Core Knowledge social studies fifth grade - part 2

 

Unit 3 “Age of Exploration”

I’ll start with addressing the term of “Age of Exploration.” Naming WORLD HISTORY eras after something exclusive to Europe/Europeans is…*drumroll*…EUROCENTRISM! Unfortunately, this type of Eurocentric naming of time periods is in almost everything. Europeans were actually some of the last people on the planet to “explore” the world. Asians, Africans, Polynesians, and even some Native people of the Americas had already been seafaring and exploring the world for centuries before Europeans stopped being too afraid of leaving site of the shore and going into open ocean (other than the Norse and Danes). And that’s really what it boiled down to…they didn’t sail out of site of the shore for fear of sea monsters until the 1400s while other people had been doing it for hundreds of years or longer. Europeans traveling to parts of the world they hadn’t been to yet, hundreds of years after other people already started doing that, isn’t an “age of exploration.”

Beyond that, Europeans weren’t actually looking to “explore” anything. They had no interest in exploration in and of itself and we can even see this directly in writings of the time including Columbus’s own journal and letters. They were conquerors looking to invade and conquer, they were treasure hunters looking for gold, and they were human traffickers (slave traders) looking to kidnap people to enslave. Those were their motivation. We know this from primary sources. They were never “explorers.”

The non-Eurocentric term for this time period is the Early Modern Era. For Native peoples it is an Age of Invasion. Now that we have that out of the way…

Chapter 1 is about “the spice islands.” It starts by claiming that the US only exists because Europeans liked “spicy food.” They wanted spices yes, but if they were really just interested in trade for spices they would have just sailed here, traded for things, and left and the US wouldn’t exist anyway. Instead, they invaded and committed genocide (which the curriculum calls “settlement”). It wasn’t about spices.

The curriculum calls European travelers “explorers,” “adventurers,” and “dreamers” instead of traders and invaders. There is no need to romanticize travel driven by economics and greed like this. Yet here we are.

Chapter 2 is about “motives and means.” Yet again, we find the false claim that bananas are from the Americas. It seems like a silly detail, but they’ve repeated this inaccuracy multiple times, they obviously didn’t fact check much. This could have been a simple Google search. It then frames the Crusades as simply trying to “capture the holy lands from the Muslims” with absolutely zero discussion about what that actually meant. Yikes. The rest of the chapter is just about Europeans figuring out what the rest of the world already knew and used – navigation. It does at least mention that they were too afraid to leave site of land until this point in time…due to sea monsters.

Chapter 3 is about Portuguese “exploration.” It calls the Portuguese the “pioneers of the sea.” As previously mentioned, they’re the last people on the planet to start doing this, so that doesn’t make them pioneers. It then says they wanted to set up trade routes, spread Christianity, and gain knowledge. They flippantly say “spread Christianity” throughout the curriculum as if that didn’t include extreme violence. Leaving out the violence part is inaccurate (by omission) and Eurocentric bias, another way Eurocentrism shows up in how things are explained. It isn’t incorrect that they, in their minds, wanted to “spread Christianity,” but to accurately tell history you can’t just state someone’s intention without the reality of their actions. You can tell fifth graders that they wanted to spread Christianity, that was one of their motivations, but they did so through violent and deadly means. It makes no sense to leave that out after repeatedly harping in “human sacrifice” in the Americas and describing methods like ripping their hearts out and throwing them down the stairs. If they can tell fifth graders that information, they can tell them the truth about how Christianity was spread.

When talking about the Portuguese in Africa it does acknowledge that they brought back “people, to be sold into slavery,” but then turns around and says those kidnapped people became “servants and laborers.” Again, this may be on its surface true…enslaved people were forced to work as servants and laborers but simply stating that they “became servants and laborers” without including the truth of slavery is an extreme bias and inaccurate telling of history. Again, if they can repeat graphic and racist tropes of “human sacrifice” to this age group, they can tell the truth of slavery in an age-appropriate way as well. It is a deliberate choice not to.

Chapter 4 is about Christopher Columbus…oh boy. Essentially this is an extremely whitewashed version of the story. It largely focuses on the first voyage itself (at sea) and barely says anything at all about interactions with Indigenous peoples. Lies by omission. At the very least, it doesn’t perpetuate the false story about people thinking the world is flat. It acknowledges that “educated” people knew the world was round and that Columbus thought the Earth was smaller than it is (but it says “smaller than people imagined” rather than what scientists had calculated). It does somewhat perpetuate the flat earth story by saying some sailors thought it, but it was a known fact at the time that the world was round. It also says he was Italian, but recent DNA studies have found that he was Spanish. Beyond that, Italy didn’t exist in 1492. People thought he was Genoese, but again, that has been proven incorrect. It is important to update resources as we find out new information.

It does name the Taino by name, which is a good thing. It only mentions that they fished off their coasts. It does nothing to explain who the Taino were, anything about their society, how large their population was, that they were farmers, that they were skilled seafarers. But then it says Columbus “took six Tainos with him” instead of saying “captured” or “enslaved” which would be the truth. Saying “took” makes it sound like they went willingly. It then mentions the islands he went to and renamed and then skips everything and talks about him sailing back to Spain. It says absolutely nothing of his brutality, genocide, destruction, slavery, etc.

The curriculum doesn’t capitalize Indigenous when talking about people. Always capitalize Indigenous and Native when talking about people! It also says the “indigenous” peoples had maintained sophisticated cultures for “hundreds, if not thousands of years.” WOW! The number is TENS OF THOUSANDS of years. Minimizing our civilizations to “hundreds” of years is not only an all-out lie, but a means of discrediting our histories and who we are. This is blatant racism.

It then claims it was Columbus’s brothers, not himself, that “forced the indigenous people” to work in gold mines. The word they’re looking for is “enslaved” and it was Columbus himself. We have significant proof of this through primary sources. Columbus himself was responsible for enslaving people and trafficking people. That’s the only sentence they include about the mistreatment of the Taino. That’s it. The chapter wraps up by saying Columbus had his reputation destroyed with little information about why and then mentions why the Americas are named “America” and not after Columbus. Like I said before, it’s extremely whitewashed and inaccurate.

Chapter 5 is about criticisms of the Spanish as colonizers. It says they Spanish were “ruthless colonists” but then essentially claims Indigenous people died from work in mines and diseases rather than by genocide. This is again, extremely whitewashed and outright false. It says “Indigenous people died in large numbers in gold mines…” This is passive language (they died) that takes the fault off the Spanish who enslaved and killed them. It again does not call it slavery. It does not mention outright slaughter, executions, human sacrifice (Columbus liked to hang 13 men at a time in “honor” of the 12 disciples and Jesus), or genocide. It blames the gold mines and diseases rather than the Spanish themselves, never mind that the Spanish created those conditions. It also says the island of “Hispaniola” (Ayiti) had only hundreds of thousands of inhabitants. It likely had closer to around 1 million. It says by 1531 there were only about 600 “left.” Again, passive language to take the fault off the Spanish. The Taino were murdered. It acknowledges that the people from Africa brought to work on the islands were enslaved, but it makes no such acknowledgement that the Indigenous people were enslaved until a little bit later, and even then, only minimally. They could have called it enslavement from the start; there was no reason not to other than to minimize the evil actions of the colonizers.

