Memorial Day 2021

Do Kentucky’s public school children have a clue about what it’s about?

This week Americans honored the country’s many men and women who gave their lives defending our country in times of war.

 It was an important time to reflect and to remember the more than 1 million US citizens – including several thousand who perished during the “Day of Infamy” Pearl Harbor attack that catapulted the United States into World War II – who went to war, never to return home.

It’s fitting and proper for grateful citizens to honor those who perished to preserve American freedom; in fact, it’s an essential part of our heritage and culture.

But, do many Kentucky public school children have even a ghost of an idea about what is being honored?

The problem, you see, is Kentucky’s current Academic Standards for Social Studies, dated July 2019, pay scant attention to the wars this nation has fought. Some, such as the War of 1812, the Mexican–American War, the Korean War, The Vietnam War, and every war since Vietnam get no mention at all.

In fact, while state law forces schools to have an observance for Veteran’s Day, there is no requirement to even mention Memorial Day and the closest the standards even come to such a mention is a Kindergarten standard that only says that all the nation’s holidays “may” be discussed but does not mandate such coverage. Using “may” isn’t the correct language to create standards for what every Kentucky child is supposed to learn.

It gets worse. Though some are briefly mentioned, other wars get scant attention in Kentucky’s social studies standards. For example, it’s not until high school that World War II gets terse mention in one very broad and vague standard, HS.UH.CO.3. This standard just says:

HS.UH.CO.3 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.

 The only other mention of World War II in the entire social studies standards document is in the introduction to the section for the high school standards, where it is mentioned that students should “analyze the role of economic and political influences on what it means to be an American domestically and in World War II.” This doesn’t ensure any coverage of key things like the personalities involved or the many battles fought in World War II let alone the many American lives that were lost.

For sure, key players like Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin, Hideki Tojo, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Douglas MacArthur and many more are never mentioned.

Also omitted are any specific references to important terms relating to the war such as Nazism, Fascism and Japanese Imperialism. Political terms of major importance in other conflicts such as Communism are also totally absent in the document.

The overly broad and incomplete language in the social studies standards certainly won’t guarantee that all students will learn about such things as the attack at Pearl Harbor or any of the other major battles in World War II that cost many American lives.

Overall, public education’s failure to create a document that ensures all Kentucky’s children learn about all of these important parts of the wars this nation has fought – and about a host of other important things also omitted or just glossed over in the standards – is just – failure.

You can do something about this. Contact your legislator to have the regulation that adopted the social studies standards pulled for review and a finding of deficiency. That would force the standards to be sent back for a lot more badly needed work. Legislators can do this regulation review at any time, even out of session. Sooner would be better.