Study finds U.S. History teachers doing their jobs

The way middle and high school teachers go about teaching the history of the United States has become a controversial topic over the past few years.

Accusations have been made, particularly by conservative commentators who accuse teachers of left-wing bias and possibly “indoctrinating” students.

In several states, Republican lawmakers have passed laws where potentially “divisive” topics are not allowed to be discussed in the classroom, claiming that conversations about certain topics like slavery and racism had been steered by teachers into some forms of political support.

Are teachers distorting history or indoctrinating students?

A report released by the American Historical Society this past September says no.

American Lesson Plan: Teaching U.S. History in Secondary Schools provides a distinct view of middle and high school U.S. history instruction within the classroom itself.

Researchers at the American Historical Association examined state standards and legislation across 50 states, surveyed about 3,000 middle and high school history educators across nine states, conducted more than 200 in-depth interviews with teachers and administrators and reviewed thousands of pages of instructional materials.

“The U.S. education system — diverse, devolved and divided — could never be captured by the blunt slogans that have dominated sensationalist media and drawn attention from even more careful observers,” the report states.

The research concluded that U.S. history teachers are professional, they make curricular decisions with direct influence over what students are expected to learn and free online resources typically outweigh traditional textbooks.

Katie Pike teaches at Woodland Elementary and has been teaching Civics and 8th grade U.S. History for 11 years.

“I don’t want my personal bias to come into the classroom,” Pike said.

“I don’t talk about my own political or religious views in class.”

When it comes to sensitive topics such as slavery and racism, no matter the opinion, they’re part of history.

“How can you teach the Civil War and not talk about slavery?” Pike said.

“There’s definitely a ‘tip-toe’ feeling on certain topics but I can teach about the hard things while staying objective.”

Pike mentioned other sensitive, but important, topics like Indigenous people and the Gold Rush.

“The Miwuk are still not federally recognized, that’s part of our local history here and it’s a very big part of so many lives today,” Pike explained.

“The Gold Rush was essentially a genocide, but the reality is it’s part of our history.”

Pike referenced teaching history like life is gray; it’s not black and white.

Rather than judge history based on the present, the goal is to understand the past in its own context.

“Kids are able to handle the rough truth,” she said.

“Sometimes they’re a little shocked but I want them to be critical thinkers and be able to make their own analysis with their own thoughts.”

When it comes to the curriculum, Pike utilizes the required textbook, but as mentioned in the study — she also utilizes many on-line resources.

“History books are boring,” she laughed.

“There are so many great things on-line, especially from the Library of Congress” which covers the required content in the curriculum.

When it comes to kids, sometimes teachers have to get creative with ways to keep them engaged.

“There are a lot of different ways to teach and we have to make things exciting and interesting,” Pike said.

Utilizing both the text and online resources provides many other tools for teaching and learning.

“I’m really passionate about history,” said Pike.

She explained that it’s important to teach how history connects things and how the past impacts us today.

History is constantly evolving as more is discovered and it’s something that will always be a vital part of education.

Speculation and misinformation do little to address the many challenges schools and teachers are faced with on a daily basis.

This research provides a solid evidence-based foundation for policies directed toward teaching history, while being professional and objective to help students learn and grow.

The full study/report can be found at www.historians.org/teaching-learning/k-12-education/american-lesson-plan/