‘America Is Exceptional But Not Perfect’: Virginia Proposes Major Changes to Social Studies Standards

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin at a "Back to School" rally in Annandale, Va., on Aug. 31, 2022. (Courtesy of Spirit of Virginia)

FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va.—Virginia’s Department of Education (VDOE) proposed significant changes to K-12 history and social studies standards last Friday.

The new guidelines (pdf) are about teaching “all of our history:” “America is exceptional but not perfect.”

“Students will know our nation’s exceptional strengths, including individual innovation, moral character, ingenuity and adventure, while learning from terrible periods and actions in direct conflict with these ideals,” the document wrote.

The revised standards also require the provision of “open access” to all Virginia public schools’ instructional materials to parents and teachers to “facilitate open and balanced discussions on difficult topics, including discrimination and racism, and present learning opportunities without personal or political bias.”

The tone of the new guidelines—consistent with Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s inauguration speech and his first executive order—departs significantly from that of the August 2022 version (pdf). That version, drafted under the previous Democrat Gov. Ralph Northam, included more about diversity and inclusion, racial justice, and gender equity.

According to Virginia law, the Board of Education should revise the History and Social Science standards at least once every seven years. The current version taught in Virginia public schools was implemented in 2015.

In a fact sheet sent to Virginia legislators Friday afternoon and obtained by The Epoch Times, VDOE said the 402-page August 2022 draft, “which attempted to combine both the standards and the curriculum frameworks, and instructional guidance into a single document,” was “unnecessarily difficult for educators to understand and implement” and “inaccessible for parents and families.”

The fact sheet also highlighted changes in boosting understanding of communism, including “identifying modern era genocides including the over 100 million victims of communist regimes” in the 10th grade and “explaining the differences among capitalism, communism, Marxism, socialism, authoritarianism, and totalitarianism” in the 12th grade.

The Virginia Education Association (VEA), a teacher’s union with more than 40,000 education workers in the Commonwealth, accused the new revisions of being politically motivated.

“The standards are full of overt political bias, outdated language to describe enslaved people and American Indians, highly subjective framing of American moralism and conservative ideals, coded racist overtures throughout, requirements for teachers to present histories of discrimination and racism as ‘balanced,’ ‘without personal or political bias,’ and restrictions on allowance of ‘teacher-created curriculum’ which is allowed in all other subject areas,” said VEA President James J. Fedderman in a statement.

Ian Prior, executive director of parental rights advocacy group Fight for Schools based in Loudoun County, disagreed: “History is a function of human nature, conflict, and progress. It can be inspiring, it can be dark, and it can be challenging to teach and learn.”

“These proposed changes to history and social studies education address those challenges by providing students with an objective knowledge of historical facts and an understanding of human nature that drives both conflict and progress,” he added. “Applied correctly by educators in the classroom, it will unlock key critical thinking skills that students can use to make their own analysis and decision as they mature into young leaders.”

The VDOE fact sheet mentioned that the November version included additional content, particularly in earlier grades, about slavery, segregation, and the civil rights movement.

Virginia’s Board of Education will review the new guidelines on Thursday and is set to adopt a final version in February. If approved, the revised standards will be taught in the 2024–2025 school year.