We Need More History Education in Grades K-12

This is another idea debate Democrats should win in a landslide.

With MAGA -Trumpist Republicans behaving like Stalinists and Pro-Segregationist Reactionaries in their continual war on the non-white and non-heterosexual past, Democrats should continue to expose these groups for what they are: agents of ignorance and disinformation or as Richard Shenkman once wrote, the "Legends, Lies, and Cherished Myths of American History."

He also wrote other recommended works like I Love Paul Revere, Whether He Rode or Not, Legends, Lies, and Cherished Myths of World History, and Just How Stupid Are We.

With other highly regarded books like Lies My Teacher Told Me by James Loewen and Don't Know Much series by Kenneth Davis, Democrats should chastize Know Nothing Republicans daily for the decades-long war on the past from their whitewashing of major historical events, near omission of other cultures contribution to civilization, treating history as the ugly stepchild of the core subjects in K-12 curricula, the attack on the Advanced Placement History program for telling children too much, the dumbing down of textbooks and critical thinking assignments like banning works of literature, and the recent color blind approach of history's most noted episodes like not mentioning Rosa Parks is Black (at least they left the picture) in a recent proposed Florida text.

The solution to this is simple.

More history education is needed in public education and not just in high school.  A year's worth of history is needed at all grade levels of education, including the Elementary ones.

Furthermore, history teachers should have a solid background in the subject they are teaching. If a secondary social studies instructor is teaching United States History, they should have at least 30 to 40 hours in that area and that should include coursework in Indian, Canadian, and Central/South American studies. If it is World History, it should be the same amount of hours and not just European/Western Civilization. The instructor should have a working knowledge of Middle Eastern, African, and Asian Civilizations as well. If that takes more than 40 hours of credits, so be it.

Elementary school teachers should be required to have a knowledge of basic historical literacy as well before they teach.

Students should also be exposed to a year-long American and World Geography Course to go along with the already required Government/Economics annual block.

These are not new solutions to old problems. They have been proposed for decades. I would highly recommend the Paul Gagnon edited Historical Literacy: The Case for History in American Education. It is timeless and could be customized to contemporary times.

Historical Illiteracy is a danger to American Democracy and a license for avaricious plutocrats to take advantage of middle and working-class generations.

The people need to beat the MAGA-Trumpist-White Nationalist Reactionaries in the War on History.

Make History a requirement for all children in all grades in grades K-12.

Defeat the forces of ignorance and disinformation.

Score a victory for enlightenment, historical literacy, and Democracy.