It’s Pearl Harbor Day – But, there’s no guarantee Kentucky’s students will learn about it

Today is December 7th – “A date which will live in infamy” in President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s famous speech calling for a declaration of war against the Japanese Empire. It is one of the pivotal moments in American history. And, it’s something every Kentucky child should learn about before finishing public school.

But, there is no guarantee that all Kentucky public school students will learn about this important attack because Kentucky’s current social studies standards, which are supposed to tell us about the minimum number of things every child should know about, never mention Pearl Harbor. You won’t find any mention of the Japanese Empire, either.

The closest these very vague and incomplete standards get to Pearl Harbor is an overly broad and general statement that says students will:

 “Analyze the role of the United States in global compromises and conflicts between 1890-1945 in the Spanish American War, World War I, the Interwar years and World War II.”

That incredibly broad statement doesn’t even come close to ensuring coverage of this important battle and many other major battles in World War II, let alone the huge sacrifices Americans serving in our military and on the home front made to eventually win this terrible worldwide conflict.

And, that’s just not right.

You can do something about this.

Our legislators can call up the regulation that adopted these terrible social studies standards at anytime and find that regulation deficient, which would send the standards back to the Kentucky Department of Education for more work.

 So, as you honor our fallen at Pearl Harbor today, take a moment to call Frankfort (502-564-8100) and ask the operator to take a message for Senator Max Wise and Representative Regina Huff, the co-chairs of the Interim Joint Education Committee. Ask them to take action to ensure all Kentucky children learn about Pearl Harbor and a lot more the standards also overlook.

Learn more about the problems with Kentucky’s social studies standards in our report, PRESERVING HISTORY, Problems with Kentucky’s Social Studies Standards, Must be Redone.