POLS RAC Response to Request of Vice-Chancellor Papp

DOE Proposed Curriculum

Social Studies

March 4, 2004

 

 

SUMMARY:

 

            The consensus regarding the proposed K-12 Curriculum in the social studies discipline is specifically limited to an agreement that:

a.     The proposed curriculum is ambitious in terms of scope and depth;

b.     If Georgia students WERE exposed to and ABLE to absorb the structure and process of American Government to this extent they would be well educated; and

c.     American Government students at the college level currently come to us ill prepared and generally lacking even the fundamental knowledge of how the American political system works.

 

 

Although not a part of the consensus above, specific critical comments regarding concerns of the POLS RAC are very important and so are enumerated below:

 

1.     Does the curriculum cover all of the knowledge and skills necessary for success in college core curriculum courses in the subject area? Are the necessary content and skills covered in sufficient depth to prepare students for college?

                                                              i.     If anything, the material is too comprehensive. It would, if taught and learned, cover everything that is taught in POLS 1101 and some of POLS 2101 at the college level. A schoolteacher is probably not prepared to handle all this material.

                                                               ii.     High school students would be better served and better prepared for college core curriculum course work if their high school curriculum focused on making sure that they understand the basics of United States government structure and operation.

                                                                 iii.     There is insufficient emphasis on US political history, particularly the colonial period on through Reconstruction.

                                                                 iv.     The curriculum does not place American Government in the current context of global events and issues, although doing so may be asking secondary schools to do what the university level is not consistently doing either.

                                                               v.     There is not discussion or attention given to political/policy issues. Students need to understand why government is important to them. Government is more than institutional facts. Some of this concern is reflected in (vi) immediately following.

                                                                 vi.     An important gap is the lack of focus on the operations and policy process of government. While attention is appropriately given to specific aspects of some policies, like civil rights, there is very little systematic attention paid to:

1.     The role of political legitimacy in anchoring a government;

2.     How policies arise;

3.     How government works;

4.     The role of political parties;

5.     How leaders are elected, chosen or emerge;

6.     How power is maintained or thwarted;

7.     How accountability is assured or avoided; and

8.     How laws are made.

2.     Will the adoption of this curriculum lead to a higher level of college preparation for Georgia high school graduates?

                                                              i.     We do not have enough knowledge of the current curriculum to fully answer this question.

                                                               ii.     It may do just the opposite. Students and teachers may be too overwhelmed by the amount of information contained in the proposed courses.

                                                                 iii.     Social studies teachers are not required to take the requisite college courses to give them the background to teach all of this material. Area F of the college curriculum has no requirement of a course dealing with the courts or the court system and yet Unit 5 and 8 include a comprehensive knowledge of the Federal Courts and the criminal justice system, respectively. Both of these Units are beyond the ability of a normal high school teacher to teach.

 

 

3.     Is it consistent with our expectations for entering freshmen?

                                                              i.     It is higher than what we currently expect from the students we have now.

                                                               ii.     Students should have a better understanding of how actual politics takes place. The present curriculum puts too much weight on understanding specific political events without this context.

                                                                 iii.     The general skills are set in such general terms that it would be very difficult to measure the results. They seem unrealistic, given what we have seen in our incoming freshmen.

 

4.     Are the content and tasks accurate and relevant?

                                                              i.     Only if high school teachers have enough time in the OVERALL scheduled curriculum to do a good job in the coverage of this subject matter.

                                                               ii.     Some of the content is inaccurate in the broad sense that it ignores much of politics. Some of the skills required are dubious as well. There is too much activity requested without clear analytic purpose, for example, designing a monument recognizing certain people or events.

                                                                 iii.     Throughout the curriculum, one stated goal is for students to “recognize the unique opportunity to participate in government that is afforded in the United States”. Any of the advanced democracies (Great Britain, Germany, Japan, etc.) permit participation in government. The statement is jingoistic and should be changed.

                                                                 iv.     In Grade 3 much attention is given to the rights guaranteed by the Constitution, but the original purpose of the Constitution was to unite the states. The Bill of Rights was only added because of pressure from the states to further restrict the national government. Rights are not the sole focus of the Constitution.

                                                               v.     In Grade 4 there is a lot of discussion of democracy, but the concept of a republic also deserves emphasis. The difference between democracies and republics is more than just a semantic argument.

                                                                 vi.     In the high school sections there is much discussion on the impeachment of a president, but not of Constitutional impeachable offenses or the fact that other federal officers (judges) may also be impeached, and are much more likely to be.

                                                                  vii.     In the critical thinking section the term of propaganda should be explained and illustrated so that students/citizens can not only tell the difference between fact and opinion, but also know when political leaders are using emotional language to manipulate them.

                                                                    viii.     Moot Court requires too much content knowledge for a high school class to be able to cover it well in addition to the other materials required. Moot Court teams at the high school level work long hours outside of school class time to prepare for trials. A class cannot do that.

                                                                ix.     While many of the assignments are consistent with our expectations for entering freshmen, many unfortunately are not. For example, with regard to U.S. History 9.1, students are asked to “Create a political slogan, poster, rap etc. for either Harry Truman or Thomas Dewey in the election of 1948”. Assignments should require serious analysis; they should not reinforce the worst tendencies in American elections.

 

 

5.     Does the alignment of content and skills within and across grade levels appear to be appropriate?

                                                              i.     The proposal is too comprehensive for high school students. The material referenced is actually taught in at least 3 different college courses.

                                                               ii.     Unit 8 is asking students to resolve issues that have plagued societies from the beginning of time.

                                                                 iii.     Some of the material is relevant only to those students who intend to pursue degrees in political science or perhaps criminal justice (i.e. knowledge of the criminal justice process).

                                                                 iv.     The general topics are appropriate to the age groups, but the content is so broad as to offer only topical treatment at best.