Clashes Over Proposed Virginia History Learning Standards Delay Reviews
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FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va.—Over 50 teachers, historians, activists, and students spoke against the newly proposed history and social studies standards at the Virginia Board of Education’s meeting on Thursday. As a result, the board instructed the Department of Education to submit a revised proposal and delayed the first review to early next year.
The new guidance principles (pdf), released on Nov. 11, emphasize individual liberty and representative government as cornerstones of the American way of life and adopt President Ronald Reagan’s “shining city upon a hill” view of the nation.
Most of those who objected to the new November version urged the board to adopt the August version (pdf), mainly drafted under the previous Democrat Gov. Ralph Northam. They accused the November version of “white supremacist indoctrination,” a “whitewashed version,” and labeled it “the Youngkin standards,” referring to the Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
Edward Ayers, a historian at the University of Richmond, said he contributed to the August version on the subject of African American history. “It was satisfying to help rectify the many omissions and misrepresentations that have marred history education in Virginia for generation after generation,” he told the board.
Another speaker said during a public comment, “When I read the [November] standards, from the early grades, it seems to be all about compliance, about following the rules. It isn’t really about using student voices to influence decisions that affect their lives. And so, I really question whether we’re really getting an agency and an engagement through this curriculum.”
The August version included all three components—guiding principles, standards of learning (SOL), and the curriculum framework—in one document over 400 pages. The November version took the same approach as the 2015 version, which is currently taught in practice, by separating the SOL (the “what”) and the curriculum framework (the “how”).
Virginia state superintendent Jillian Balow reminded that some members of the board said the August version was “confusing,” “repetitive,” and “not accessible to either teachers or the general public as a usable document.”
Balow also said that one of the voices the August version missed in capturing was parents—parent groups other than parent-teacher associations. And the November version requires the provision of “open access” to all Virginia public schools’ instructional materials to parents and teachers to “facilitate open and balanced discussions on difficult topics, including discrimination and racism, and present learning opportunities without personal or political bias.”
The board reached a consensus at the end of an all-day meeting that Balow would use the November version as the basis, incorporate elements of the August version and public comments on the August and November versions, and resubmit to the board a proposed version with highlighted changes between the current 2015 SOL, the August version, and the November version.
The tentative schedule for the following review is January 2023.
Aug. Version Gives ‘Permission’ to Teach Deeper Against Love of America
“Conservative teachers don’t speak up for fear of backlash. We want standards that give a full balance of truth and age appropriateness to the social studies curriculum,” a middle school history teacher in the Virginia Beach City Public Schools District told The Epoch Times. She didn’t want to disclose her name for fear of adverse effects on her job.
She welcomed the November version of the history SOL: “Gov. Youngkin and Jillian Balow are giving another opportunity for a curriculum so that all narratives are considered, and voice heard.”
“The governor made a promise to parents,” she said. “[Parents] don’t want their kids coming home wanting to protest against the country or our values as Americans. I grew up to be proud of my country. Granted, our country has the good, the bad, and the ugly. But we are still the greatest nation in the world. And we’ve got to create good citizenships, that kids are going to be proud of our country.”
In 2021, she served on her school district’s African American History Resources and Design Committee. In that capacity, she reviewed for her district the resource materials based on the December 2020 curriculum framework updated from 2015.
One of these changes highlighted that the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness stated in the Declaration of Independence “only applied to white men” at the time. And she felt conservative voices and resources were “clearly ignored.” Conservative teachers felt that even though the school district said it didn’t teach critical race theory—a Marxist theory that America is systematically racist—the idea was embedded in the teachings.
According to her, teachers have the latitude to teach however they want as long as they teach according to the SOL. In other words, the November standards version may not deter a history teacher from teaching that America is systematically racist.
However, the August version “gives them permission to teach it deeper and deeper. They are going to say, look, here, it’s in the curriculum. I can teach it this way. That gives them permission.”
She added that those who opposed the November version of the history standards wanted to push their agenda and didn’t want anything in writing that contradicted their views.
‘Leftists Throwing a Tantrum’
At the Board of Education meeting, many representatives from the indigenous, Jewish, and Asian American groups spoke against the November version of the history SOL. Balow apologized for the initial error in the November version of calling indigenous people “immigrants.”
Commenters also criticized the November version for leaving out Martin Luther King Jr. Day. “Despite various claims to the contrary, Martin Luther King Jr. Day is included in the revised standards, and, in fact, [the November 2022 draft policies] have expanded the depth of content required on the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,” Gov. Youngkin spokeswoman Macaulay Porter wrote in an email statement to The Epoch Times.
“Through public comment, review, and input from Virginians, state and national historians, and various community organizations since January 2021, the draft standards are being molded to ensure our students learn all our history—the good and the bad,” she added.
Many also called the November version “disrespectful” for discarding input from historians and other experts.
To this, Balow explained, “One thing that I heard loud and clear this morning is that a lot of the commenters believed that their input was gone. If it’s not in the standards document, it’s gone. That is not the case.” She added that the upcoming curriculum framework would incorporate much of the input.
“This is difficult, but I think that these struggles equate to a great document at the end,” said Balow after the board reached a consensus on moving forward.
Mike Gonzalez, a senior fellow at the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation, had a different view of the showdown of group criticism at the board of education meeting.
“Leftists are used to getting their way and throwing a tantrum every time they don’t get their way,” he told The Epoch Times. “They want a complete transformation.”
“Now, does America have faults? America is not perfect. America needs improvement. But it does not need dismantling. But this left that we’re facing, which is really a Marxist left, is not interested in improvement; they were only interested in dismantling,” he said.
“[Leftists] understood that they need cultural infiltration, indoctrination. And teaching kids that the country is bad is one of the main aspects.”
Gonzalez added that teaching children that their country wasn’t lovely would prompt the desire to dismantle the nation, and that’s why the November version of history standards faced so much backslash.
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Terri Wu is a Washington-based freelance reporter for The Epoch Times covering education and China-related issues. Send tips to terri.wu@epochtimes.com.
