Does everything have to be partisan these days?
Apparently, it does -- even the curriculum plans that guide our students through American history.
North Carolina education officials have drawn the ire of conservative pundits nationwide recent because of a proposal to change the way the state's students learn about American history.
Fox News even highlighted the possible changes in a recent on-air segment, causing angry Fox viewers to flood the state Department of Public Instruction with complaints.
Under the proposal, ninth-graders would take a course called global studies.
The 10th grade still would study civics and economics, but 11th-graders would take United States history only from 1877 onward.
If the state were planning to completely discontinue teaching the history of America before 1877, that's one thing. But they're not.
Instead, students would learn about the years before 1877 in elementary and middle grades, rather than studying the entirety of American history in 11th grade.
Actually, the plan allows for even more attention to be placed on all of United States history.
The Civil War is such an important event in our history that it deserves much more time than an 11th-grade teacher can pay it in a couple of weeks early in the semester.
Learning about the presidency of Martin Van Buren or the ins and outs of the Louisiana Purchase may be important. But the 20th century is important too.
Yet once an 11th-grade teacher gets to the Great Depression or the Vietnam War or the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the semester is almost over under the current curriculum. And it is these recent historical events that will have a more direct role in shaping their future.
By the time a student gets to 11th grade he or she should already know about the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Our students should have a concrete knowledge of the foundations and inner-workings of our Constitution.
But couldn't they learn more from concentrating on these important documents, along with what they mean in today's America, in civics class.
The new proposal would actually ensure that all facets of American history are studied with the depth they deserve.
All this "outrage" propagated by the Fox Newses of the world seems to be a little misplaced. Or just another sign of our partisan times.
