Delaware gets a 'D' in teaching world history
Most states aren't doing nearly enough to give students a grounding in world history, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute said in a report released Tuesday that grades states on their world history standards. The standards outline what students are expected to know in the subject.
Delaware's "D" placed it 24th of 48 states ranked. Two-thirds of states were given a "D" or "F," while only eight states got an "A."
"At a time when the United States faces threats and competitors around the globe, and when our children's future is more entangled than ever with world developments, our schools ought not to treat world history so casually," Fordham Institute President Chester Finn said. "Nations that once were little more than curiosities to most Americans have transformed themselves into places of vital interest and concern."
The report criticized Delaware's world-history standards for lack of detail -- World War II receives only three lines -- and limited scope -- high school world history is limited to the period after the year A.D. 1500.
"Though the ancient world is taught in the early years, it's unreasonable to think that high school students launching into the Reformation and Renaissance will remember much of what was taught to them as youngsters," the report states. "If the state were to correct the lack of ancient history at the high school level, the state would have some of the better standards in the union."
The review was by historian Walter Russell Mead, the Henry A. Kissinger senior fellow for U.S. foreign policy at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Delaware is developing recommended curricula for schools, and will give special attention to global history when crafting the social studies curriculum, said Martha Brooks, associate secretary of education for curriculum and instructional improvement.
"We wouldn't argue with the general premise that we need to be broadening our thinking about living in the global world," Brooks said.
She characterized Delaware's history standards as broad and generic, not specifying what subject matter to teach.
Most decisions about content are made at the district level, Brooks said, and some schools are beginning to turn more attention to oft-neglected Asian and Middle Eastern history.
"If you went into the schools, you would see a fairly large focus on European and American history," she said. "That's the way it's been for a long, long time, but it's starting to change."