It does talk about Bartolome de las Casas and his case against enslavement. It mentions his work against the exploitation of Indigenous peoples. The entire section is about Las Casas, not about Indigenous people where the focus should be. It never mentions genocide. This was a genocide; It should be written as such.

Chapter 6 is about Magellan. In the description of why they went west it says that finding a passage through South America would “make trade and the accumulation of wealth easier for the European explorers, traders, and merchants…” This is framing invasion, conquest, colonization, and genocide as “trade and accumulation of wealth. This is framing the invaders and conquerors who are committing genocide as “explorers, traders, and merchants.” This is Eurocentric and dishonest. This also says he “was killed in a confrontation with local chieftains” in the Philippines. That’s a whitewashed way of saying he was killed when locals rightfully resisted Magellan’s attempt at conquering and forcing Spanish rule…which is, in reality, what happened.

Chapter 7 is about the English. The “big question” of the chapter is “How did European exploration of the Americas lead to settlement and colonization?” The problem is…there was no “European exploration” at all, there was only European invasion and conquest. Early European contact with the Indigenous peoples of the Americas was never about exploration or trade, it was only ever conquest because they believed that they were racially superior and that all non-Christian civilizations were evil and must be destroyed. The more word got back to Europe about the Americas, the more they believed the racist lies, the more they wanted to be part of the conquest. They were mostly slave traders and treasure hunters. This was always an invasion with the intention of full takeover. Eurocentrism in education strikes again.

It says that mapping the east coast of North America set the stage for colonization, but it defines colonization as “the practice of bringing people from a different country to control and settle an area that already has an indigenous population.” This is a whitewashed definition that doesn’t really touch on the violence of colonization. Colonization in and of itself is inherently violent. There is no way around that. A better dictionary definition of colonization is “subjugation of a people or area especially as an extension of state power.” Subjugation is more than just “control,” but the violent act of forcing people to be under one’s control. Also, if they had just asked the Indigenous people along the coast, they would have been able to make much mor accurate maps…because Indigenous people mapped the coast already, just not in the style of European cartography.

In the part about building colonies, they do acknowledge that Spanish colonization was for the purpose of finding gold and silver, but they ignore the violence that requires. They talk about the English wanting to establish permanent settlements where people could hunt, fish, and farm. They make it sound passive and peaceful rather than the violent invasion that it was. They talk about the English monarchs giving land grants to joint-stock companies to colonize, but they leave out the part where the English have absolutely zero rights to grant someone else’s land to these companies. If I were the leader of England, I can’t just grant land in Spain to someone because I have no rights to the land in Spain. They leave out the part where this requires land theft, which requires genocide and dispossession of Indigenous peoples. They leave out the part where Indigenous nations are, in fact, sovereign nations with total legal rights to their own land.

The chapter then barely touches on Roanoke and repeats the mythology that the colony “vanished without a trace” and no one knows what happened to it. We actually do know what happened to it and it’s well established in written English history, oral histories of the Indigenous peoples of the area, and in archaeological records. This was never a “lost colony,” they simply integrated into the Indigenous community on Hatteras Island.

And we see the complete disregard for the sovereignty of Native nations in the next section as they say the Powhatan Confederacy was made up of “Native American groups.” Groups. Not nations, not even “tribes,” but groups. This is like calling England or all of Europe a “group.” Sovereign nations are not “groups,” they are nations. See more thoughts on this here: Native American Curriculum Review: Thoughts on Educational Standards and Textbooks - the word "groups"

The curriculum then states that the Powhatan Confederacy was named for the “chief” who governed it. This is factually incorrect. They called the leader of the Confederacy the Powhatan after the town he was from, not the other way around. Powhatan wasn’t his name and the confederacy wasn’t named after him.

It glosses over the Mayflower, likely because it is taught more in depth in a different grade level. But it claims the Mayflower colonists “wanted religious freedom.” That’s not really why they came to the Americas, as they already had religious freedom in Holland where they had been living for about 11 years prior to 1620. They came to the Americas because they wanted to establish a “holy kingdom” where there was no religious freedom at all, only their religion would be allowed. None of the colonies were established for religious freedom, that is a founding mythology of the US, not a fact.

It then glosses over genocide and dispossession by saying “This land belonged to various Native American groups, who were often forced to find new places to live.” So again, complete disregard for the sovereignty of Native nations as political entities. And a whitewashing of invasion, genocide, and forced removal by saying “often forced to find new places to live.” This was not “often,” it was every single time, and it wasn’t simply finding new places to live, but fleeing for their lives amidst the English attempts at eradication of Native peoples.

Chapter 8 is about the French and fur trade. It says North America was new to Europeans and had not been mapped. It should have said it had not been mapped “by them,” as non-European mapping methods existed in the Americas.

I do find it humorous that they don’t even spell Verrazzano’s name correctly. This curriculum obviously cannot be bothered to be factually accurate.

Moving on…Jacques Cartier. It says he visited a “Native American village” in the so-called “St. Lawerence River” (Kaniatarowanenneh is its original name). They don’t call the place by name; they don’t even name what Native nation this was…just generic “Native American village.” The generic usage of terminology is harmful to education, as I have explained multiple times in reviews. There are hundreds of different Native nations, and we are not all the same. This was specifically a Haudenosaunee town called Oscheaga (the French mispronounced it as Hochelaga). It was not a “village,” but a town of around 3000 people with fortified walls. Curricula like this one always diminish the reality of Native civilizations to inaccurate terms like “village” while never using the same language to describe European towns and cities. They call actual European villages “villages,” but they don’t diminish towns and cities in the same way. They only do that to the Americas. This is racist. In fact, I recently saw a social media post that called a Wichita city of 20,000 people a “village.” This kind of thing is everywhere, and it is a direct result of poor education from curricula like Core Knowledge.

 It then says that Cartier and the “Native Americans” had developed a “friendship.” This word annoys the crap out of me in curricula and other educational materials. “Friendship,” “friendly,” “friendly Indians,” etc. No one was making friends during colonization! These were political relationships, plain and simple. The Europeans didn’t trust the Indigenous peoples because they believed racist lies about them. The Indigenous peoples didn’t trust the Europeans because their arrival always meant death and destruction (disease, genocide, warfare, invasion, land theft, etc.) But sometimes Europeans needed to develop political relationships with Native nations for various reasons, usually because they were weak, sick, running out of supplies, etc. Sometimes Native nations needed to develop political relationships with Europeans due to disease and epidemics, attempts to prevent them from taking over, political diplomacy, etc. But none of these were “friendships.”

