NC students will learn about personal finance. But it will mean less US history.
North Carolina high schools will likely have to reduce how much American history is taught and change the social studies requirements for current students to fit in the legislature’s new mandated personal finance course.
Starting in the 2020-21 school year, high school freshmen will have to take an economics and personal finance course before they graduate. State education officials said Wednesday that the only way to fit in the new financial literacy class is to remove one of the two now-required U.S. history courses.
Additionally, officials said they’ll need to revise the social studies graduation requirements for current students to ease the transition on high schools. This will mean students will graduate the next few years taking different social studies courses depending on what their school can offer.
“We don’t know how else to fix this,” said Sneha Shah-Coltrane, director of advanced learning and gifted education at the state Department of Public Instruction. “This is the best move forward to allow schools to do what they need to do.”
The State Board of Education is scheduled to vote in January on the new graduation requirements. But several members expressed frustration Wednesday at the impact the changes will have on how social studies is taught.
“It may not be the best scenario, but it’s the best possible scenario,” said state board member Jill Camnitz. “I can’t imagine how else you’d deal with the problem.”
Currently, North Carolina high school students must complete four social studies courses to graduate: Civics and Economics, World History, American History 1 and American History 2.
The legislation makes the new finance course and a revamped civics course two of the required classes. It also prevents the state board from requiring more than four social studies courses to graduate.
U.S. HISTORY COURSES CUT IN HALF
“We predicted American history would be cut in half and American history was cut in half,” Angie Scioli, a social studies teacher at Leesville Road High School in Raleigh, said in an interview Wednesday.
Scioli was among a group of social studies teachers who unsuccessfully floated a compromise that would have increased the focus on personal finance in the civics and economics class and moved some of the history instruction from civics to American History 1.
But supporters of the new personal finance course said a standalone class is necessary. The new course, approved in June by state lawmakers, will talk about paying for college, home mortgages, credit scores, car loans, managing credit cards and “the true cost of credit.”
Shah-Coltrane said that unless a change is made, high schools might be forced to offer seven different required social studies courses to accommodate the different groups of students. She said that would make it harder on some high schools.
Instead, DPI is recommending revising what current students would need to take. This way, a school could decide to only offer the four new required social studies classes or some combination with the existing classes.
“To make this legislation happen, it is incredibly complicated,” Shah-Coltrane said.
In this option, current students would need to take World History and either the new civics course starting in 2021-22 or the current civics class.
‘A LA CARTE’ HISTORY
Current students would satisfy the American history requirement by taking a combination of classes. This could include American History 1 and American History 2, American History 1 or 2 and another social studies class, or the new combined American history class and another social studies course.
“This feels like an a la carte arrangement when it comes to history,” said state board member James Ford. “As we think about creating global-ready citizens, it really frightens me.”
State lawmakers said the reason for the new course is to improve financial literacy for students. But Scioli said some current students could now graduate without receiving any personal finance instruction if they don’t take the current civics course or the new financial literacy class.
Board members were also concerned about how American history will be taught if it’s only a single class.
Shah-Coltrane said teachers might have to go more in-depth on American history in elective courses or in the new civics class.
Board vice chairman Alan Duncan asked what will be omitted when American history is just a single course. He was told the new standards won’t be released publicly until next week.
Ford said he’s worried that condensing American history into one course means perspectives of multiple groups, such as African-Americans and Native Americans, will be excluded. Ford said he’s concerned that only the white Protestant male perspective will be presented.
“I’m concerned because the current structure that we have, as a history teacher I feel, puts us in a potential situation where we can create by taking bits and pieces a legacy of historical ignorance at a moment when we least need it nationally in our discourse,” Ford said.
This story was originally published December 4, 2019 at 6:50 PM with the headline "NC students will learn about personal finance. But it will mean less US history.."
