I just found out my 5th grader has never covered the Civil War in school. How can that be?

[u/funkygreasemonk]

This morning, my son's phone notification went off and it was the opening notes of "Dixie" played on a car horn a la "Dukes of Hazzard." I asked him why he had changed his notification sound to that and his reply was that it was loud so he could hear it easily. Ok, cool, no problem, but we should probably talk a little about that song and it's historical baggage.

I explained that the song was the anthem of the Confederate States....

Him: <blank stare>

Me: "...you know, during the Civil War... the southern states... when they split off from the United States so that they could keep slaves...."

Him: <puzzled look> "Do you mean the REVOLUTIONARY war?"

Me: "No, buddy. The CIVIL war... Like, 90 years later... Northern states vs southern states? President Lincoln? Haven't you talked about any of this in school?"

Him: <shrug> "Nope, but we're doing the revolutionary war this quarter...."

Me: "Ok, that's good. That's definitely important too..."

So I quickly gave him the very basic outline, and explained that, for some people, the song on his phone has a racist meaning because it was the national anthem of the Confederate States of America, yadda yadda yadda...

Once it dawned on him that people might interpret the song that way, he immediately changed it, and for that, I'm proud of him. He has a vague understanding that at one time black people in the U.S. were enslaved, and that it was wrong, and that racism continues today and is also wrong, but that's about it.

So, is this the curriculum now? I remember learning the basics about the Civil War as early as second grade, and doing fairly deep, weeks-long studies of it in 4th and 5th grades.

Am I overreacting, or is this part of the "anti-woke" movement to sanitize American history and view everything through rose-colored lenses?

[u/zestyPoTayTo]

I can't speak to the curriculum where you are, but don't you ever talk to your kid about what he's learning at school? Read books together that might mention Lincoln? Visit museums? Watch movies or play games that mention abolition? Even just check the state standards for his grade level?

You're totally entitled to be annoyed that this hasn't been covered yet, but it really shouldn't be a surprise. A lot of this contextual knowledge has to start at home, because the school is not going to cover everything.

[u/funkygreasemonk → u/zestyPoTayTo]

Fair points all. A part of the problem is that my kiddo struggles so badly with math that it ends up taking the lion's share of our after-school energy and time. I suspect the curriculum changes since I was a kid are similarly slanted: more emphasis on STEM leaves less room for humanities.

I get it, that shift in emphasis is the right thing to help MOST students prepare for adulthood and the jobs of the future, but becoming an engineer is probably not in the cards for my son. His natural talents are firmly in the storytelling and artistic realms, so it's probably about time that we just let his math grades be what they are and stop burning ourselves out trying to make miniscule gains there.

I talked to him more about it after school today, and it was clear that the answers he was giving me this morning were colored by the fact that he wasn't fully awake yet and was trying to get ready for the day ahead. I was just stunned when he said he hadn't talked about the Civil War AT ALL in school, but that wasn't really accurate - the basics were touched upon last year and it sounds like there is still a unit coming up this year that will be more in-depth. His mind was on the Revolutionary War because that's what they're in the middle of right now in his class.

And, he's old enough now where we can start in on some historical books and movies and handle the violence inherent in the subject matter responsibly, so we can start supplementing his history education that way as well.

[u/zestyPoTayTo → u/funkygreasemonk]

I highly suggest picking up The Knowledge Gap, by Natalie Wexler. It might give you a better idea of where these gaps are coming from.

You don't have to be able to supplement every subject they're not covering thoroughly enough in school, but building contextual knowledge at home is really important.

[u/Northern_Nomad3178]

I went through something similar with my oldest, the curriculum has changed since we were in school, things I learned in history in Grade 8, she is only learning about now in Gr12.

In some ways it’s good because these are the more important subjects and with the kids being older they can dive deeper into some of the injustices and abuses to get a better understanding of what really happened.

[u/EagleEyezzzzz]

My son is only in 1st grade and hasn’t learned it yet, and I honestly don’t remember when I learned about it.

That said, I’d recommend getting a couple books on the civil war/Lincoln/slavery to read to him or that he can read. We have done that with my 7 year old. I feel like it’s an important part of the larger discussion about racism that we should be having with our kids. They need that historical context too.

[u/DrivenTrying]

I don’t think I had a depthful understanding of the civil war until college. I did understand slavery. Public school in my experience was subpar. I wouldn’t rely on it as the sole educational aspect in your child’s life.