ALBANY, N.Y. – State legislators across the country are increasingly directing their schools to teach students more about the struggles and triumphs of different races and ethnic groups – a move critics say amounts to politically correct meddling.
In the latest such example, a new commission in New York will examine whether the “physical and psychological terrorism” against Africans in the slave trade is being adequately taught in schools. The commission is named for the slave ship Amistad, which was commandeered by slaves who eventually won their freedom in the U.S. Supreme Court.
The recommendations could mean rewriting textbooks, which may influence educators in other states, according to the National Council for the Social Studies.
A number of other states have enacted similar measures in the last five years, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Illinois also created an Amistad commission this year and added lessons on the Holocaust, while New Mexico’s legislature required Indian education lessons to be bolstered in kindergarten through sixth grade.
In 2001, New Jersey created an Amistad commission and the Commission on Italian and Americans of Italian Heritage Culture and Education to advise policy-makers.
California created Cesar Chavez Day in 2000 and directed schools to include lessons about the farm labor activist. That same year, Rhode Island directed schools to teach about genocide and human rights violations, including the slave trade, the Irish potato famine, the Armenian genocide of the early 1900s, the Holocaust and Italian dictator Benito Mussolini’s fascist regime.
Virginia also directed schools that year to teach about the accomplishments of people from different ethnic backgrounds and races, women and disabled people.
But while most legislatures enact curriculum changes recommended by education departments, teachers and researchers, New York’s Amistad Commission is a case of the Legislature trying to circumvent the state’s policy-setting Board of Regents.
“Slavery is the backbone on which this country was built,” said Assemblyman Keith Wright, a New York City Democrat who wrote the Amistad bill. “We haven’t even touched the tip of the iceberg in terms of studying it. … I have two children, and I don’t think they have studied the issue thoroughly.”
Critics say the goal of the commission is laudable, but that teachers already have limited time to teach American history. They also say educators are needed on the panel to make sure its recommendations are feasible.
The commission will include 19 unpaid members. Eight will be appointed by the governor, and the rest will be picked by the state secretary of state, the state education commissioner and the majority leaders of the Legislature. Panelists need not be academics.
“It’s like taking a group of teachers and telling doctors how to practice,” said Peggy Altoff, president-elect of the National Council for the Social Studies. “And yet it seems to me that it’s fairly standard practice that everyone seems to be able to tell teachers what to teach.”
New York already requires children to learn about the Irish famine, the Holocaust, the Underground Railroad and “a great deal” about slavery, state Education Department spokesman Jonathan Burman said.
“There’s no question that it’s dabbling,” said Carl Hayden, the former New York state schools chancellor who led the board of regents in developing higher academic standards. “The single most difficult standard that the regents dealt with was the history standard, because it is so potentially controversial.”
Candace de Russy, a State University of New York trustee and national lecturer and writer on academic issues, said she believes the state’s commission opens the door to endless group advocacy-oriented legislation.
“Inherent in it, Jews will decide how to teach the Holocaust, the Irish the Great Famine, Armenians the Turkish genocide, Indians the French and Indian War, and so on,” she said.
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