Clashes Over Proposed Virginia History Learning Standards Delay Reviews
FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va.—Over 50 teachers, historians, activists, and students spoke against the newly proposed history and social studies standards at the Virginia Board of Education’s meeting on Thursday. As a result, the board instructed the Department of Education to submit a revised proposal and delayed the first review to early next year.
The new guidance principles (pdf), released on Nov. 11, emphasize individual liberty and representative government as cornerstones of the American way of life and adopt President Ronald Reagan’s “shining city upon a hill” view of the nation.
Most of those who objected to the new November version urged the board to adopt the August version (pdf), mainly drafted under the previous Democrat Gov. Ralph Northam. They accused the November version of “white supremacist indoctrination,” a “whitewashed version,” and labeled it “the Youngkin standards,” referring to the Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin….