HAMPTON ROADS, Va. — There are growing concerns about what Virginia students will be required to learn in the future. The Virginia NAACP isn't happy with the curriculum proposed by Governor Youngkin's administration.
According to a draft proposal on the Department of Education's website, students wouldn't be required to learn about Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. until the 6th grade.
The NAACP said that's unacceptable. The organization is also taking issue with a section of the document that explains the transition of humans from Asia to the Americas at the end of the last Ice Age, referring to them as "America's first immigrants."
The Virginia NAACP sent a response to News 3. A portion of the response is below.
"The recommended revisions to the curriculum are divisive and will deny Virginia’s school-age children the opportunity to learn accurate American history. The Final Report of Recommendations offered by the Virginia Commission on African American History has been disregarded. In its place, the new proposed standards are replete with inaccuracies and material omissions. It is outrageous that the draft proposal has erased Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. from the K-5 standard. The treatment of Reconstruction has an inadequate representation of Black Americans; there is no mention of Juneteenth and the discussion of the ancient empire of Mali, which illustrates that the history of African-descended Virginians began before the Atlantic slave trade, is removed from the third-grade standard. Compounding erasures of People of Color, there are only two mentions of the contributions of Asian[1]Americans and Pacific Islanders to American history. Indigenous People are inappropriately and inaccurately referenced as America’s “first immigrants,” despite the undisputed fact that they were well-established, thriving civilizations in the Americas thousands of years before the advent of European colonization. “These revisions illustrate that politicians and educators are attempting to reify the myth of American exceptionalism."
Virginia NAACP
News 3 asked the Department of Education about the complaints. The full response is below.
"Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth were inadvertently omitted from the draft document posted last week. This has since been rectified. Content about Mali has been moved from the third grade to the fifth grade. The draft standards document includes new, detailed standards about slavery, the Reconstruction and Jim Crow eras, and the Civil Rights Movement. Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow - in remarks during today's state Board of Education meeting - apologized for language in the draft standards describing the ancestors of Virginia's indigenous communities as immigrants. She promised to remove this language from the draft."
Charles B. Pyle
Director of Communications & Constituent Services
Virginia Department of Education
Governor Glenn Youngkin's office also responded Thursday. A spokesperson said this draft actually expands the depth of content required on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The full statement from the governor's office is below.
"The August 2022 draft policies developed under the previous Administration had significant errors in their standards, including omitting key historical references to hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan, and Sen. Hiram Revels of Mississippi, the first African American to serve in Congress, and more, which have now been incorporated into the new draft. Despite various claims to the contrary, Martin Luther King Jr. Day is included in the revised standards and, in fact, they have expanded the depth of content required on the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Through public comment, review, and input from Virginians, state and national historians, and various community organizations since January 2021, the draft standards are being molded to ensure our students learn all our history - the good and the bad. The draft history standards are in the initial stages of the State Board of Education's review process and will continue to undergo revisions informed by public engagement sessions and Board hearings. This process is focused on ensuring Virginia has the best history standards and curriculum for our students."
Macaulay Porter
Spokesperson for Gov. Glenn Youngkin
These proposed guidelines are still being reviewed and would still have to be voted on by the board next year. It's important to note that the draft only highlights requirements. Schools could still add to this.
More public engagement sessions and board hearings are planned but haven't been scheduled yet.
