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Only 35% of fourth-graders knew the purpose of the Declaration of Independence. The news was even more dire in high school, where 12% of 12th-graders were proficient.

NORFOLK The principal of Sewells Point Elementary School has apologized to parents for a teacher's classroom exercise last week that cast her black and mixed-race fourth-graders as available for sale. The apology came after the teacher separated the students from their white classmates and auctioned them, division spokeswoman Elizabeth Thiel Mather said. The exercise was part of an April 1 class on the Civil War. In an April 6 letter sent to parents of students in the class, Principal Mary B. Wrushen wrote: "I recently became aware of a history lesson that was presented to the students in Ms. Jessica...

(Television series proposal, submitted to History Channel, Discovery Channel, A&E, Learning Channel, Disney, et al, by Word-Wise Productions.) Marketing context: American public education has been dumbed down, neutered, rendered dull and boring. Little is taught. One thing especially is not taught. History. There is thus an unfed hunger for History real, raw, and revelatory. Everything that makes children and adults love History has been eliminated from History. Starting in the 1920s, progressive educators used a gimmick called Social Studies to constrict the teaching of History. Less was taught, and taught in a less interesting way. Throughout the 20th century History...

Of Pedagogy & Propaganda Mary Grabar, March 17, 2010 Your column “As the Third World Turns” did a good job of pointing out the even larger entanglement between the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) and organizations putting on workshops about Islam for teachers. However, I feel that your (largest) section about Barbara Petzen’s presentation left out some very important points. When I wrote that Petzen offered a “defense for Muslims who rioted and killed over the publication of cartoons about Muhammad” I meant that as an assessment in the context of her presentation. I took into account her...

AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas State Board of Education agreed to new social studies standards on Friday after the far-right faction wielded its power to shape the lessons that will be taught to millions of students on American history, the U.S. free enterprise system, religion and other topics. In a vote of 11-4, the board preliminarily adopted the new curriculum after days of charged debate ... Decisions by the board — long led by the social conservatives who have advocated ideas such as teaching more about the weaknesses of evolutionary theory — affects textbook content nationwide because Texas is one...

AUSTIN, Texas – Parents, teachers and activists lined up Wednesday for the chance to help shape the way history — topics from the Roman Empire to Texas cosmetics queen Mary Kay Ash — will be taught to millions of Texas children for the next decade. The State Board of Education began taking testimony ahead of a tentative vote later this week on new social studies curriculum standards that will serve as the framework in Texas classrooms. But, as usual in votes before the conservative-led board, the wide-reaching guidelines are full of potential ideological flashpoints. Early quibbles over how much prominence...

Claims made by the anti-marriage side of the Proposition 8 battle that unfolded last year in California asserted that unless marriage parity was stripped away from gay and lesbian families, children in kindergarten would be "indoctrinated" through school lessons teaching them about alternative families. Though education officials denied this, the message resounded with voters, who rescinded existing family rights for gays and lesbians at the ballot box last November. But even though gay and lesbian families lost access to marriage in that state, California parents are still asserting that kindergartners are being exposed to lessons about gays and lesbians in...

Here is video of some parents of kids at the New Jersey school where children were coaxed into singing praises to President Obama, giving their reaction. Some parents are outraged by it, but others seem to think it was fine. . . . (VIDEO)

Social Studies curriculum group had tossed out traditional American history to make room for left-leaning agenda The Texas State Board of Education on Wednesday came down with a reprimand on its social studies curriculum working group after a draft proposal of the group’s new curriculum came to light showing a series of far-left changes that education bureaucrats wanted to install in place of the traditional Texas social studies curriculum.

NEW ORLEANS -- The American Civil Liberties Union is urging Louisiana school officials to respect students' right to express their views on the day when Barack Obama is sworn in as president. In an open letter sent to school superintendents this week, ACLU of Louisiana executive director Marjorie Esman expressed concern that students in some Louisiana communities were punished for voicing support for Obama's victory in the November election. Esman says some students were told not to mention Obama's name or discuss the election at all. She is encouraging schools to treat Inauguration Day next Tuesday as a teaching tool.

Teachers bringing inaugural to classrooms Richard C. Gross Monday, January 12, 2009 Teachers nationwide will have a chance to bring to their students President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration and the history lessons it can teach. The American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association jointly developed five suggested lesson plans about the inauguration plus a recommended reading list, most of which are geared to grades six through 12, according to the Presidential Inaugural Committee.

