Martin Luther King Day is tomorrow
But, he’s never even mentioned in Kentucky’s social studies standards
Americans celebrate one of the nation’s most important civil rights leaders tomorrow with a formal national holiday in his honor.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was highly active in the civil rights movement, ultimately paying for his devotion to improving the American experience with his own life. His peaceful marches in support of improved civil rights and his many speeches on the subject, including his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, delivered on August 28, 1963 on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, provide solid testimony for the holiday established to honor him.
You would think anyone who has a national holiday established in his honor deserves to be mentioned by name in Kentucky’s social studies standards. Those standards offer the only way we can ensure that all Kentucky children learn about the people behind this and other important US holidays.
But, right now, King is not afforded the honor of any mention in the Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies. Washington, Jefferson and Daniel Boone make the cut. There is also a specific mention of Henry Clay and Sam Adams (not John Adams nor John Quincy Adams, however), but that’s about all. King and a host of other important historical personages such as Abraham Lincoln are never mentioned. NOT ONCE!
So, you will understand how embarrassing and disrespectful this really is, I looked at how some other states treat King in their standards.
I expected to find a mention of King in the very highly regarded Massachusetts social studies standards and was not disappointed. King is actually mentioned around a dozen times in that state’s standards. The “I Have a Dream” speech is mentioned in four separate areas, as well.
But, I wondered what would happen when I looked at the current social studies standards for Mississippi? After all, King spoke of Mississippi in his “I Have a Dream” speech as “a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression.” How would Mississippi treat King today?
On Page 73 of Mississippi’s current social studies standards, it specifically requires high school students to:
“Describe the significance of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail and his I Have a Dream speech.”
And, King is mentioned in other areas of the Mississippi standards, as well, along with other individuals who have been important to the civil rights movement like Medgar Evers, James Meredith, Fannie Lou Hamer and Charles Evers, none of whom are mentioned at all in Kentucky’s social studies standards, either.
Oh, Mississippi doesn’t just require a simple regurgitation of facts, either, as the quote above proves. That state also requires analysis and thinking from students.
Then I wondered, how about Alabama? It turns out the document that presents Alabama’s social studies framework (not the full curriculum – it’s a standards-like document) also mentions King in multiple places. That’s really remarkable considering King talks in his “I Have a Dream” about “Alabama with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification.”
Clearly, times are changing in Mississippi and Alabama.
Are times frozen in Kentucky?
By the way, the vacuousness in Kentucky’s standards concerns a lot of parents. With such vague standards, Kentuckians really have no idea about what our children are learning in school. That leads to strong desires on the part of many parents, advantaged and disadvantaged, to have more choices regarding where their child goes to school. It’s a freedom idea that Dr. King would certainly support – once he got over the shock of the Bluegrass State never even mentioning him in its public school standards.
So, let’s really honor Dr. King in Kentucky by specifically listing him in the state’s social studies standards. Our legislators can start the process to do this anytime, in session or out, by finding the regulation that adopted Kentucky’s social studies standards, 704 KAR 8:060, deficient. That would send these standards back for more reflection and work at the Kentucky Department of Education, something I suspect Dr. King, who did a bit of writing about the importance of education, would appreciate.