It tells a story of Cartier and his men getting sick with scurvy and their generic Native American “friends” helped them and cured their scurvy with a tea. Again, they were not “friends,” but beyond that this happened in a different Haudenosaunee town, Stadacona, not Oscheaga. The story makes it seem like it was in Oscheaga. It then says he and his men simply returned to France. The reality is, he and his men kidnapped the leader of Stadacona, named Donnacona, and 9 others and forced them to come to France with them. Donnacona died in France. This negatively impacted French and Haudenosaunee relationships in further contact, which would be an important detail to mention.

Next, we jump to Champlain. Still with the generic “local Native Americans” rather than naming Native nations. This would be like telling European history by simply referring to them all as Europeans and never naming any nations. “the Europeans…” this and “the local Europeans” that. It’s harmful in that it reinforces the stereotype that we’re all the same. I have to teach adults and teachers that we are not all the same and are unique nations because of this type of “education.” It says “the Native Americans” were “eager” to have metal tools and goods. Some of the oldest (possibly the oldest) metal tools in the world were made in the Great Lakes region out of copper. Natives had metals. It could say they wanted “steel” or “iron” goods and tools, but just “metal” isn’t accurate as it makes it seem like Natives didn’t have metal.

When discussing “New France,” it says the French “dealt with” Native Americans differently than the English. “Dealt with” means to “handle a situation or problem.” Native peoples living in their own homelands that you are invading is not a “situation or problem” to “deal with.” The French were the situation or problem, not the other way around. This could say the French “interacted with” the Natives differently, but “dealt with” is a terrible way to say this. It again states the English colonists “pushed Native Americans off land they had lived on for generations.” The English did a lot more than that and this is dishonest. The English killed, attacked, and destroyed Native peoples and communities. They not only dispossessed Native peoples who had lived there for more than generations but for tens of thousands of years, but they also committed genocide.

Then it says the French were “more peaceful” and says they had not tried to “conquer the Native Americans.” Colonization is inherently violent and a form of conquest. It is not and never can be “peaceful.” This ignores the power imbalance of colonization and the consequences of colonialism. While the French and Native nations did become military allies often and the French did focus on trade, the fur trade was not benevolent either. The fur trade caused the extreme over-hunting of the area which forced the Native nations to become dependent on the French instead of their relationship with the land that had always provided for them. The French greatly benefited from this while Native people suffered.

It incorrectly calls North America a “wilderness.” This is one of the most pervasive US founding mythologies, but what I find ironic is if this had actually been a wilderness – none of the colonies would have survived and the US would not exist. So, the US’s existence relies on this NOT having been a wilderness, yet the origin mythologies of the US always make this false claim. This was not a wilderness. It was cultivated, managed, developed, and cared for over tens of thousands of years. Two-thirds of what is now the US was agricultural. There were cities, roads, farms, towns, extensive trade networks, and civilizations that were advancing just like the rest of the world. The colonists took over existing infrastructure, they would not have survived otherwise. How is “Wilderness” a Colonial Construct? — Organeyez | by Naira de Gracia | Medium

Native American Curriculum Review: Not an Untouched Wilderness

Chapter 9 is about the Dutch. It doesn’t say a whole lot about the Americas, but it does talk about Henry Hudson (whom several places in Canada are named for). It claims Hudson “discovered” what is now called the Hudson Bay in Canada and thought it was the Pacific Ocean. You can’t discover something that has been known to people for thousands of years. Hudson Bay was known to Indigenous peoples and widely used. We also see the repeated mythology of “wilderness” here. It claims the Dutch “acquired” Manhattan Island from generic “Native Americans.” Fortunately, it doesn’t perpetuate the mythology that Manhattan was sold for a few trinkets, but it doesn’t tell the truth either. Manhattan was the land of the Lenape people, not just generic “Native Americans.” The Dutch did not “acquire” Manhattan from the Lenape either, they just claimed that they did. The Lenape accepted trade goods in exchange for letting the Dutch use the land, not to sell it to them. The Lenape did not believe in land ownership or buying/selling land. They agreed to essentially lease it to the Dutch. The Dutch claimed they bought it because they didn’t understand the Lenape’s agreement with them. You can read letters from the Dutch in the later 1600s that express their frustration that the Lenape would not leave the land that they had “purchased.” This is historical record of the misunderstanding by the Dutch. The Lenape were eventually forced out of Manhattan even though they never did actually sell it to the Dutch.

Chapter 10 is about slavery. It starts out by trying to minimize slavery by repeating that people around the world had been practicing slavery for thousands of years. This is only ever used as an excuse for what became one of the worst systems of slavery in history – Chattel slavery.  It goes on to say Africans were already engaged in slavery before Europeans and does little to explain why what the Europeans did was so much worse. Colonization plus slavery and inventing chattel slavery is different than what had already existed. There is no need to introduce this topic the way they did. This is actually a horrible way to introduce this topic.

In their section about slavery in the Americas, it starts with talking about how the Spanish “used” Indigenous people in their mines and “used” local people to “work on the plantations.” If we’re talking about slavery, why not call it slavery? The Spanish enslaved the Native people of the islands. They dance around the fact that Indigenous Americans were, in fact, enslaved. This wasn’t isolated to the Caribbean islands either. Millions of Natives (Americas) were enslaved throughout the history of slavery in the colonies and in the United States. Through this, Native people and trafficked African people developed close bonds and shared relationships that helped both. It is an important part of history that is almost always ignored or overlooked. Core Knowledge not calling this slavery is doing exactly that. Teaching the Hard History of Indigenous Slavery

This sentence really rubs me the wrong way: “As had been the case in the Azores and the Canary Islands, enslaved people from Africa provided a cost-effective answer.” It’s not the enslaved people that “provided” this answer, it was the Europeans who trafficked and enslaved people that did. Their wording puts the burden on the enslaved peoples themselves. It should say “trafficking people from Africa provided…” or “enslaving people from Africa provided….” to put the blame where it belongs: on Europeans. It also says things like “trading” and “importing” when talking about people instead of “trafficking.” The language here is gross.

Then it claims that the humans they trafficked to Virginia in 1619 may not have been enslaved at all but may have just been indentured servants. It says it “remains unclear” if they were “indentured servants” or “enslaved workers.” Abso-f-ing-lutely not. These were human trafficking victims that were, in fact, enslaved.

It also makes it sound like indentured servitude and slavery were “necessary” (they use that word) as if they couldn’t just, you know, hire and pay people fairly to work for them or do the work themselves. Again, the wording in this chapter is gross (except that they do say “enslaved person” instead of “slave.” This is the bare minimum, though, and everything else is not worded well).

The summary of the “Age of Exploration” at the end of this chapter is very whitewashed. It’s “trying” to tell “both sides,” but that’s like trying to tell “both sides” of the Holocaust. You can’t do that without lionizing the perpetrators. It says that Indigenous people died in “battles” and of “diseases” while completely ignoring invasion and genocide. It says of Africans that contact with Europeans “meant a lifetime of slavery,” again passive voice without blaming the perpetrators. It ends with “An understanding of the age must include both the heroism of the explorers and the tragedies that resulted from exploration.” There is no “heroism” here and these people were not “explorers.” This is an actively harmful way to tell history.

