DCPS Social Studies Curriculum Concerns

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know OP. My 6th grader has zero knowledge of how big the US is or where it is in relation to other countries. He was shocked that it takes less time to fly to the Dominican Republic than San Francisco. I said, “Look at the map - California is much further away.” He said “We learned in Social Studies that maps are bad because they make Africa look small.” 🤡

I'm sorry, did you expect us to believe this? What a dim view of educators you must have, to think that parents would believe such clearly fabricated nonsense.

this is what he told me! if your DCPS child had lessons in basic geography - identifying states and countries on a map - let us know.

6th grade at Deal last year and there was a lot of emphasis on maps and geography. He was better at identifying countries in Africa and Eastern Europe than I was. They covered maps of the whole world by continent and the US by state.

+1 (at Hardy)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know OP. My 6th grader has zero knowledge of how big the US is or where it is in relation to other countries. He was shocked that it takes less time to fly to the Dominican Republic than San Francisco. I said, “Look at the map - California is much further away.” He said “We learned in Social Studies that maps are bad because they make Africa look small.” 🤡

I'm sorry, did you expect us to believe this? What a dim view of educators you must have, to think that parents would believe such clearly fabricated nonsense.

this is what he told me! if your DCPS child had lessons in basic geography - identifying states and countries on a map - let us know.

I know people love their anonymity here, but in this conversation knowing what schools are teaching what could be helpful. It is hard for me to know exactly what my kids learned in school vs. at home because they read a ton and we talk a bunch about history/current events. Once they come home I'd be happy to get them to list what topics they have covered in various grades and come back here. I think it is not helpful to generalize without knowing what school(s) -- the pandemic impacted things, some teachers are stronger than others, some schools are better at including social studies time, some ELA teachers are better at weaving history/civics into which books they read and their projects, etc. Science and social studies were getting the short end of the stick because of our horrible obsession with standardized tests, but that has shifted (at least at my kids ES and MS in their Title 1 Cap Hill schools). They now have science every day and social studies is included in ELA and also as a separate block a few times/week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know OP. My 6th grader has zero knowledge of how big the US is or where it is in relation to other countries. He was shocked that it takes less time to fly to the Dominican Republic than San Francisco. I said, “Look at the map - California is much further away.” He said “We learned in Social Studies that maps are bad because they make Africa look small.” 🤡

What your child picked up may not have been the only thing taught. It sounds like they learned about the Mercator vs the Gall-Peters projections. Additionally, I went to graduate school for history and there are various ways of teaching history. Presenting history as European-centric with an obsessive focus on date is sort of the old fashioned method of teaching history.

If it makes you feel better my DCPS HS student got a 5 on the AP history exam. Kids learn history in DCPS!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know OP. My 6th grader has zero knowledge of how big the US is or where it is in relation to other countries. He was shocked that it takes less time to fly to the Dominican Republic than San Francisco. I said, “Look at the map - California is much further away.” He said “We learned in Social Studies that maps are bad because they make Africa look small.” 🤡

What your child picked up may not have been the only thing taught. It sounds like they learned about the Mercator vs the Gall-Peters projections. Additionally, I went to graduate school for history and there are various ways of teaching history. Presenting history as European-centric with an obsessive focus on date is sort of the old fashioned method of teaching history.

If it makes you feel better my DCPS HS student got a 5 on the AP history exam. Kids learn history in DCPS!

Missing major aspects of world history like the Renaissance is a problem. As is the low low bar set where kids are not expected to learn any facts and dates and instead go straight to theorizing and “inquiry” without knowing anything to base it on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know OP. My 6th grader has zero knowledge of how big the US is or where it is in relation to other countries. He was shocked that it takes less time to fly to the Dominican Republic than San Francisco. I said, “Look at the map - California is much further away.” He said “We learned in Social Studies that maps are bad because they make Africa look small.” 🤡

What your child picked up may not have been the only thing taught. It sounds like they learned about the Mercator vs the Gall-Peters projections. Additionally, I went to graduate school for history and there are various ways of teaching history. Presenting history as European-centric with an obsessive focus on date is sort of the old fashioned method of teaching history.

If it makes you feel better my DCPS HS student got a 5 on the AP history exam. Kids learn history in DCPS!

I think a more "modern" method of teaching history, though, needs to be built on a basic foundation of knowledge. I understand not memorizing dates (we can all look those up on our phones now). But not knowing if the Civil War happened before or after WWII is troubling.

[Anonymous]

I have a DCPS kid in high school who was passionate about reading, writing, and history. But she's saying now she wants to go into the hard sciences because there is less of a prescribed agenda. Every English or Social Studies paper is about "identity" and needs to written in from an oppressor/victim POV to receive a high grade. The kids roll their eyes a bit, but they play the game. It just isn't intellectually fulfilling.

I recommend supplementing with different material and perspectives at home. That's helped us a bit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a DCPS kid in high school who was passionate about reading, writing, and history. But she's saying now she wants to go into the hard sciences because there is less of a prescribed agenda. Every English or Social Studies paper is about "identity" and needs to written in from an oppressor/victim POV to receive a high grade. The kids roll their eyes a bit, but they play the game. It just isn't intellectually fulfilling.

I recommend supplementing with different material and perspectives at home. That's helped us a bit.

Sure, Jan.

