Who should write history lesson? Teachers or politicians

A revolt is brewing among Georgia teachers who contend their input into the new social studies standards is being ignored to placate political agendas.

In a letter to teachers, the Georgia Council on the Social Studies explains, “Teachers from all over Georgia took time away from their classrooms to spend very long days revising the Georgia Performance Standards and using the comments of the 9,000 as a guide. At each step along the way, teachers and others documented the changes and cited support and commentary from the surveys. Another important component of the committee work was that the majority of teachers wanted a more conceptual framework. Yet, the additions cited above would make the entire K-12 curriculum more fact-based than conceptual.”

But the draft released by the State Board of Education does not resemble what the committee sent over, says the council. Instead, the draft includes suggestions from politicians.