The teacher guide is full of the same racist, Eurocentric, and inaccurate drivel as the last and repeats the same BS as the student text itself, but more in depth. The books it recommends are all horrible and none of them are from Indigenous authors. It even recommends a Joy Hakim History of US book, which if you’ve read my other reviews, you’ll know exactly how I feel about that. If you’re new here, check out those reviews. The online resources it links to are more of the same junk.

I will end this review with the exact same conclusion as the last one: Overall, this unit is racist, Eurocentric, and historically inaccurate. I recommend staying away from Core Knowledge entirely (I have looked at and reviewed other levels, I will be posting those and have more to review). Core Knowledge is a conservative organization that was founded by a known racist and pushes American Exceptionalism, Eurocentrism, and nationalism. Being free doesn't make it safe to use. 

Core Knowledge social studies: Fifth Grade - part 1

 Core Knowledge - Fifth Grade social studies - part 1

As the grade levels go up, the amount of material to review also obviously goes up. Therefore, I am splitting the review into parts, focusing on one unit per part. I only reviewed the units that involve Native peoples, though I may do a short review of the other units as well. 

Unit 2: Maya, Aztec, and Inca Civilizations

Student reader: Chapter 1 is about the Maya and starts with the mythology of the “vanishing civilization” and calling it a mystery. This only serves to perpetuate stereotypes and is a completely inaccurate telling of history. There is no mystery, there was no “vanishing.” The curriculum claims that most of their culture “disappeared,” that they mysteriously “abandoned” their cities, and “mysteriously” transformed. It says it sounds like a “science fiction” movie. This is not only false but harmful to education about Native cultures and civilizations. It also claims they only thrived until 900 CE and every mention of dates simply claims it ended in 900 CE. This is false. It also calls the Maya “one of the first great civilizations of the Americas.” This completely ignores thousands of years of history and peoples. The Maya are not one of the first, they’re just one of the most well known.

The Maya simply reorganized politically and culturally. We can call these time periods the Classic period up from 200 CE to around 900 CE and the Post-Classic period from 900 CE up until Spanish invasion. The civilization simply hit its peak around 900 CE. Maya civilization continued to thrive in the Post-Classic period. Just because they moved, dispersed, reorganized, and changed doesn’t mean they “vanished.” There was a major drought, one that hadn’t been seen for thousands of years, that caused the dispersal of people from some of the major cities. However, other Maya cities like Tulum and Chichen Itza, grew and thrived in the Post-Classic period. Environmental, cultural, and political changes happened around the 900-1000 CE time period that led to the reorganization of peoples. No one vanished, nor did their civilization.

This curriculum claims that they vanished after 900 CE but then says that there are still Mayan speaking people in the area today. If they vanished, there wouldn’t still be Maya people today. Not only are the Mayan languages still spoken today by over 7 million people today, but their cultures also still exist. There are intact Maya communities all over Central America today.  They never “vanished.”

The curriculum claims “American explorers” in the 1800s had heard stories about “mysterious” ruins in the rainforest. These were never “mysterious” as the living Maya people always knew they were there and what the history was. Turning common knowledge of a people into something “mysterious” for another culture only exotifies and others the people. It is part of harmful stereotyping.

It claims their pyramids were simply religious rather than also acknowledging the political aspects of these buildings. It calls Mayan writing “mysterious” and a “code” rather than a complex writing system. It calls Maya homes “huts” despite the fact that they built great cities. It says their calendar was “almost as accurate” as modern calendars, but in reality they made calendars that are more accurate. It says that archaeologist “think” the Maya played a ball game. This isn’t something that anyone “thinks,” it is known in history and in the cultural revival of the Mesoamerican Ball Game among Maya, Mexica, and others today. The only sources cited here are western archeologists instead of actually getting information from Maya people themselves. It just keeps saying archaeologists and “experts” THINK things instead of stating the information as known facts. It makes no mention that this game is played today.

Then is the issue of “human sacrifice.” The curriculum brings up human sacrifice as a result of losing the ball game. The problem is – this terminology is used to demonize certain cultures and justify brutal conquest and genocide which killed millions more people than human sacrifice in Mesoamerica. It makes no mention of the idea that it wasn’t common or a large number of people, the people were usually criminals and enemies (death penalty, anyone? executions were common in Medieval Europe), and many religious ceremonies involved only animal sacrifice and ritual bloodletting (consensual) that did not kill the person. Human sacrifice was practiced all over the world but is only ever mentioned in curricula about the Americas at these grade levels and sometimes even at all. It also never mentions human sacrifice when talking about European civilizations or by Euro-Americans despite the fact that it was quite common – just under different names and terms. Is it not human sacrifice to hang, burn, or crucify people in the name of religion? Did the Europeans not carry out brutal executions in the name of their god regularly? Did they not come up with dozens of ways to torture people for entertainment? Is that not "blood thirsty" and "savage?" Only using the term “human sacrifice” when talking about cultures like the Maya and Mexica (Aztec) serves to further the demonization and stereotyping of these cultures as being “uncivilized” and “evil.” It is Eurocentric and harmful. There is no reason to mention this in fifth grade or without careful analysis. Maya Religion, Gods, Cosmos and religious rituals (scroll to the section on human sacrifice.) It's also important to note that almost all information we have about "human sacrifice" in these civilizations comes from the Spanish who had ulterior motives to justify their genocide. Very little comes from these civilizations themselves, and what does come from their art was generally used to intimidate opponents rather than tell history, and from their writing in the 1500s which was heavily influenced by the Spanish. Most resources on this topic are unreliable. 

Another issue here is that they use words like “groups” instead of tribes or nations. You can read more about the issue with that word here: Native American Curriculum Review: Thoughts on Educational Standards and Textbooks - the word "groups"

They also do not capitalize the word “Native” when talking about people. Always capitalize words like Native and Indigenous when talking about people. Another important note – Maya refers to people, civilization, culture, etc. Mayan refers to language. The curriculum does mostly get this correct.

Chapter 2 is supposed to be about scientific achievements but starts with stating that their religious beliefs gave them an “unclear view” of the world. Do all religious beliefs not do that? Core Knowledge doesn’t claim this about Christianity or Europeans. Why say that at all? Again, this just continues to make them appear “uncivilized” and perpetuates stereotypes. It also states “they didn’t even have the wheel.” We need to stop teaching children that the wheel is a measure of advancement in history. It’s not. Different cultures advance in different areas depending on multiple factors including geography, resources, politics, religion, cultural values and concepts, etc. There was no need for wheels in the ancient Maya environment and society, that doesn’t mean they were not advanced. There is absolutely no reason to point out that they didn’t use wheels other than to again make them look “uncivilized.” This is a great example of racism and Eurocentrism – using European metrics of development to evaluate and judge other cultures and civilizations.

It claims they didn’t use “scientific tools” to calculate how many days are in a year. This is false. They used their own scientific tools to do so. It again calls Maya homes “huts” instead of houses. It calls their cultural customs “odd” which is insulting.