The social studies curriculum was rewritten in 2020-2021 with lots of opportunities for the public to contribute. Topics like the Renaissance and world history aren’t covered until HS, but I think DCPS does a good job covering US History, basic geography, and civics in K-8.

[Anonymous]

DCPS middle school students do world gepgraphy in 6th grade, ancient history in 7th grade, and cover ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, ancient China, the Harappa/Mohenjodaro civilization of India, the Axumite kingdoms, and end with Ancient Greece and Rome. (A heck of a lot more world history than I learned at a private school in 7th grade.) In 8th grade they cover US history until the civil war. In 9th grade, they return to world history, covering the Middle Ages (and yes, the Renaissance!), as well as the Ottoman and Mughal Empires and African history etc until WWI. 10th grade is modern world history post-WWI and they return to US history in 11th grade for the period from the Civil War until the present (not sure exactly when modern history ends and current events begin.) My kiddo is extremely engaged in history and we’ve had many interesting discussions about colonialism, the origins of WWI and so on. (My grandparents are from a former British colony so he was able to do a project about independence in that country.)
I think the ELA curriculum is not great in DCPS but have no issues with the history/social studies in secondary school. Whether the teachers are all uniformly as good as the one’s my kid has had is also questionable. But there’s nothing wrong with what they study.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a DCPS kid in high school who was passionate about reading, writing, and history. But she's saying now she wants to go into the hard sciences because there is less of a prescribed agenda. Every English or Social Studies paper is about "identity" and needs to written in from an oppressor/victim POV to receive a high grade. The kids roll their eyes a bit, but they play the game. It just isn't intellectually fulfilling.

I recommend supplementing with different material and perspectives at home. That's helped us a bit.

Sure, Jan.

The social studies curriculum was rewritten in 2020-2021 with lots of opportunities for the public to contribute. Topics like the Renaissance and world history aren’t covered until HS, but I think DCPS does a good job covering US History, basic geography, and civics in K-8.

Lots of parents here, with kids ranging from elementary to middle school to high school, are expressing genuine concerns about what and how their kids are learning social studies. It isn't that they aren't covering US History and geography in K-8 (yes, I get that it is in the official curricula), its that there are enormous gaps and questionable perspectives (i.e. "maps are bad.") Trying to minimize their concerns with a condescending tone is part of the problem. But, thanks Jan.

[Anonymous]

Nobody is teaching the kids that maps are bad. It simply is not happening.

[Anonymous]

This is the last year of ancient history in 7th grade. Next year both 7th and 8th graders are going to be learning US History.

There’s also some talk about 7th science having to be more online, which I dislike as it it’ll likely mean fewer real labs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a DCPS kid in high school who was passionate about reading, writing, and history. But she's saying now she wants to go into the hard sciences because there is less of a prescribed agenda. Every English or Social Studies paper is about "identity" and needs to written in from an oppressor/victim POV to receive a high grade. The kids roll their eyes a bit, but they play the game. It just isn't intellectually fulfilling.

I recommend supplementing with different material and perspectives at home. That's helped us a bit.

This could be a troll but there is a kernel of truth here. My kid is younger I heard something similar from my nephew recently (not in DCPS) about the way they are taught to write in high school. I haaaaate saying this because I think the whining about CRT is overblown, but it does sound like there is so much focus on politically correct thinking that it undermines some basic education. And it backfires too, because the kids don't actually adopt the "correct" viewpoints they are spoon-fed. They get annoyed with how rigid it all is and roll their eyes at it, but have much more nuanced opinions on it all that they simply don't express to adults. Which is actually troubling. They are learning to play a game to parrot certain talking points but then not really engaging with teachers or parents on these issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a DCPS kid in high school who was passionate about reading, writing, and history. But she's saying now she wants to go into the hard sciences because there is less of a prescribed agenda. Every English or Social Studies paper is about "identity" and needs to written in from an oppressor/victim POV to receive a high grade. The kids roll their eyes a bit, but they play the game. It just isn't intellectually fulfilling.

I recommend supplementing with different material and perspectives at home. That's helped us a bit.

+1. We did a lot of supplementing to. It sort of became a running joke at our dinner table. I mean every single book they read is about racism or identity. It’s completely out of whack.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a DCPS kid in high school who was passionate about reading, writing, and history. But she's saying now she wants to go into the hard sciences because there is less of a prescribed agenda. Every English or Social Studies paper is about "identity" and needs to written in from an oppressor/victim POV to receive a high grade. The kids roll their eyes a bit, but they play the game. It just isn't intellectually fulfilling.

I recommend supplementing with different material and perspectives at home. That's helped us a bit.

+1. We did a lot of supplementing to. It sort of became a running joke at our dinner table. I mean every single book they read is about racism or identity. It’s completely out of whack.

What supplementing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a DCPS kid in high school who was passionate about reading, writing, and history. But she's saying now she wants to go into the hard sciences because there is less of a prescribed agenda. Every English or Social Studies paper is about "identity" and needs to written in from an oppressor/victim POV to receive a high grade. The kids roll their eyes a bit, but they play the game. It just isn't intellectually fulfilling.

I recommend supplementing with different material and perspectives at home. That's helped us a bit.

+1. We did a lot of supplementing to. It sort of became a running joke at our dinner table. I mean every single book they read is about racism or identity. It’s completely out of whack.

+1