In Texas It's Social Studies that's the Enemy of Good Textbooks

During the past 20 years, history has been removed from public schools and replaced with social studies. This new subject crams geography, psychology, sociology, religion, culture, government, and history into the 55 minutes that schools once devoted daily to teaching the past of our state, nation and world.

The National Council for Social Studies says the multi-disciplinary subject helps students "construct" the knowledge, skills, and attitudes required of good citizens. Social studies focus on "contemporary conditions of real life," facilitate "specialized ways of viewing reality," and promote the "common good" of all people.

History is missing from the topics that the Council recommends for classroom learning, passed over for "Individual Development and Identity," "Culture" and "Global Connections."

Knowledge of history is dwindling. The National Assessment of Educational Progress' latest History Report Card shows few high school students know why the Civil War was fought or why the Continental Congress met. Only 10% scored on grade-level, a number unchanged from 1994 when the history test was first administered. Fourth and eighth grade students scored a trifle better; nearly 20% scored as "proficient, but fewer than 25% of 4th graders knew about the Boston Tea Party and less than 50% of 8th graders knew why Americans were able to win the Revolutionary War.

Fully 73% of college graduates surveyed at three Arizona universities recently failed a history test based on the NAEP. Only 14% identified James Madison as Father of the Constitution, although 93% recognized Snoop Doggy Dogg. Historical illiteracy is a national affliction, according to studies commissioned by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni. Over 80% of seniors surveyed at 55 of the nation's most elite colleges and universities failed a similar test in 2000.

The relationship between historical illiteracy and social studies seems fundamental. Schools don't teach history--students don't learn it. But this connection eludes educational pundits who call for more social studies and blame schools (inadequate course requirements) and teachers (insufficient credentials) for the amnesia of Americans under the age of 30.

Research recently published by the Texas Public Policy Foundation offers a sobering warning about Social Studies. The next generation of social studies textbooks proposed for use in Texas and the nation are miserly about history. Textbooks not only begrudge history, history is tainted with errors and partial facts that sacrifice objective interpretation for brevity.

This spring, the Foundation commissioned 16 experts to review Social Studies textbooks submitted for adoption by the State of Texas. Twenty-eight textbooks were reviewed: Grade 6 World Cultures, Grade 7 Texas History and Grade 8 American History before Reconstruction, American History after Reconstruction, American Government and Economics. Each textbook was examined by two reviewers: a Social Studies teacher and a university scholar teaching or published in the subject. Among the reviewers is a research fellow at the Stanford University's Hoover Institute and the Director of the American Textbook Council. Reviewers were selected on the basis of academic qualifications, without political litmus, and asked to determine how well textbooks meet Texas' requirements for classroom learning. Their unedited evaluations are published at http://www.tppf.org.

What conclusions did reviewers reach? Textbooks with a broad range of quality can satisfy state requirements. All textbooks contain errors but some textbooks contain more than others. Some errors are simple; one text identifies John Marshall (not John Jay) as the first Supreme Court Justice. Other errors are complex; another text states that Rosa Parks took a seat in the middle section of the bus where both African-Americans and Whites were allowed to sit (falsely suggesting integrated busing - so why bother to boycott?).

Meeting state requirements, all of the textbooks lacked sufficient history to meet them well. Although only 25 % of Texas's Social Studies standards pertain to history, reviewers produced a 972-page list of the historical facts needed to ensure students acquire sufficient knowledge to recognize the importance of key events and people. Some omissions are grievous: no mention of Abraham Lincoln in a description of the Civil War and no use of the term "free enterprise" in a section on the U.S. economy.

The textbook review identifies the history missing from Social Studies and offers an instructional supplement for teachers who want students to feast on history instead of pop culture and self-exploration. The review also offers a blueprint for reviewing textbooks with objective criteria, combined perspectives of practitioners and academicians, and independent scholarship. Most importantly, the review reveals the need to restore history in public education if students are to become literate.

Reviving history education will not be an easy task, based on the reception that our review has received in Texas. The Texas Council for Social Studies petitioned the State Board of Education to disregard the findings. The Texas Freedom Network, an organization founded to oppose Christians and funded by the Texas State Teachers Association Political Action Committee, is waging an aggressive "I Object" campaign in state and national media. They cast the textbook review as a veiled effort of "religious conservatives" to "censor" textbooks. Their unfounded, dishonest criticism deflects public attention away from textbook content and undermines a forthright effort to improve curriculum.

Some social activists think Henry Ford was right when he said, "History is more or less bunk. We want to live in the present and the only history that is worth a tinker's damn is the history we make today." For some, teaching history is not only bunk, it's dangerous and they're right. Knowledge of history binds Americans to E. pluribus Unum - shared culture, allegiance to democratic ideals and common identity.

More importantly, history is education. George Santayana's words, speaking from the past, offer wisdom today. "Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

If history is to matter, public schools must discard social studies or refocus the studies on history. Texas's textbook adoption, determining the textbooks that will be used throughout the nation, offers an opportunity to restore history education and reclaim America's memory.