SC schools: Holocaust will remain in classroom standards

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press


Updated 11:43 am, Sunday, December 17, 2017

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The head of South Carolina's public schools say the word "Holocaust" will be included in the final version of new social studies standards even though it originally was dropped.

The State newspaper in Columbia reports a proposed 124-page revision left out the word, raising questions about whether the Nazi extermination of 6 million people, mostly Jews, during World II would remain a required classroom topic.

State schools chief Molly Spearman says she's "committed to explicitly naming the Holocaust" in the final version of the new social studies standards.

The State Board of Education is scheduled to consider the new standards in September. They're set to take effect in 2020.







Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/education/article/SC-schools-Holocaust-will-remain-in-classroom-12437092.php

[tazkcmo]

1. School boards

If you can, run for a seat. We need to take them back from the Amerika Uber Alles crowd.

[Irish_Dem]

6. Our local school board was taken over by wing nuts.

This is a conservative area, and they got the votes, three wing nuts on a five person school board.

They demanded right away that the the high school start giving religion classes, and that all the science courses be changed to reflect the Bible/religious stories, like creationism, dinosaurs, bizarre stuff like that, etc. This is a highly acclaimed high school with an excellent state rating, a source of great pride in the town.

The high school principal refused flatly to acquiesce to their demands, said that there is a separation of church and state. The wing nuts fired him, effective immediately. This principal was highly respected and dearly loved by students and parents. The school board meeting held after the firing of the principal was attended by hundreds of parent and students, many of whom carried signs and spoke out in the public forum against the school board and in favor of the school and principal. It was an amazing event.

The school board announced shortly thereafter that the firing had been tabled and would be reviewed further. The principal retired the following year, and for the school board and became the president of the school board for a number of years.
Wing nuts became history in this town, and some even moved away they were so disgraced.

[volstork]

7. That's how it is done.

An inspirational story-- thank you for sharing.

[Irish_Dem]

8. Yes exactly, that my friends is how it is done.

It was an amazing experience. The principal was a hero. And the students learned some valuable lessons.

I wish you could have heard the high school students stand up in the auditorium and make their formal statements to the school board, eloquent, mature, well spoken and heart felt. As they read their statements, it was obvious that the principal and faulty were doing an excellent job with their pupils.

The other neat piece: the wing nuts on the school board had talked about running for state congress, they were drunk with power. After this fiasco they moved out of town and no one has heard much about them. They would not have been elected as dog catcher.

[riversedge]

14. Seems like an unbelievable true. Whow. sure am glad you city folks got protesting.

[Irish_Dem]

15. It is a very conservative town, so I was surprised at the uprising.

I am sure the wing nuts were too. Many of the citizens believe what the wing nuts believe.

So what went wrong for the wing nuts? I had not thought about it until now.
I think the citizens put their children first, the excellent school system and beloved principal were more important than the wing nuts. The children from this school go on to good colleges and win scholarships, etc.

And the wing nuts over played their hand by insisting right away that the principal change the curriculum in dramatic ways. And made a mistake in firing him.

If the wing nuts had been more clever and more patient, they might have gotten away with it.

[Mosby]

2. why was this even up for debate?

[sandensea]

3. Probably because a gaggle of Limbaugh-listening parents made a stink about it

This is definitely something we'll have to keep an eye on going forward, because they failed this time but these right-wingers just keep trying in any school board that will give them the time of day.

[lunasun]

4. Because many school boards across the country have been completely taken over by RW nuts

that have no interest in truthful history. They have thier own version and the holocaust does not fit

[kwalter66]

17. Because

No one can be bothers to keep up with their local SB. go to a meeting sometime, if there are 15 people there (including board members) i'll be shocked.

[Irish_Dem]

5. I have the same question.

WWII soldiers who liberated the camps and toured them would be appalled to think American children were not told the truth.

Eisenhower was said to have made the German people tour the camps and look at the atrocities that had been committed in their name.

[Igel]

10. Dunno.

But at least there's the question.

Take my state, for example. It has a required year-long US history requirement. It spends time on the Harlem Renaissance, WWII, the '50s, '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s, and recently added the '00s.

The year is no longer than when I went to school (albeit 45 years ago in a different state). However, we did well in the course of the year to get up to WWII, and spent less time on the '20s and '30s than they do in this state. We were only supposed to get up to the '60s, I guess, since I was in high school in the early-mid '70s.

They have 5 decades that they cover that we didn't. In the same time. What got left out? A lot of things.

It's the same issue a physical chemistry book I have debates. It says it includes all the same topics that the author learned when he was in grad school 30 years ago--but there's so much more that needs to be included. Thing is, the academic year hasn't changed. So whatever you may want to include, you're time-constrained.

In world history in my state, they don't cover much about the USSR besides a bit involving WWII and the Cold War. It means that when I taught a college freshman a number of years ago, she'd never heard of the purges under Stalin and had no idea of the casualties suffered in WWII or the GULags. There was a revolution, a kind of dictator, they helped us in the war and then they turned against the US. But, all in all, the USSR was a nice place. Then they broke up. Most high-school grads have no idea how truly horrible the USSR was. In fact, many come away thinking it was a pretty cool place, too bad it broke up and led to all that corruption and problems in the '90s. All that stuff *could* have been mentioned. But it wasn't required, and there's already too much required that gets dropped.

[Lonestarblue]

9. The Right-Wing Religious Plan

I remember reading a document some years back about the conservative Republican plan to win elections, starting with local positions on school boards. They have been successful and have significantly changed the content of what is taught in social studies and science courses in quite negative ways. Boards of Education in states like Texas (and SC) have an enormous influence on what is taught nationally because those states demand certain content from publishers, who then recycle the content for other states. The goal of the religious and ultraconservatives is to whitewash history so that all progress is attributed to whites. They want the concept taught that the free market is perfect and government is bad. Minorities tend to be portrayed in lesser roles that really weren’t all that important.(!). Likewise women. And of course the content of science books has been a target for the creationists for years. Over the past thirty years, much of the content in these textbooks has been reduced t either to pablum or to outright falsity. We are educating generations of young people who barely have any idea about our real history or how the scientific world works. Truly sad.

[Initech]

11. Scary that there's enough white supremacists in this country...

That this was even up for a debate.

[xor]

12. I hope this was an oversight or simply a poorly reasoned, but non-racist, attempt to streamline

as the spokesperson state. I'm not really following the logic behind that, though. I would like to see the discussions that went behind the decision to remove mentioning of the holocaust.

[riversedge]

13. The department is accepting public feedback on the proposal on its website through February.

The State Board of Education is scheduled to consider the new standards in September. They're set to take effect in 2020.

The department is accepting public feedback on the proposal on its website through February.

[Rhiannon12866]

16. Holocaust Left Off South Carolina Schools' Teaching Curriculum, Sparking Outrage Among Parents

A revision to South Carolina’s state social studies guide left out any mention of the Holocaust, stunning parents.

School officials attempting to calm the public said the genocide—during which more than 6 million Jewish people were killed—will be referenced in the final version of the standards. They said it was omitted from the original draft because department officials wanted to “broaden education standards,” according to The State.

Eileen Chepenik, a board member of the Selden K. Smith Foundation for Holocaust Education, a South Carolina organization, told Newsweek the omission was cause for serious concern in the community.

"Whether it was an oversight, it means our work is still imperative," she said. "We have survivors in our community. They are getting up into their 90s. We must bear witness."

The state schools chief, Molly Spearman, told The State that the Holocaust will be “explicitly named” in the final version of the text, set to be adopted next school year


http://www.newsweek.com/south-carolina-leaves-out-holocaust-social-studies-guidelines-751200