What Does NCATE Have to Say to Future History Teachers? Not Much

According to current NCATE standards, social studies teachers must be well versed in economics, history, sociology, political science, psychology, anthropology, science and technology, and the arts. In short, they must know everything. Mr. Wineburg dismisses these standards as totally unrealistic and argues that prospective social studies teachers should be prepared to focus on a few crucial skills that will make a real difference in the lives of their students. EVERY SPRING Massachusetts tests young people on the history contained in its impressive 140-page standards document, the Massachusetts History and Social Science Curriculum Framework. See how well you do on items high school students are asked to identify: * Battle at Fort Wagner * Younghill Kang's East Goes West * Ludwig von Mises * West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette1 Similarly, California initiated its "Standardized Test and Reporting (STAR) Assessment" in 2002, a test that aligns with that state's standards in history and social science. Try your luck with these items: * the fundamental principles in the philosophies of Locke, Montesquieu, and Blackstone; * the Allied strategy in the Battle of Okinawa; * the 442nd Regiment Combat Team, Hiram Johnson, and Dwight Moody; and * the legal issues in Adarand Constructors Inc. v. Pena.2 Following a protracted debate, Minnesota's legislature unveiled new standards in May 2004. Their 80-page, 26,512-word document included the following famous names and events: Baron Von Steuben, Margaret Fuller, and Alfred Thayer Mahan; the Treaties of Fort Stanwicks and Hopewell; the Panic of 1819; the Battle of Manilla Bay; the Sussex Pledge; the Dumbarton Oaks Conference; and the Omaha Platform of 1892.3 No, these standards are not aberrations, products of some loopy school board high on "Jeopardy. " They carry the legislative signatures of our most populous and influential states. Given the ubiquity of standards documents -- nearly every state has produced one in the last decade -- let's review what standards are supposed to be. Originally, "standard" had two meanings. A flag or image hoisted during battle, the standard of war rallied the troops behind a common cause. The second meaning comes from the ancient marketplace: hawkers of foodstuffs once employed a hodgepodge of weights, plying them according to whim and cupidity. Out of this farrago came a "standard of measure" - - a system of weights that applied equally to all. So it is supposed to be with our modern version of standards: knowledge whose importance is self-evident and which should form the cultural inheritance of every citizen. Is Adarand Constructors Inc. v. Pena (a Supreme Court case about awarding contracts to minority firms) or the Panic of 1819 (a monetary shortage that left many Ohioans destitute) a fact that should be at everyone's fingertips? In Minnesota, every future welder and beautician in St. Paul, every soon-to-be bricklayer and physician's assistant in Duluth, every construction worker and waitress in Minneapolis should be able to demonstrate knowledge of South and East Asian civilizations (to choose one of the 27 substrands under "World History") by comparing and contrasting nations in terms of "cultural universals of economic, political, social, religious, philosophical, and technological characteristics," which would include, among other things, knowledge of the Mohenjo-daro, Ashoka, Zhou, Qin, and Han Dynasties, ancient Japan's Yamato period, and the writing of the Vedas in ancient India.4 Who knows? Who knows this stuff? One thing's for sure: it's not our kids, whose problems are of a different order of magnitude. Two-thirds can't even date the Civil War within the proper half century, and over half thought we fought the Soviet Union in World War II.5 Ask a high school student whether the Korean War came before or after World War II, and you are likely to be met with a blank stare. …