Call to Action
A committee, which included conservative state senator and gubernatorial candidate Patrick Colbeck (R-Canton), has forwarded recommendations to the State Board of Education for controversial changes to Michigan’s K-12 social studies standards. Many of these changes remove references to our diverse cultural history that are important for students to learn about, including:
- References to the Ku Klux Klan are decreased to a single reference in eighth-grade.
- Five references to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People have been cut.
- The two references to gays and lesbians have been deleted.
- References to Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court case legalizing a women’s right to reproductive freedom, are removed.
- References to climate change are cut in the proposed standards, with the impact of man on global warming limited to an optional example sixth-grade teachers can use when discussing climate in different parts of the planet.
- The word “democratic” has been struck from the phrase “core democratic values” 13 times in the standards, in an attempt to be more “politically neutral” according to Colbeck.
The four Democratic members of the 8-person State Board of Education has vowed to block the changes from being implemented. But they need your support!
Attend one of the upcoming public meetings around the state to speak out against these changes – or you can comment online on the new standards now through June 30.
Source: Help stop controversial changes to social studies standards – Michigan Education Association