FRIENDSWOOD — Parents of some junior high students are upset they weren't notified about a school presentation on Islamic culture, an omission that violated school district policy. The parents' letter-writing campaign stems from a May 22 presentation at Friendswood Junior High, where two Muslim women gave a 30-minute presentation about Islamic life as part of a yearlong study of respect, tolerance and culture, The Galveston County Daily News reported Saturday. The guest speakers discussed Muslim culture, including topics such as food, religion, dress, beliefs and famous Muslims. School district spokeswoman Karolyn Gephart said principal Robin Lowe had "best intentions," but...

TIPP CITY, Ohio — When 83-year-old Edmund Jackson uses a hand trimmer to clip the grass, one of the 22 pieces of shrapnel in his right arm dances under the skin of his wrist. ---- snip ---- The schoolbook program is designed to spark greater interest in history by giving students an emotional connection to it and showing them it’s made by real people like themselves.

"I don't want to read anymore of this!" My son angrily threw his history book on the ground. When he cooled down a little, I asked him what was wrong, and he told me in tears about The Trail Of Tears. He couldn't take it. He didn't want to face the fact that our blessed Nation could do something so wrong. He couldn't believe that a lot of our Founding Fathers had been slave owners that had written about freedom while benefitting from the fruits of slave ownership. He was shutting down before my very eyes as to the love...

I was sorting out some papers over the weekend ... and came upon one of my favorites. It's a page out of an "Activity Book" published by Harcourt Brace, now called Harcourt Education. This page is entitled "Rights & Wrongs" and comes from the Harcourt social studies textbook "United States in Modern Times." The heading for this page says: "In the late eighteenth century many people complained that the Constitution did not list rights of the people. So the authors of the Constitution decided to write a Bill of Rights. These first ten amendments to the Constitution state simply and...

CARY – After closely examining the immunization records and marriage and birth certificates of the eighth-grade “immigrant” with a magnifying glass, Brent Lueck asked him the important question. “You’re from Ireland,” he said. “Are you a Catholic?” Lueck said he was worried that the “immigrant” might try to subvert America in the name of the pope. “I’ve got some issues with you, some loyalty issues.” It was just one example of the mock prejudice faced by about 120 eighth-grade students Friday at Cary Junior High taking part in a simulation of immigrant arrivals and experiences at Ellis Island. Millions of...

If history matters to you, then voters should pick Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton and Republican Fred Thompson as their parties' presidential nominees. That's because they are the choice of America's social studies teachers. In a miniconvention sponsored by Pearson, the education and media giant, Clinton, the former first lady viewed as the most experienced in the field, was first with 41.9 percent, followed by Sen. Barack Obama with 34 percent and John Edwards at 12.3 percent. On the GOP side, Thompson, the actor and former Watergate prober, won 23.2 percent, followed by Rudy Giuliani at 20.5 percent and surging Mike...

U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and former U.S. Senator Fred Thompson of Tennessee are the top choices for the 2008 Democratic and Republican nominations for President of the United States, according to the nation's first Presidential "Primary" of voters at the National Council for the Social Studies annual conference in San Diego. Sponsored by Pearson, more than 700 of the nation's social studies teachers flexed their voting muscles and put the principles they teach about every day into action by casting their votes. Senator Clinton won her party's nod with 41.9% of the vote. Senator Thompson was...

Thanksgiving's coming and you're concerned that your third-grader doesn't know much about the Pilgrims. Join the club. Educators in North Jersey and across the nation say social studies have been given short shrift in today's classrooms -- neglected in the drive to spend more time preparing for math and reading tests mandated by the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. Just 27 percent of high school seniors were deemed "proficient" in civics and 53 percent had "below basic" knowledge of U.S. history, according to a federal report last year. Anecdotal evidence of a lack of civic knowledge seems to...

SEATTLE – A letter from the Seattle School District is raising some eyebrows about Thanksgiving and how it should be handled in the classroom. The letter tells school district staff that the holiday is seen by many Native Americans as a "time of mourning." It all started three years ago when some Native American parents voiced concerns about how Thanksgiving was being observed in Seattle Schools. "In terms of what they were seeing in some of the use of the feathers and those things because those are of spiritual and ceremonial significance to us," said Willard Bill, Seattle Public Schools....