Editor’s Note: The National Association of Scholars (NAS) and the Civics Alliance works to ensure that every state has academic standards that promote first-rate education and protect school children from political indoctrination. We promote reform of content standards in every state, and we have been asked by Louisiana citizens to comment on the draft Louisiana Standards: Social Studies (LSSS). We have read these standards (draft of September 23, 2021). We conclude that LSSS, unfortunately, uses misguided pedagogical principles and has been politicized to forward a radical curriculum aligned with Critical Race Theory and Action Civics. Its substitution of World History for Western Civilization erases America’s history of liberty and operates at too large a scale to allow teachers to teach effectively. We recommend that the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) revise that draft thoroughly.
We have sent the following letter to the Louisiana BESE.
Louisiana State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education
1201 North Third Street
Baton Rouge, LA 70802
October 14, 2021
Dear Louisiana State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education,
The National Association of Scholars (NAS) and the Civics Alliance works to ensure that every state has academic standards that promote first-rate education and protect school children from political indoctrination. We promote reform of content standards in every state, and we have been asked by Louisiana citizens to comment on the draft Louisiana Standards: Social Studies (LSSS). We have read these standards (draft of September 23, 2021). We conclude that LSSS, unfortunately, uses misguided pedagogical principles and has been politicized to forward a radical curriculum aligned with Critical Race Theory and Action Civics. Its substitution of World History for Western Civilization erases America’s history of liberty and operates at too large a scale to allow teachers to teach effectively. We recommend that the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) revise that draft thoroughly.
We know that your current remit is to consider line-by-line critiques of the existing draft. We therefore provide these below in our Suggested Emendations section of this letter, and we will submit these as well via your electronic public comment portal.1 We do not believe, however, that the LSSS can be modified in detail and provide an adequate social studies education for Louisiana K-12 students. We explain these larger flaws in our Strategic Analysis section of this letter. We recommend to you, to Louisiana policymakers, and (most importantly) to Louisiana citizens a thoroughgoing revision of LSSS. We urge you to enact as many of these reforms as currently lies within your statutory power, and we urge you to request the Louisiana state legislature and governor to pass into law any legislation necessary to facilitate these proposed reforms.
Photo by Rosie Kerr on Unsplash