Then it goes back to the false claim of “vanishing” or disappearing. It claims the civilization ended in 900 CE, which it did not. It claims Mayan writing “mysteriously stopped” in that time period, which it did not. It says they “left their cities” instead of saying they moved to and built new cities. It claims the Maya had “been gone for years” by the time the Spanish invaded, but that’s actually what caused the decline of the Maya civilization in the first place. It then says no one actually knows what happened, but again…we do know. We do know factors that caused the shift between the Classical and Post-Classical periods, we do know what caused further decline in the 1500s (Spanish invasion), we do know what happened to them since then and that they still exist.

What if British history was told the same way Maya history is told? - Maya Archaeologist - Dr Diane Davies

What if people told European history like they told Native American history? | An Indigenous History of North America

Moving on to the “Aztecs.”

“Aztec” is a term that was popularized by European scholars in the 1800s and has no real meaning. It can refer to the triple alliance (Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan), the people (Mexica), or a language group (Nahuatl). In general it encompasses the Nahuatl speaking peoples of central Mexico and the Mexica people. I will use Mexica when referring to the people rather than “Aztec.”

Chapter 3 refers to the people exclusively as Aztec rather than using historically accurate names. This chapter almost entirely focuses on the mythology of human sacrifice again. Read above for some of my thoughts on “human sacrifice.” This chapter claims sacrifices were “regular and generous.” The population of the cities and the Triple Alliance would not have been able to grow to such significant numbers if sacrifices were “regular and generous.” The only real records about Mexica sacrifices come from the Spanish, who lied and exaggerated to justify invasion and genocide. They even claimed the Mexica sacrificed 1000 people a day and in one ceremony killed 80,000 people in 4 days. Both of these claims are mathematically impossible. The reality is that only relatively few human remains in central Mexico have been identified as having been sacrificed (only 126 in Templo Mayor) which is much lower than numbers sacrificed by Europeans in their own religious rituals. Another perspective is that most sacrifices should considered casualties of war since it was culturally more important to capture an enemy in battle than to kill them. “There is no such thing as ‘Human Sacrifice’” The actual regular and generous offerings to the gods were gifts of jewelry, sacred plants, foods, and the like as well as animal sacrifices and ritual consensual bloodletting, not "human sacrifice."

"Although Aztec political life has been assumed to revolve around...human sacrifice...the annals indicate that this notion was never paramount for them." - Camila Townsend (I know she is not Indigenous, but her work is respected.)

This chapter portrays Mexica society as literally revolving around human sacrifice, warfare, and violence and that's about it. This portrayal is not only completely mythological, but actively harmful. 

Chapter 4 the description of how large the city of Tenochtitlan was isn’t bad here, but the images make it look like the city was small. Tenochtitlan was one of the largest cities in the world in the 1400s. It also doesn’t do justice to the description of the city at all in the “city tour.” It minimizes the chinampas (gardens) despite them being one of the most sophisticated forms of agriculture in history. It makes the education system sound scary and entirely about warfare and even says something about you having “tough teachers” over the years but you’ve "never had one that practices human sacrifices." I rolled my eyes hard here. It minimizes the writing system to “pictographs.” It says the sound of the marketplace is a “ruckus,” but they don’t describe European marketplaces the same way. It inaccurately lists bananas as being a food in Mesoamerica when it’s from Asia and was not in the Americas for hundreds more years. The city tour continues to harp on the mythology of widespread human sacrifice; every section mentions it. It makes no mention of sophisticated water systems and aqueducts, indoor bath houses and toilets, hygiene practices and cleanliness, libraries, medical knowledge and care, scientific knowledge and invention, etc. It makes no mention of how the Spanish marveled at how immaculately clean the city was. In contract, similarly sized cities in Europe, like Paris, were disgusting - raw sewage throw into the streets, animal blood from slaughterhouses mixed in with mud, streets made of literally just mud, sewage, and blood that they had to walk through, and stench so bad it could be smelled for miles...no wonder diseases were rampant in Europe and not in the Americas. It almost entirely focuses on violence, weapons, “fierce warriors,” and human sacrifice as if that’s all that the Mexica ever cared about. It reduces an amazing civilization to a trope of violence.

A note on houses vs huts – houses in the Americas are called "huts" throughout this curriculum, described as being made of mud and straw, or stone "huts" with thatch roofs, etc. In the SAME TIME PERIOD, houses in Europe are called houses and cottages, described as being made with mud and straw, thatched roofs, etc. This is a great illustration of how racism and Eurocentrism show up in this curriculum in an almost “hidden” way if you don’t know what you’re looking for.

Chapter 5 is about the Inca. It starts with a story of violence yet again. There are so many things you could focus on when learning about the Maya, the Mexica, or the Inca, yet this curriculum almost always focuses on violence. This is another example of racism and Eurocentrism.

When talking about daily Incan life it again calls their homes, which were well built and made of stone, “huts” while never describing stone homes in Europe as “huts.” Then for absolutely no reason it says that their homes smelled bad. This reminds me of reading Joy Hakim’s horribly racist opinions in the History of Us curriculum, but I digress.

Chapter 6 focuses on Incan engineering and their amazing road system. However, it commits the typical Eurocentric sin of comparing the development of non-European cultures to European metrics of development. It again points out how the Incans didn’t have wheels or animals to pull carts, despite already mentioning that llamas were used as pack animals. Wheeled carts would made absolutely no sense in the environment of the Andes mountains. They didn’t make wheeled carts because it wouldn’t have worked there, not because they weren’t advanced. They did, in fact, invent the wheel but it was largely used on children’s toys. It then talks about the Incan suspension bridges, which were an engineering marvel and also explain why wheeled carts made no sense in their environment. It does call the bridges engineering marvels, which is nice. But then it claims the suspension bridge over the Apurimac was no longer used by the Inca past 1890. This is incorrect. It is still rebuilt every year by the Quechua people of the region and used to this day. They did not disappear either. They’re not just “the people of Peru” as this curriculum states. I have been to the Andes, I have been in these communities…they’re Indigenous and they still carry their ancestor’s knowledge and pass it down through the generations.

Chapter 7 is the final chapter in this unit and is about the Spanish invasion in the 1500s. It starts with a racist story about the “Aztec” being amazed by Spanish ships sailing in on the coast and calling them “floating mountains.” It also says they “knew nothing of sailing ships.” This makes no sense. The Caribbean and Mesoamerica were one of the most densely populated places on Earth in the 1400s. The Caribbean, the Gulf coast, and the coast of Central America were full of Indigenous port towns and cities, seafaring cultures, and had a vast economic trade network throughout the ocean. Boats were coming and going from the coast constantly. These boats were not “canoes.” They were ocean going vessels. Some Indigenous peoples of the coastal regions made sails even. The Maya had boats as large as Viking long ships. Spanish described these ships as holding around 50 people, because yes, the Maya still existed when the Spanish came, unlike what this curriculum says. The Spanish encountered the Maya. Tulum and other Maya port cities continued to exist throughout the 1500s. Boats of various sizes, including large boats, were common in the region. The Mexica knew what large boats looked like. The Mexica described the Spanish ships as “floating houses” (not “mountains”) because they were a different kind of ship than they were familiar with, not because they didn't know what a sailing ship was. 

The curriculum then also repeats the completely debunked racist story that the Mexica thought the Spanish were gods and that they brought gifts to the Spanish to please them and worship them. This has been disproven multiple times over. Repeating this in history texts is not only historically inaccurate, it’s racist. It is used to make the Mexica look ignorant and backwards. The Mexica Didn't Believe the Conquistadors Were Gods - JSTOR Daily

The story at the beginning of this chapter is just racist, plain and simple.

It calls Cortes a Spanish “explorer,” but as I have discussed in blog posts previously, the early Europeans that came to the Americas were not “explorers” at all, but slave traders and treasure hunters. They came to conquer, not explore. The curriculum uses terms like “conquistador,” “conquest,” and “conqueror” without ever explaining that this means to invade, kill, and destroy. They use those words as if they’re just normal nice sailors. It says he wanted to spread Catholicism and get rich. That may be true, but this is an extremely whitewashed way of saying invade, commit genocide, and take over. It then says Cortes “found” a Native woman to serve as a translator. He did not “find her,” she was enslaved along with multiple other women.

The story claims the Spanish had superior weapons and that's why they won. Guns in that time were not superior by any means. The Mexica had obsidian swords (obsidian blades embedded into wood) that could cut the head off a horse. The were experts with atlatl (throwing spears). They used bows and arrows. Spanish guns were quite ineffective – they didn’t shoot straight, they were heavy and slow to load, and difficult to fire (and could only fire once at a time). The Spanish mostly used swords and lances. The Mexica used atlatl, macuahuitl (obsidian swords), and arrows. Ultimately it was the fact that the Spanish wore extreme armor and rode horses that gave them some advantage, not their weapons. The curriculum makes no mention of the Spanish having to fight their way out of Tenochtitlan because the Mexica were formidable opponents. It makes the Mexica sound completely weak and ineffective against the Spanish when they weren’t.

It also says that the disease smallpox swept through the city which is ultimately why the Spanish were able to conquer it (that and using Indigenous enemies of the Mexica to help them, which of course they then betrayed and violently conquered as well). This may be true, but it’s also possible that the Spanish intentionally poisoned the people of Tenochtitlan which lead to this downfall. 

The reality is there were only about 1,000 Spanish against a city of 200,000 people. The reason they won is because they had around 200,000 INDIGENOUS warriors from other Native nations around them that fought alongside the Spanish to conquer their enemies, the Mexica. The Native nations that did this essentially thought they would use the Spanish for their political gain and then give them the boot. The whole idea of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" concept. The Spanish could not have ever conquered the Mexica, even with disease (or food poisoning) on their side, by themselves. The Spanish saw the political gain of allying with enemies of the Mexica. This was all politics. Once they did that, they then stabbed their allies in the back by violently conquering them as well (with diseases on their side, which they fully recognized). This is not a story of how great the Spanish were, rather a story of how untrustworthy, greedy, and blood thirsty they were. 

The chapter then basically says the same racist story about the Inca…they didn’t know what ships were, they were scared of the Spanish, etc. It does mention disease spreading through the Incan empire ahead of the Spanish, which is true. And it at least calls Pizzaro’s massacre of the Inca a massacre and not a battle.

To end the chapter it talks about invasion and genocide as if it’s positive because they “ended human sacrifice” and “brought Christianity.” They didn’t end human sacrifice as the Spanish were well known to routinely sacrifice Indigenous people in the name of their god. There is no positive way to spin genocide as this tries to do.

The teacher guide is largely full of the same issues as the student text. When it comes to recommended additional resources, they do not recommend any Own Voices resources or resources by any experts on the subject. All of the recommended books are problematic in the same ways as this curriculum. It does, however, suggest some online resources from the National Museum of the American Indian which is a great resource. They offer some good online resources for the Maya calendar and math. However, they didn’t suggest the NMAI resources on the Inca, which exist and are just as good as the Maya resources.

It also claims that everything we know about these civilizations comes from archaeologists and by studying ancient ruins. This is false. There are Maya, Mexica and other Nahuatl speaking peoples (Aztec), and Quechua (Inca) people that still live today all over Mexico, Central, and South America. They not only maintain languages, but also the rich cultures, traditions, religions, and values of their ancestors. These people are not extinct, as this curriculum and teacher guide claims. We know a lot about their ancestors from THEM. They are the experts on their cultures and peoples, not archaeologists.

Another major issue I want to highlight in the teacher guide – it directly states that ONLY three great civilizations existed in the Americas before European invasion (which they Eurocentrically call the “Age of Exploration,”) and these are the three. There were many great civilizations before these three and at the same time, and not just in Mesoamerica and South America. There were great civilizations in both places BEFORE the Maya, “Aztec,” and Inca, including Caral, Moche, Olmec, Zapotec, and many more. There were great civilizations in various places north of modern-day Mexico, including the Mississippian, Haudenosaunee, Ancestral Puebloan, and many others. To reduce the Americas to only three great civilizations is racist and inaccurate.

Overall, this unit is racist, Eurocentric, and historically inaccurate. I recommend staying away from Core Knowledge entirely (I have looked at and reviewed other levels, I will be posting those and have more to review). Core Knowledge is a conservative organization that was founded by a known racist and pushes American Exceptionalism, Eurocentrism, and nationalism. It being free doesn't make it safe to use. 

Review of Core Knowledge Social Studies: Kindergarten

 

Core Knowledge Kindergarten:

I focused only on the units that discuss Native peoples. The presidents unit is included because it teaches about Tunkasila Sakpe Paha, or Mount Rushmore, and should include Natives in each lesson, but does not.

Unit 2: Native Americans

The teacher guide starts out with “Hundreds of years ago, many Native American peoples lived on the continent of North America. Each group had its own language and culture, although traits were shared among groups living in similar settings.” This is not starting well at all. Hundreds of years ago? Not thousands? Tens of thousands? Time immemorial, which would give it a cultural context? Then we are described as having “lived” here, past tense. While the unit is clearly about the past, writing statements like “Native American peoples lived on the continent of North America” perpetuates the myth that we no longer exist. The way it is written implies we don’t live here any longer. It could be written to indicate that while the unit is about the past, we still exist and live here. Next is the word “group.” No, we are not “groups.” We were and are sovereign nations. Even the word “tribe” would be more accurate here, even though it’s technically wrong as well. But “groups” is incorrect no matter how you spin it.

The sampling of Native nations and cultures is very slim, even for Kindergarten. There is no indication of just how many nations were and are here. It includes only 3 nations total, each from a different region. This is inadequate. It later explains that as they go through school for years, they will learn more about more nations. It is still inadequate to introduce the topic this way. It goes into an explanation about culture regions for teachers. In this section it states “For the purpose of presenting information to Kindergarten students, the diversity of the groups within areas need not be discussed. For the most part, the emphasis in this section is on generalizations that apply to many peoples and nations within a culture region.” This is absolutely not a good way to introduce Native peoples to Kindergarten students. Even if they are not expected to retain or memorize the information, to introduce us in generalizations and with such limited information perpetuates stereotypes and misinformation. It perpetuates the ideas many students in the US in all grades have about us, including that we are all the same. Following this explanation are low estimates of pre-contact populations. They’re inaccurate. The next section is about “Native American Beliefs.” It quotes a non-Native historian with a broad generalization of “Indian” beliefs. This is followed up by something about horses. It states, “Students may have a stereotypical view of Native Americans as buffalo hunters on horseback.” While it is correct that is a stereotype, this curriculum is loaded with stereotypes. They’re not helping the issue any.

At the end of the introduction is a list of additional books teachers can use. It includes only one book by a Native author out of 15 books. Almost every single book on the list has a negative review in the book A Broken Flute or on Debbie Reese’s blog (AICL). Almost every single book on the list is problematic, inaccurate, and perpetuates stereotypes. All of the non-Native authored books could easily be replaced with books by Native authors about the same subjects.

The teacher guide moves on to lesson by lesson instructions. They each have a bit more details about different nations in the regions being covered as well as a statement that says students should know that Natives are still here, but it’s glossed over and quick. Teachers are supposed to emphasize the past tense people instead. That fact probably won’t stick. These lesson instructions all contain inaccuracies and stereotypes as well.

There are 7 “chapters” in the student book. Each is supposed to be about a child’s life in one of the 3 regions covered. The first two are about an Abenaki child named “Little Rabbit.” The character’s name itself is a stereotype and misunderstanding of Native names (as is the explanation in the teacher guide). The whole story is full of stereotypes and generalizations. The teacher guide includes even more. The images on each page are not accurate at all. Stereotypes of clothing, hair, feathers, and life styles abound. The little “fact” tidbits on the bottom of each page are mostly inaccurate or generalizations. “Native Americans…[did this or that]” as if we are all the same. The activities and follow up questions all continue with these issues. Problematic activities, questions that lead to generalizations, and the “check for understanding” contains a list of generalizations about all “Eastern Woodlands peoples,” again perpetuating the false narrative that we are all the same.

The next two chapters are about the Ancestral Pueblo people. At least they used the right terminology there, and not the outdated “Anasazi.” Of course they don’t stay accurate for long. They indicate the Ancestral Pueblo peoples lived in Chaco Canyon and that’s it. Amidst the stereotypical images and generalizations that also plague these two chapters, is a claim that Kokopelli was a rain god that played a magic flute. This is false. According to the Hopi, Kokopelli is a fertility deity, not a rain god, and he carried a cane, not a flute. The same issues in the previous two chapters apply to these as well. These stories also include blanket “Native American” statements on the bottoms of each page. The follow up activities include problematic books, more false information about Kokopelli, and more stereotypical imagery.

The last three chapters are about a child from the Kwakuitl people in the Pacific Northwest. The stories include misrepresentations of their beliefs about ravens, incorrect information about what totem poles are,  and stereotypes and inaccuracies of their clothing. Follow up activities include problematic books, more generalizations, and problematic crafts including a totem pole craft.

It is pretty clear from just this one lesson that Core Knowledge doesn’t have the core knowledge necessary to write lessons about Native Americans. That was cheesy, but they definitely do not know what they are talking about. They apparently do not consult Native peoples or Native experts for their lessons. This is just the first lesson about Natives in the whole K-6 series. Yikes.

 

Unit 3: Exploring and Moving to America

Let’s start with the title. “America” is two whole continents, but this clearly is using “America” to mean only the United States/North America. Also, the word “exploring” is inaccurate. Columbus, the Spanish, the English…they weren’t “exploring.” They were intentionally invading and colonizing. This is well recorded in primary documents.

The Teacher Guide introduction completely glosses over the issues of Columbus, colonization (the English), enslavement of Indigenous peoples, etc. It is a flowery, happy version of events. It claims the U.S.A. is the “first modern democracy.” This is false. The Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) have the oldest living democracy in the world and it started just before the Early Modern period and continued into the Modern Era (and still exists today). The United States wasn’t the first and isn’t a true democracy. It repeats the age old claim that the “Pilgrims” came seeking freedom of religion. The reality is they wanted to establish a theocracy on land they knew wasn’t theirs and did not care about freedom of religion for anyone but themselves. It uses biased words like “adventure” and “hero” for Christopher Columbus. The recommended books at the end of the introduction are all problematic except for one. The People Shall Continue is a fantastic Native authored book. The rest are junk. Most of them are around 30 years old and full of false information. The modern ones are still problematic and are on Oyate’s old list of books to avoid. There is one other book by a Native author, Squanto’s Journey, but it is also problematic and not recommended.

The student text has ten chapters. Chapter 1 is called “Christopher Columbus: A Young Adventurer.” This is already setting the stage for the glorification of Columbus through myths passed off as truth. He wasn’t an “adventurer,” he was motivated by greed. He wanted gold and slaves. He was a slave trade for the Portuguese already before sailing across the Atlantic. The first few pages are entirely made up. They’re conjecture. Not much is actually known about Columbus’s early life, but this creates a myth of him and a brother ‘dreaming of becoming sailors.” Why is this being passed off as history? It is fiction, but there is nothing in the student text or teacher guide that indicates this. Then on page four it introduces the myth that “some people thought the earth was flat.” By this time, the whole world knew the Earth was round, including Europeans and Indigenous peoples in the Americas. Columbus’s motivations had nothing to do with proving the Earth is round, but this book claims this.

Chapter 2 goes on to continue the flat Earth/prove it was round myth. It also says Europeans just wanted to trade spices and silk. They were also motivated by the slave trade and gold, but there is no mention of this. On page 9 it states “Long ago, many people thought there was nothing but ocean if you sailed west.” Who does “many people” refer to? Clearly it means Europeans, but it doesn’t say this. Europeans are the default meaning of “people” while the rest of the world’s knowledge doesn’t matter…they’re not included in these “many people.” This is strong eurocentrism.

Chapter 3 goes on to misname the ships. While the Santa Maria was really named that, the Nina and Pinta were nicknames. Santa Clara is thought to be the name of La Niña.

Chapter 4 repeats the flat Earth myth again. They really want to convince children that this is true.

Chapter 5 names the Taino by name, which is surprising, but they only call the island what Columbus called it – San Salvador – rather than the Taino name, Guanahaní. It barely acknowledges the Taino and that it was their land. This chapter completely avoids the harmful treatment of the Taino by Columbus and the Spanish. It is possible to teach this truth to kindergarten students in an age appropriate way. This curriculum makes zero attempt to do so. It also does not mention the enslavement of the Taino. The last chapter of this student text is about the enslavement of Africans in the United States. If they can explain that to kindergarten students, there is no reason why they can’t explain the enslavement of the Taino.

