In response to an article I

wrote outlining the "dumbing down" of the high school history

curriculum [The Citizen, Jan. 28, 2004], the state Department of Education

has released a statement entitled "The Truth about Georgia's

New Curriculum" [by Georgia Superintendent Kathy Cox, The Citizen,

Feb. 4, 2004]. Unfortunately, it contains numerous inaccuracies and misrepresentations.

The following information details my response to them.

Item 1: The State Department

article says, "A Georgia teacher claimed that our new social studies

curriculum would not serve the state's students well."

My article dealt with the high

school world history curriculum and high school U.S. history. It was not

an attempt to discuss the social studies curriculum at all grade levels.

I firmly believe the new high school history curriculum is seriously flawed.

I have communicated with numerous others in my field from across the state

who share my concerns.

Item 2: "The truth is

that nearly all of the laundry list of names and events listed in his

letter actually are in the new curriculum, and were never in the old curriculum

to begin with!"

My article listed 32 items

not in the new high school history curriculum. (These follow.) I never

wrote that these were not included in the social studies curriculum; I

stated that they would not be studied on the high school level. My statement

is completely and entirely accurate.

Furthermore, the article is

misleading in its statement that these "were never in the old curriculum

to begin with."

Below I have listed all of

the 32 topics I mentioned in my original article and where a teacher would

discuss each topic as a part of the present curriculum.

Following are 18 topics presently

included in world history and 14 topics presently included in U.S. history

that are not a part of the new Georgia Performance Standards (GPS) high

school world and U.S. history curriculum. After each item is the Quality

Core Curriculum (QCC) topic number in which the item is presently discussed.

Because the QCC is fairly general, each item may not be mentioned by name

in the curriculum; however, each item is covered by teachers as a part

of the topic.

World History Topics taught

in the present curriculum:

- Teachers discuss Ancient

Egypt as part of QCC World History Topic 2.

- Teachers discuss Socrates,

Plato, Aristotle, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, The Iliad,

The Odyssey, development of democratic government in Greece, and the fall

of the Roman Empire as part of QCC World History Topic 3.

- The Buddha and Confucius

are discussed as a part of QCC World History Topics 3 and 4.

- Jesus is discussed as

a part of QCC World History Topic 5.

- Feudalism, Joan of Arc,

and William the Conqueror are discussed as a part of QCC World History

Topic 5.

- Muhammad is discussed

as a part of QCC World History Topic 6.

U.S. History Topics taught

in the present curriculum:

- Teachers discuss the

Louisiana Purchase, Lewis and Clark, Indian removal, and the Trail of

Tears as part of QCC U.S. History Topic 13.

- The Alamo is presently

discussed as a part of QCC U.S. History Topic 15.

- Daniel Webster and Henry

Clay are discussed as a part of QCC U.S. History Topics 13, 14, 15, and

18.

- Harriet Tubman, Frederick

Douglass, the Underground Railroad are discussed as a part of QCC U.S.

History Topic 16.

- Civil War, Fort Sumter,

Abraham Lincoln, and Robert E. Lee are presently discussed as a part of

QCC U.S. History Topic 20.

To recap, the 32 topics that

I listed in my article are presently taught throughout the state by high

school history teachers. That is just a sampling of topics that will NOT

be taught if the GPS are followed by teachers.

Item 3: "Judaism, for

example, was not even mentioned in the old curriculum."

QCC World History Topic 2 plainly,

clearly, and specifically notes the study of "Judaism and historic

development."

Item 4: "Classical civilizations,

meanwhile, were covered in one sentence in the old Quality Core Curriculum."

This statement is quite misleading.

There are 28 topics in the QCC World History curriculum. One of the 28

is the study of classical civilizations (Topic 3). Almost all of the 28

topics (such as Topic 3) consist of merely one sentence.

However, because Topic 3 of

the QCC World History curriculum is one of 28, the study of these civilizations

comprises almost 4 percent of the present world history curriculum.

The new curriculum does not

provide for discussion of classical civilizations because the GPS specifically

states that the world history curriculum will begin with AD 1500.

Item 5: "In the unit on

ancient Greece alone ..."

There is NO unit on ancient

Greece in the new high school world history curriculum. The first lines

of the new high school world history curriculum state, "The student

will explore world events from 1500 to the present." There is no

discussion of any ancient or medieval history in the new high school curriculum

because those two periods of history occurred before 1500.

Item 6: "Teachers have

been provided with suggested student assignments, including ... Alexander

the Great ... The Iliad and The Odyssey ... Athens and Sparta ...."

These are suggestions for teachers

in the lower grades. The topics are not mentioned in the new high school

world history curriculum. Elementary teachers lack the subject area knowledge

to teach these subjects in sufficient depth and their younger students

lack the maturity required to understand some of the more complex issues

included in the study of these civilizations.

Item 7: "The writer contended

that The Iliad and The Odyssey weren't mentioned in the new curriculum."

Absolutely false. My clear

contention, and the fact is, these items are not mentioned in the high

school curriculum.

Item 8: "Neither of Homer's

epic works were included in the old curriculum."

Teachers throughout the state

discuss these two poems as a part of QCC World History Topic 3.

Item 9: "Far from eliminating

Plato, the Civil War ...."

I never said these were eliminated

from the curriculum. I said, and they are, eliminated from the high school

curriculum.

My response is not meant to

be a complete dissection of the article entitled "The Truth about

Georgia's New Curriculum." It is merely intended to specify

the falsehoods, misrepresentations, and half-truths contained in the article.

The QCC does need revising.

Few argue otherwise. My position is that the scope (time frame) of the

high school history courses should not be changed.

The present (old) curriculum

(Quality Core Curriculum or QCC) can be accessed on the web at www.glc.k12.ga.us/qcc.

The proposed curriculum (Georgia

Performance Standards) can be accessed on the web at www.glc.k12.ga.us/spotlight/gps2.htm.