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Richard Vigilante's avatar

Until I read this piece I hadn't even noticed that this was a "studies" course. Thank you.

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Lhfry's avatar

Black history -yes. Black “studies” -no. All of the “studies” were created to accommodate those who couldn’t make it in a traditional discipline. They are opportunities for flogging grievances and spreading propaganda. And now that we have a separate course for one “marginalized” group, there will be demands for AP courses in womens, gay, queer, and other racial and ethnic minority “studies.”

African American history is integral to American history and should be taught as such. That in our past our ancestors owned slaves and perpetuated discrimination for years beyond the slave era is an inescapable part of our history. We diminish the experience and contribution of African Americans by separating it out and reducing it to an opportunity to create activists.

The problem with reforming the public schools is that the left has long mandated its ideology through the system of standards. These standards, which have been developed and imposed over decades will be almost impossible to dislodge. Attempts by some governors to overturn this long-established control over curriculum, discipline, teacher training is being mischaracterized, of course, with the help of the media. This is playing out now in Virginia. State education bureaucracies are a “deep state” that will fight viciously to keep the status quo.

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