
<h2>Creating valuable green space</h2>
<p>As my own <a href="http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520287457">research</a> has <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWinO-QGi9k">highlighted</a>, there are organizations and schools across the country that incorporate garden-based learning into broader movements for social, environmental and <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/cultivating-food-justice">food justice</a>.</p>
<p>These groups recognize that school gardens alone will not magically fix the problems our nation faces. But as part of a long-term movement to improve community health, school gardens can provide a platform for experiential education, create valuable green space and foster a sense of empowerment in the minds and bodies of young Americans.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/64724/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Garrett M. Broad does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>School garden projects are becoming hugely popular. Over 25 percent of public elementary schools include garden-based learning. Do these gardens improve the education and health of young people?Garrett M. Broad, Assistant Professor of Communication and Media Studies, Fordham UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.