NCHE Board of Directors Statement Regarding the Florida Social Studies Standards
The National Council for History Education stands in support of history teachers in Florida. Teachers are professionals and experts in their field, and their subject-matter knowledge and understanding of how to accurately and adequately teach a complicated past are critical to student comprehension and achievement.
The social studies standards focused on African American history, recently approved by the Florida Board of Education, sanitize historical acts of violence against Black Americans. The language used in standards about slavery and race-related massacres attempt to soften the horrors of these events, which is in contradiction to the historical record and the experiences of the Black and White people involved.
Slavery is, and was, wrong. Violence against Black people is, and was, wrong. History standards that require classroom teachers to teach another side to this argument is requiring teachers to erase historical documentation and replace it with an ahistorical narrative. The Florida standard clarified to require instruction on how “slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit” (SS.68.AA.2.3) is one example of how the narrative of American slavery is misrepresented. To require educators to teach that slavery benefited some individuals by teaching them life skills ignores the brutality of being forced to do those trades. Additionally, the clarifications under “Examine the condition of slavery as it existed in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Europe prior to 1619” (SS.912.AA.11) deemphasize the role Europeans and British North America played in the Atlantic Slave Trade by focusing exclusively on slavery in Africa, Asia, and among Indigenous people of the Americas. To exclude the role of countries such as Portugal, Spain, and Britain erases major perpetrators of the slave trade as students are building fundamental knowledge on the subject.
History education in K-12 classrooms is often uncomfortable, and is always complex. We submit that the Florida African American standards seek to remove discomfort for some populations and relegate discussions of race to a surface-level acknowledgement. Requiring teachers to shape historical narratives to accommodate a “both sides” perspective disregards their professionalism, as well as the lived experiences of generations of Black Americans. This disregard is in direct contrast with NCHE’s mission to support and engage with K-12 history educators as the experts and professionals that they are, as well as NCHE’s charge to help learners discern differences between evidence and assertion.
The National Council for History Education supports the teaching of accurate history that illuminates diverse stories and historical thinking skills, which are critical to students’ success. We stand alongside Florida classroom teachers and will continue to support teachers as professionals trained to teach evidence-based content.
NCHE Board of Directors
Download the statement here.