Alaska, a traditionally red state in most elections, appears to have social studies standards that omitted people and things such as George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Sarah Palin, the Nome Gold Rush and Christianity, among other things.
A state social studies standard is a bureaucratic document by the state education department that sets expectations for school districts, and it usually links to things such as state assessments, teacher training, textbook selection, and model lesson plan.
While it does not govern everything about social studies instruction, expert David Randall told AFN it is the most important single bureaucratic document.
"So, it matters when you have state standards that have no details or politicized instructions, not because it's going to absolutely dictate that it's going to be that way, but it gives a very strong push to every school district and every teacher 'that's the way you should teach,'" said Randall, Director of Research at National Association of Scholars, and Executive Director of Civics Alliance.
In his own article about this for The Federalist, Randall wrote that Alaska's Department of Education and Early Development, the entity that produces the Alaska Social Studies Standards, outsourced much of the standards to "the radical activists who have captured the national social studies establishment."
AFN reached out to employees of Alaska's Department of Education and Early Development and did not receive a response.
"Alaska looks like it's a deep red state, and the fact that it's happening in Alaska tells you it can happen in any state," Randall told AFN. "It can happen in Alabama. It can happen in Nebraska. It is bad in the red states, it is even worse in the purple states, and it is just terrible in the blue states, as a rule of thumb."
Randall recommended parents review curriculum and speak with their children about what they're being taught in schools. He also advised people to have school boards pay attention to the content of what is being taught.
