RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — The Virginia Department of Education is proposing to remove content about “implicit bias” and replace terms like “racism” with “discriminatory practices.” High school level elective in African American history It is being offered at 89 schools, according to the documents.
The documents obtained by the nonpartisan watchdog group disclose dozens of proposed revisions to course content and curriculum outlines. American Surveillance Through public records requests First published in The Washington Post.
The recommended changes to the class have not yet been implemented because state education department leaders are still reviewing the course, and “there are no plans to implement them at this time,” spokesman Todd Reed told 8News on Monday.
Staff from the Virginia Department of Education’s history team reviewed the course for compliance with Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s first executive order banning “the use of concepts that are inherently divisive” in K-12 schools, Reed said.
According to records obtained by 8News, the proposed changes to the curriculum cover a variety of topics ranging from the evolution of racism in the United States, Richmond’s role in the slave trade, economic inequality and privilege, redlining, systemic racism, the Black Lives Matter movement and the size of Africa on a map.
Former Governor Ralph Northam (Democrat) Ordered the creation of the courseEstablish a committee Develop your classMore than 1,700 students enrolled in the class last school year, and the course is offered in 89 schools across 45 districts in Virginia, Reed said.
American Oversight has requested records from the Virginia Department of Education regarding the policies that were “terminated” by Governor Youngkin’s executive order, the materials that were removed, and the changes to the public education curriculum.
Among dozens of proposed changes, Youngkin’s education department recommended removing the definition of “Black joy,” content about equity and implicit bias, and the sentence “systemic racism remains” from one of the course’s learning objectives.
Department officials also proposed removing a sentence from the course content that read, “Racism has shaped America’s public and private institutions,” according to the documents.
The document also recommends replacing terms and phrases such as “rising racism,” “systemic racism” and “white supremacy” with “discriminatory practices” and “racial violence.”
“These documents show the same pattern of attempts to whitewash and erase America’s legacy of racism that we have seen in other states, including Florida,” Chioma Chukwu, interim executive director of American Oversight, said in a statement.
The course will be an “in-depth exploration of African-American history” with “a particular emphasis on Virginia” and won’t shy away from the “good and the bad” of history, Reed said. Youngkin often points out a similar idea about teaching “the good and the bad” when it comes to history in the classroom.
Another recommended change was to remove the following paragraph from the course’s lesson on “Economic Disparity and Privilege”: “Though protective laws existed, African Americans faced and continue to face political, economic, and social challenges due to issues of systemic racism and privilege. Privilege is an advantage held by a group or individual because of money, power, education, social status, or other characteristics such as race. In the United States, white privilege refers to the advantage that white people have over minorities due to centuries of racism and oppression. Individuals who benefit from privilege may not ask for or realize that they have this privilege, but it exists. Such privilege for any marginalized group may result in advantages in grading, college admissions, employment, health care, housing, law enforcement, or other situations.”
According to the documents, Education Department officials also proposed changing a line in a course about social and economic changes after the Civil War that read, “Southern, mostly white legislatures made restrictive laws for African Americans” to, “Southern state legislatures made restrictive laws for African Americans.”
Other notable proposed changes to the course, according to the document:
- One of the initial learning objectives of the course is to: “The University of Virginia, [the] Eugenics Movement The federal government then used this pseudoscience to control African Americans.
- Recommended Changes: “Researching and describing the eugenics movement, [how] The Federation took advantage of that.”
- The online module of the course “Race, Riots and Protest (1965-1968)”Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “White moderates” was a major obstacle to progress.
- Recommended Changes“White moderate” to “that moderate.”
“While those in power appear to be trying to protect students from ‘divisive notions,’ it is clear that such measures are intended to safeguard partisan interests and not to protect our children,” Chukwu’s statement continued.
The proposed course changes underscore efforts by Governor Youngkin and Republican lawmakers in other states to push critical race theory, an academic framework based on the idea that racism is embedded and perpetuated in society, out of the education system, with an emphasis on lessons on race, history and gender.
In 2023, Youngkin asked for a review A proposal for an advanced African-American studies course rejected in FloridaAn inherently divisive conceptEducation Category i got you.
Soon after taking the oath of office, Youngkin became a guardian. Use a reporting line to share “intrinsically divisive practices” in schools The governor’s administration has faced backlash over its push for the tip line and a lawsuit has been filed seeking records of the tips received.
The Youngkin government also Department of Education updates to K-12 history and social science learning standardsCriticism has been mounting over the complaints process, which alleges that the draft, which glosses over history, was written with the help of conservative educational groups and think tanks.
Reed said the elective course is “one of a kind” because it was created at the direction of Governor Northam and the Department of Education does not create the course. Reed said this means there are no standards or established process for reviewing the course.