North Carolina history-lesson changes fizzle

Posted to: Education News North Carolina
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By Catherine Kozak
The Virginian-Pilot
© February 18, 2010

North Carolina's curriculum controversy may soon be history. The proposal to start high school history courses at 1877 is likely to disappear in the next curriculum draft due in April.

"I would expect that will not be part of that second draft," said Vanessa Jeter, communications director for the state Department of Public Instruction, on Wednesday. "I would expect there will be more U.S. History in high school."

After a teacher tipped off Fox News about the proposal, the department got 7,000 e-mails and hundreds of calls - mostly negative. Many respondents mistakenly thought the Civil War and other events would be left out. Earlier history would be covered in lower grades.

On Tuesday, a department official told the legislative Education Oversight Committee that state educators understand that the public clearly wants "the whole scope" of U.S. history taught.

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How about four courses?

Submitted by Lorenzo on Thu, 02/18/2010 at 7:34 pm.

How about the High Schools follow the lead of the Universities and break the scope of US history into definable significant sections:

Four courses – History of The U.S. to 1865 (end of the Civil War), History of the US 1865 to 1917 (start of WWI), History of the US from 1917 to 1991 (End of the Cold War), History of the US from 1991 to the Present (the start of the Oil Wars).

Makes much more sense to me.

History

Submitted by vabeach757 on Thu, 02/18/2010 at 9:53 am.

has a tendency to repeat itself - study of history should not be decreased, but increased in school. US history should be a year unto itself - if not more; each state's history should be at least one semester just on that state. Students today do not get enough history.....and you know what they say about those who do not know or study history (the doomed to repeat the mistakes part) - you know, like we're going through now.

The dumbing down of or kids

Submitted by pathfinder 01 on Wed, 02/17/2010 at 2:49 pm.

in government schools continues!!

Dumbing down? not in Southern Chesapeake

Submitted by Chesapeake on Thu, 02/18/2010 at 4:51 pm.

Heck, it wouldn't surprise me if the Chesapeake Public School system announced that they were going to start teaching nuclear physics in kindergarten :-). I've witnessed first hand one Chesapeake public school graduate become a surgeon, one a pharmacist and another a nuclear engineer! I can't count the number I know who have received full ACADEMIC scholarships not SPORTS scholarships. I think the knee jerk "charter" school chant is just a cop out for the failure of parents to actually help their kids in school, instead of worrying how much overtime both parents can make to buy that mcmansion size house or new car. The answer is PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT, not stressing out our over worked and under paid public school teachers with "standardized" testing!