Donnie Wilkerson, Kentucky’s History Teacher of the Year in 2011, rides an automobile instead of a horse. However, in some ways his message to the Kentucky Board of Education today about the continuing effort to trash Kentucky’s social studies program with a terrible revision to the standards for that course of study does relate to another patriotic citizen’s ride over two hundred years ago to warn the citizens of impending danger.

Almost exactly one year ago, Wilkerson first mounted his campaign to tell Kentucky about a terribly misdirected effort to radically revise Kentucky’s social studies standards. Along the way, this proposed revision would wipe out many references to important material every Kentucky child should know such as information about major wars this country has fought from the American Revolution to both World Wars and even the recent Persian Gulf War.

Also to be axed were many other important topics such as all mentions to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement.

In the end, Wilkerson pointed out that the revised standards – supposedly based on an incomplete document called the C3 Framework – were “devoid” of history content. He also said that he and other members of the first team assembled to rewrite Kentucky’s social studies standards were summarily fired from that task when they refused to go along with a clearly terrible plan.

Flash forward one year. The C3 Framework-based social studies revision still festers at the Kentucky Department of Education, likely to resurface soon, little changed from its first terrible incarnation from 2014.

So, Wilkerson again mounted his “charger” today and sped to Frankfort to warn the state board yet again of the pending disaster.

This time out, Wilkerson pointed out in detail how the current, content “devoid” social studies standards proposal clearly does not comply with requirements in state law laid down in 2009’s Senate Bill 1.

Hear Wilkerson’s new call to arms in this recording, which also includes a one-on-one with me recorded after the meeting.