Chapter 6 then moves on to the “pilgrims.” I calls their story “adventures.” Invading and colonizing are not “adventures” and framing it as such is harmful and false. It also claims they “were known as pilgrims.” They were not. They were not known as pilgrims until well over 100 years later. They were known as Saints, Separatists, and Puritans at the time (these terms refer to different groups, but are collectively called “pilgrims” today). It perpetuates the myth they simply wanted to “worship God in their own way.” They came to take over someone else’s land in the name of God and establish a place where no one else could worship in their own ways.

Chapter 7 has nothing to remark beyond the typical Eurocentric “pilgrim” story.

Chapter 8 states “…wonder if there would be strange creatures in the forests. Would the Wampanoag and other Native Americans welcome them?” This is worded intentionally to put Native peoples on the same level as animals or unknown “strange” animals. This is common in children’s literature and textbooks. It’s harmful, but found everywhere. There is no reason to put these two sentences together other than to perpetuate harmful associations between animals and Natives. The images are all stereotypes. None of the Wampanoag men are wearing shirts or warm clothing in any of the images even though these images are supposed to represent spring and fall in New England. It would be cold and the Wampanoag would be dressed for the weather. This is among other stereotypes as well. They say Tisquantum’s name was “Squanto” instead of using his real name. His story of how he came to speak English is completely avoided. He had been previously kidnapped and enslaved. Again, if they can teach about the enslavement of others, they can teach about the enslavement of Indigenous peoples, including Tisquantum. It claims “Even though the pilgrims had settled on Native American land, Squanto helped them…” This is a false oversimplification of the situation. While all history has to be simplified for the level, this is not the way. It can truthfully indicate that they invaded or stole Indigenous land and that Tisquantum’s situation was not as simple as “helping” them. It does not, though. This chapter ends with the false Thanksgiving story that the “pilgrims” invited the Wampanoag as “friends.” The images are also stereotypes yet again.

Chapter 9 says the English were “happy in their new home” and then makes a massive jump to the 1770s and the Revolutionary War. It calls George Washington a “great leader.” He was a slave “owner” and nicknamed “Town Destroyer” by the Haudenosaunee.

Finally chapter 10 ends the book with a glossed over version of African enslavement in the United States.

 

Unit 4: Mount Rushmore Presidents

 The student text starts out with “Four of our greatest presidents are honored at Mount Rushmore.” Yikes! I am not hopeful about this lesson. So far it seems I have major reasons to worry.

This seems to be an introduction to the particular brand of propaganda based patriotism common in US education. The first chapter is called “Four Great Presidents.” The teacher guide starts this chapter with noting that the Black Hills are sacred to the “Sioux” (should probably say Lakota/Dakota), but stops short of indicating that Mount Rushmore is carved into unceded treaty land, or even just stolen land. This is a concept children of this age can understand so there is no reason not to teach it. This lesson is all about honoring people who did “good things” and continues to call them the “greatest presidents.” Since it is an introduction to the topics of presidents, voting, civics, etc. I would not expect it to go into detail about each person who is carved into a stolen, sacred mountain, but it should be less biased. I would at least expect this introduction to discuss Lakota perspectives on Mount Rushmore and their stolen land. This is almost never taught. It should be. The ramifications of not teaching this were very evident in the backlash Lakota activists received after this summer’s events at Mount Rushmore when they attempted a blockade of a government event. This is very much a current issue and has impacts beyond the classroom. Calling these the “greatest presidents” does not do anything to advance an honest education about US history. Their harmful actions should be considered in how these presidents are described.

In the lesson plans for chapter 2, about Washington, it repeats something I have seen before in Core Knowledge. Whenever they discuss slavery, they say that slavery has existed in many cultures for thousands of years. They can’t bring themselves to simply discuss US slavery in the context of US history. They also mention this fact as if it matters here. It really doesn’t and it certainly doesn’t need to be repeated every time the subject is discussed. It’s a scapegoat. They’re repeatedly attempting to make the US look like it wasn’t “that bad.” There is no mention of Washington’s nickname “Town Destroyer” given to him by the Haudenosaunee.

The lesson on Jefferson glorifies the Louisiana Purchase and western “exploration” by Lewis and Clark. This should not be glorified or viewed in such a positive light. While it certainly impacted the development of the US as a whole, it is a sad and negative history for many peoples. This should be acknowledged, but rarely is when this topic comes up. There is no mention of him being an enslaver of hundreds of people or his belief that Natives were inferior, and the land must be taken over by whites.

The teacher guide for the lesson on Lincoln glorifies his actions around the emancipation proclamation with no mention of his actual racism and views of Black people. It also makes no mention of his role in the Dakota War of 1862 and the largest mass hanging in US history. Granted, that last part is too much for Kindergarten students, but it can be mentioned that he ordered terrible things to be done to Natives who were standing up for themselves, without going into much detail.

The teacher guided for chapter 5 about Roosevelt praises his “love of the west” and his conservation efforts. There is no mention of his hatred and racism toward Natives. His beliefs that white people were superior or that Natives were interfering with western expansion are not mentioned. It also makes no mention of his hatred and racism toward Black people. These are important because they shaped his policies, both foreign and domestic. Their praise of the National Parks overlooks the harm this caused due to the forced removal of Natives from their homelands for the creation of these parks and National Forests. His white supremacy is completely ignored.

The student text makes absolutely zero mention of the sacredness of the Black Hills and that mountain to the Lakota/Dakota people. If the teacher chooses not to mention this, the students will have absolutely no idea.  In chapter 2 it states that the story about Washington and the cherry tree is not true, but it’s a good story to tell anyway. This is odd. Why is it a good story to tell in a history book if it isn’t true? It belongs in a lesson about tall tales and legends, not a history text. It also makes no mention of his involvement in slavery. Again, if the teacher does not mention this, they will not learn it from the text. The end of chapter 5 about Roosevelt states “On this special land, people could not harm trees or animals.” People could not harm trees or animals in National Parks and Forests, but they could certainly harm Indigenous peoples like he did. There is nothing written in any chapter about their negative histories.

It is true that Kindergarteners shouldn’t be hearing horrific details of history, but it is also true that they are capable of understanding much more than what people give them credit for. Native Kindergarten students are often taught these truths in an age appropriate way at home. There is no reason why other students shouldn’t’ be taught these truths as well. They are important to understanding true US history rather than learning a false and over glorified version of it. Giving students a non-biased and honest introduction to history is important. Continuing to push propaganda in education is harmful no matter the age of the student. All these true and messy parts of these four presidents’ histories can be introduced in an age appropriate way so that students understand that these men were not perfect, but that they did good and bad things. Other than the brief mention of slavery in the Washington lesson, there is no mention of any other harmful actions or beliefs of these men. Omission is a form of lying.

Overall, the kindergarten units are awful. This is the same type of false history that I was taught in school as a child. I was taught correctly at home. It is sad to see not much has changed. Most of these students are not having this corrected at home. Educators and curriculum developers need to do better. Society’s poor education about Natives has a direct impact on us and our communities. This is the foundation these students will carry with them into future grades and it is horrible.