A conversation started this past spring after the legislature passed a law requiring that new diploma tracks be developed that better linked high school graduates in Indiana to careers in needed areas. Coming on the heals of many changes to Indiana K-12 social studies, it is not surprising that this change continues the Indiana legislature’s, Governor Holcomb’s, Katie Jenner’s, and the Indiana Department of Education’s drive to marginalize social studies, world languages, the arts and music in Indiana’s public-school curriculum. For the class of 2029, economics and geography will go the way of behavioral science and disappear from the K-12 curriculum. A personal finance class will now be taught in high school by mathematics teachers, who have little training to do so and are already stressed out for being blamed for all of society’s ills. I fear that this is a strategy for dealing with potential teacher shortages, simply by doing away with the courses social studies are teaching. Why is the State of Indiana declaring that teachers in other content areas are more important than social studies teachers?
What’s more, Purdue University, Indiana University, Ivy Tech Community College, Ball State University, Indiana State University, Vincennes University, University of Southern Indiana all signed off on the proposal (https://www.in.gov/doe/about/news/stakeholder-feedback-drives-significant-updates-to-second-draft-of-indiana-diploma-proposal/) indicating that they were ready to sacrifice their social studies education students and alumni. I do not understand this. Perhaps a call to your alumni association asking why the donations to the university from K-12 social studies educators are less valuable than the donations by alumni from other disciplines. Certainly, a review and comment from the social studies education community in Indiana is warranted. Please visit https://www.in.gov/doe/diplomas/#NEW__Second_Draft_of_Proposal_To_Redesign_High_School_Diploma_Requirements to comment.
I understand the need to examine if Indiana P-16 public schools are serving students, parents, and their communities well, but I am questioning why such a drastic change to the public education curriculum needs to start in Indiana. This change, based on an idea hatched in Florida, should use students in another state as the guinea pigs for the impact of this huge and underfunded change. Why is Indiana going first and not Florida? Perhaps that question should be posed to your legislator.
Chris McGrew is a Past President of the Indiana Council for the Social Studies and a methods instructor at Indiana State University. He is a former secondary social studies teacher at Carroll J/S High School and a former state social studies specialist with the Indiana Department of Education.
