Ohio lawmakers on both sides of the aisle want to change the way students learn about government, history and more.
On the one hand, Democrats and advocates made their case for changes to the K-12 social studies model curriculum at a news conference Tuesday, and members of education associations and minority advocacy groups pushed for passage of House Bill 171. .
The bill would require the Ohio State Board of Education to “update” social studies classes in the state by July 1, 2024, and “introduce information about migration journeys, experiences, and contributions to society in different communities at different ages.” This instructs students to include “instruction appropriate to their grade level.” in Ohio and the United States. ”
Those communities would include African Americans. Asian American and Pacific Islander. Arab, African and North African immigrants, refugees and exiles. Appalachian region. Jew. Latin Americans; Native American communities, according to the bill.
Olentangy High School student Saanvi Gattu said, “This bill will not only benefit our students, but the state as a whole.”
Linna Jordan said as someone who immigrated from Mexico when she was 8 years old, she understands what inclusion means to students.
“It’s really important for kids to look at themselves in their learning,” Jordan said.
Jordan, who currently serves as president of the Hilliard Education Association, said that including the stories of all the communities that call America and Ohio home is “the most responsible thing we can do as a state.”
The bill is sponsored by state Rep. Mary Lightbody (D-Westerville) and includes the Ohio chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Ohio Education Association and its Hispanic Caucus, the Ohio Progressive Asian Women’s Leadership, It also has the support of Black-led Organization Collaborative Group (Block).
A Republican-led bill that has already seen committee activity since its introduction in March is House Bill 103, which would create a “Social Studies Task Force” to develop academic standards for K-12 social studies. The aim is to create a
However, these studies have a specific model in HB 103, which specifically targets the standards set forth in “American Birthright: The Civics Alliance’s Model K-12 Social Studies Standards.”
The Civics Alliance is a New York-based organization whose mission statement, which predates Born Right, states, “To preserve and improve American civics education and to prevent its subordination to political recruitment tools. We are committed to preventing it.”
HB 103’s co-sponsor, state Rep. Don Jones (R-Freeport), is listed as a state policy maker with the American Birthright Coalition.
The standards promoted by the Civics Alliance encourage student instruction that teaches “America’s common language of freedom, patriotism, and national memory,” rather than social studies that are “filled with hostility toward our ancestors and fellow citizens and alienated from our country.” It is said that there is In the American birthright document.
“The distortions in American social studies instruction have left a group of activists dedicated to overthrowing America and its freedoms, a large number of Americans unconcerned with the steady chipping away at American freedoms, and too ignorant and useless about the past. “Our tradition of freedom to judge the debates of our time has created many people who do not.” states the Alliance in “America’s Born Right.”
The Ohio bill is supported by the America First Policy Institute as well as conservative groups such as the Common Sense Society and the Freedom Education Foundation.
At a recent hearing on HB 103 by the House Committee on Elementary and Secondary Education, the American Historical Association expressed “serious concerns” about using the product as part of the state curriculum and said it was He said that the idea of a “special committee” was unnecessary.
“Few Ohioans would agree with the premise that the state needs more bureaucracy,” the AHA told the committee. “Even fewer people would support the idea that yet another board with a clear political mission would streamline an already complex education policy-making process.”
The AHA says that special focus on the American-born rights model “holds students back” in “fun fantasies” of history such as colonization by European empires, “without meaningfully addressing evidence to the contrary.” He said he was deaf.
“These standards are not the product of evidence-based research. They are simply dangerous, untested documents that, if adopted, would represent a disastrous loss of opportunity for Ohio students, parents, teachers, and schools. “imposition,” the group said in committee testimony.
The bill is also opposed by the Ohio Federation of Teachers, the Ohio Education Association, Public Education Partners, the Ohio Children’s Defense Fund, and the Ohio Social Studies Council.
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