European Association of History Educators

Source: HNN; 12 March, 2010

While on a trip to the east coast from my home in Berkeley I get the news that yet another Native American site on California's northwest coast has been vandalized. Between the 1780s - when Thomas Jefferson dug up a huge cemetery containing a thousand human remains - and the 1970s, when the Red Power movement began to put amateur and professional archaeologists on the defensive, the discovery and excavation of native skeletons was promoted as good sport, entrepreneurial initiative, and sound science.

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Source: Dallas News; March 12, 2010

AUSTIN – After getting ripped by the Texas Education Agency, Fox News on Thursday sought to clarify some of its reports on the state's social studies curriculum debate. While not apologizing for the reports, Steve Doocy of the morning show Fox & Friends said the network had been "trying to make it simpler" for viewers to understand the process by reporting that the State Board of Education was reviewing new textbooks.

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Source: Sierra Sun; March 12, 2010

March is Women's History Month. Women are an integral part of society and the shaping of history as a whole. Women's History Month is a time when we recognize the important contributions women have made. Knowing some of the facts and ideas surrounding Women's History Month may increase people's appreciation.

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Source: CNS NEWS, March 11, 2010

A new Rasmussen Poll shows that 60 percent of Americans with children in elementary schools say most school textbooks are more concerned with presenting information in a politically correct manner than in accuracy. In a national survey conducted March 6-7, 1,000 adults were asked: “Are most school textbooks more concerned about accurately providing information or about presenting information in a politically correct manner?”  
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Source: Star-Telegram, March 12th 2010

The Texas State Board of Education took back up its revision of social studies curriculum standards Thursday morning and almost right away, the issue of minority representation bubbled into a lively debate. In a process that has gained national attention, the board is making amendments to a proposal to update the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for social studies. They could take a first vote on the proposal Friday. A final vote is expected in May.

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Source: Technician; March 10th 2010

For those of you who follow the news or detest history classes, recent events regarding the instruction of history in elementary through high school may have caught your attention. And if you hated history classes, then you suddenly wish the news surrounding the reform of North Carolina’s history curriculum happened before you had to sit through those dry, boring lectures about the Federalists, Whigs and the Missouri Compromise.
It is the esteemed opinion of this columnist that the proposal, which would mandate education in history from 1877 on (or divide the curriculum into two classes, pre-1877 and post-1877), fits with the general atmosphere of the times.

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Source: My Fox, March 10th 2010

AUSTIN, TX - It's a battle of the books.  Who should be included in school history textbooks and who should be left out?  The latest battlefield is in Texas, where some noted people are being left out of the curriculum. U.S. history - what our children learn in school, depends on the history written in their textbooks.

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Source: Seacoast online; March 9th 2010

Dennis Robinson's article (March 1) on New Hampshire's black history was excellent. It's important to mark the progress that's been (and is being) made, bringing this vital topic into public awareness. My quibble: Dennis didn't mention the lack of such progress in most of our school curricula and textbooks — especially for those formative elementary years. As a visitor to schools in conjunction with my historical novels about New Hampshire's early African American history, I find little has changed since I went to grade school more than 50 years ago.

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Source: San Francisco Sentinel; March 9th 2010

The relative decline of American education at the elementary- and high-school levels has long been a national embarrassment as well as a threat to the nation’s future. Once upon a time, American students tested better than any other students in the world. Now, ranked against European schoolchildren, America does about as well as Lithuania, behind at least 10 other nations. Within the United States, the achievement gap between white students and poor and minority students stubbornly persists—and as the population of disadvantaged students grows, overall scores continue to sag.

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Source: My Fox; March 9th 2010

AUSTIN, TX - Student textbooks are making news and there's a heated debate underway after one school district is accused of trying to re-write history.It's a story you're going to be hearing about a lot more in the coming days from Texas. For much of the past year, the Texas State Board of Education has been discussing changes to the way the state teaches history - they basically plan to re-write social studies textbooks.

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