(Editor’s Note: The following article was submitted by Betsy Armstrong, a former Becker school board member, attorney, and school district resident)
The Minnesota Department of Education (“MDE”) is required to review the academic standards of various subjects in the K-12 curriculum every ten years. A first draft of the standards for social studies (divided into four strands: Citizenship and Government; Economics; Geography; and History) was issued Dec. 1, 2020. An article in the Patriot on March 11, 2021 compared some of the existing standards to the proposed standards.
A second draft of the standards was issued on July 30, 2021. The second draft contained a new fifth strand, Ethnic Studies. An article in the Patriot on September 2, 2021 again compared some of the existing standards to the proposed standards. The addition of the Ethnic Studies strand generated significant public opposition to the second draft as it promoted Critical Race Theory (CRT) in its focus on group identity based on race and dividing all Americans into either “oppressor” or “oppressed” populations.
A third draft of the Social Studies standards was issued on November 15, 2021. The third draft maintained the Ethnic Studies strand and offered little recognition of the exceptional contributions by traditionally regarded champions of freedom. Comments about the benchmarks were due December 14, 2021, and can be read at https://minnesotaoah.granicusideas.com/discussions/37919-minnesota-department-of-education-request-for-comments/topics/submit-a-comment-212. The deadline for comments about the standards is January 14, 2022.
An excellent in-depth analysis of the third draft was done by Katherine Kersten of the Center of the American Experiment and can be found at https://www.americanexperiment.org/third-draft-social-studies-standards-critical-race-theory/. Noteworthy points that are raised include the following:
Themes in the Ethnic Studies strand to be taught in all grades, K-12, that implement CRT:
Standard # 23: Identity: Analyze the ways power and language construct the social identities of race, religion, geography, ethnicity and gender. Apply these understandings to one’s own social identities and other groups living in Minnesota, centering those whose stories and histories have been marginalized, erased or ignored.
Standard # 24: Resistance: Describe how individuals and communities have fought for freedom and liberation against systemic and coordinated exercises of power locally and globally; identify strategies or times that have resulted in lasting change; and organize with others to engage in activities that could further the rights and dignity of all.
Standard # 25: Ways of Knowing: Use ethnic and indigenous studies methods in order to understand the roots of contemporary systems of oppression and apply lessons from the past to eliminate historical and contemporary injustices.”
Examples of application of some of those themes include:
Kindergarten: “ … retell a story about an unfair experience that conveys a power imbalance.”
First grade: “Identify examples of ethnicity, equality, liberation and systems of power, and use those examples to construct meanings for those terms.”
High school: “Examine the construction of racialized hierarchies based on colorism and dominant European beauty standards and values. Examine the construction of hierarchies based on classism, racism, colorism and dominant beauty standards and values.”
As is further noted, the standards’ vision of Social Studies as a narrative of “oppression” seems geared, in large part, toward preparing students for political activism, and what the second Ethnic Studies standard (Std. 24) calls “resistance.”
The standards regarding history omit many significant facts and leave the student without knowledge of important names and events. For example, in US history, no mention is made of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, or Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Important battles that contributed to the success of the Revolution and Civil war are omitted, as are those of WWII. Instead, emphasis is placed on colonialism, slavery, racism and imperialism.
High school US history proposes to:
• Evaluate historical narratives about colonialism and slavery.
• Evaluate historical narratives about U.S. imperial expansion and native dispossession, including Indian
removal, Manifest Destiny and Indigenous perspectives.
• Analyze complex and interacting factors within the long civil rights movement, including Black, indigenous, women, Latinx American, Asian American, and/or Queer rights movements.
• Examine Black, indigenous, working class and/or women’s perspectives on a major issue during the
American Revolution and early Republic.
• Interpret multiple primary or secondary sources to understand and analyze the perspectives of individuals and communities who were affected by and/or participated in imperial expansion and Native
Dispossession, including Indigenous, Mexican, Black and/or Asian perspectives.
• Construct an argument about Indigenous history before European colonialism, using multiple sources.
• Examine the contemporary significance of foundational dates in U.S. history today, including
1492, 1607, 1619, 1620, 1776 and 1789.
• Examine the meaning of freedom in the Revolutionary era and today, and examine how groups and
communities have fought for freedom, revolution, and anti-colonialism.
World history also suffers from the omission of significant facts, especially regarding Western Civilization. As Ms. Kersten recites:
• Ancient Egypt, the Roman Empire, the Middle Ages, the French Revolution, Napoleon and the Russian Revolution receive no mention.
• The Renaissance and the Scientific Revolution — both world-transforming developments — appear only once: to highlight the role that Islam played. (“Identify the influence of Islamic centers of learning on the European Renaissance, the scientific revolution and society today.”)
• On World War II, students learn almost nothing about the war itself, since the third draft omits the second draft’s benchmark on the war’s “causes and conduct, including the nations involved, major political and military figures and key battles.” The Holocaust gets similar superficial treatment.
• The draft is silent on the Soviet Union and its gulags, the Chinese Cultural Revolution, Pol Pot’s Killing Fields and North Korea. Instead, it reserves a tone of outrage for U.S. “imperialism” and “oppression.”
• The third draft does include two new benchmarks on world religions, apparently added in response to public pressure.
To see the complete report of the third draft of proposed Standards go to https://education.mn.gov/MDE/dse/stds/soc/ and click on the link “Third draft of the Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards.”
To see the existing Standards go to https://education.mn.gov/MDE/dse/stds/soc/ and click on the link “Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards in Social Studies 2011.”
The initial public comment period in the statutory rulemaking process closes on Friday, January 14, 2022, at 4:30 p.m. To provide feedback on the standards as a part of the statutory rulemaking process review the Request for Comments document posted on the MDE rulemaking webpage for the proposed K-12 academic standards in social studies (https://education.mn.gov/MDE/about/rule/rule/k12social/). Comments must be submitted to the Office of Administrative Hearings’ e-comments system (https://minnesotaoah.granicusideas.com/discussions/37919-minnesota-department-of-education-request-for-comments).
It is important that your voice be heard and comments about any aspect of the proposed social studies standards can additionally be made to the following:
1). Dr. Heather Mueller, Commissioner, Minnesota Department of Education, 1500 Hwy. 36 West, Roseville, MN 55113 or via email: mde.commissioner@state.mn.us.
2). Doug Paulson, Director of Academic Standards & Instruction: doug.paulson@state.mn.us.
3). Andrew Mathews, District 15 State Senator: fill out form at https://www.senate.mn/members/email-form/1222.
4). Shane Mekeland, District 15B representative: rep.shane. mekeland@house.mn.
5). Aaron Jurek, Becker school board chairman: use link at https://www.becker.k12.mn.us/home/school-board, and
6). Jeremy Schmidt, Becker school superintendent: use link at https://www.becker.k12.mn.us/departments/superintendent.
