(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 10 years. A first draft of revisions to the standards for social studies was issued Dec. 1, 2020. An article in the Patriot on March 11, 2021 (https://patriotnewsmn.com/news/proposed-revised-mn-social-studies-standards) compared some of the existing social studies standards to the proposed revised ones. There was significant public opposition to the revisions. As a consequence, a second draft revision of the standards was issued July 30, 2021. The long-standing elements (strands) of the social studies curriculum were Citizenship and Government, Economics, Geography, and History. Ignoring the earlier public response, the second draft added a new fifth element, Ethnic Studies.

The standards summarize the content to be learned at each grade level in K-12 and benchmarks identify the specific knowledge to be mastered for that standard. The first draft consisted of 32 pages, and did not contain any benchmarks. The second draft consisted of 168 pages, goes into much more detail and adds new “benchmarks.” According to MDE, the second draft is intended to provide guidance for the interdisciplinary study of the social, political, economic, and historical perspectives of the diverse racial and ethnic groups in America.

Some significant historical milestones were missing in the first draft but included in the second. However, the addition of a new fifth element, Ethnic Studies, introduces concepts that promote Critical Race Theory (“CRT”), and those concepts are now found throughout the standards and benchmarks. 

Pursuant to CRT ideology, one’s race would no longer be taught as a biological fact (one’s skin color as black, white, brown, etc.), but instead as a “social construct.” CRT ideology holds that race is not based on biology, but on social thoughts, primarily that whites are oppressors and all others are oppressed. CRT characterizes existing policies as perpetuating racism, producing “systemic racism” in established American institutions and government. CRT’s vocabulary includes “identity”, “a cultural lens,” “equity”, and “systemic” (through behavior, symbols, and systems, shaping culture). Race becomes the primary concern and educational content focuses on specific experiences of oppression rather than a color-blind approach as in historical and current social studies standards.

Examples of the revised social studies standards that demonstrate CRT include:

17. Explain sense of place through ways of knowing (culture) and ways of being (identity) from different perspectives, centering Indigenous voices.

22. Use historical methods and sources, inclusive of ethnic and Indigenous studies methods and sources, to understand and reflect upon the roots of contemporary social systems and environmental systems of oppression and apply lessons from the past to eliminate injustice and work toward an equitable future.

23. Develop an understanding of the ways power and language construct the social identities of race, geography, ethnicity, gender etc. Apply these understandings to one’s own social identities other groups living in Minnesota, especially those whose stories and histories have been marginalized, erased or ignored.

24. 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 human rights and dignity of all.  

CRT is likewise found throughout the benchmarks:

The History strand requires third graders to “Recognize diverse points of view and develop an informed awareness of how our positionality (i.e., gender, race, religion, and  culture, class, and geography, etc.) influences historical perspective.”; and fourth graders to “Analyze anti-colonial and anti-racist resistance movements of culturally, racially and ethnically diverse people throughout the world.”

The Geography strand requires ninth graders to “Explain the social construction of race and how it was used to oppress people of color and assess how social policies and economic forces offer privilege or systematic oppressions for racial/ethnic groups related to accessing social, political, economic and spatial opportunities.”

The Ethnic Studies element especially promotes CRT, requiring, for instance:

• Kindergartners will describe their personal identity including, but not limited to, region, race, language, gender, family, ethnicity, culture, religion and ability;

• First graders will construct meaning of the terms ethnicity, equality, liberation and systems of power and identify examples;

• Third graders will be required to explain the role that stereotypes and images, including those that are racist, play in the construction of an individual/group’s identity … and why stereotypes have changed over time;

• Fourth graders will identify the processes and impacts of colonization and examine how discrimination and the oppression of various racial and ethnic groups have produced resistance movements;

• Sixth graders will identify and explain how discrimination based on race, gender, economic, and social group identity created and continues to affect the history, health, growth, and current experience of residents of Minnesota;

• Ninth graders will examine the characteristics of freedom movements; develop an analysis of racial capitalism, political economy, anti-Blackness, Indigenous sovereignty, illegality and indigeneity.

To see the complete report of the second draft of proposed Standards go to https://education.mn.gov/MDE/dse/stds/soc/ and click on the link “Second 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 comment period on the second draft closed Aug. 16, 2021, but 17,000 MN residents responded, demanding that the Ethnic Studies element be eliminated because it presents a totally negative view of America and focuses on oppression and ideology. It is still important that your voice be heard and comments can 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.