Mandated course draws strong, varied reactions

compiled by Janine LaBletta

Academic, political and civic leaders both locally and nationally have weighed in on the Philadelphia School District's mandated high school course in African American history. Here are some of the public statements made on the topic in recent months.

Nicholas Torres, President, Congreso de Latinos Unidos

“We live in a community that is Latino American and African American. I think it's shortsighted of the School District to mandate one and not mandate the other. . . . We are a nation of diverse communities. Do we need to emphasize different cultures – African American, Latino American? Yes, we do. How we do it is the area we are debating. We should teach cultural pride and celebration of diversity. There should be a core curriculum and then there should be electives. It should be set up like college.”

–CN8's “It's Your Call with Lynn Doyle,” Sept. 13, 2005

Gary B. Nash, professor emeritus at UCLA and director of the National Center for History in the Schools

“It does put Philadelphia into an elite group of school districts that are taking the study of history very, very seriously. . . . Each district is entitled to experiment. If I were on a school board, I would be torn between pumping up regular courses and the approach taken here.”

–Philadelphia Inquirer, June 22, 2005

J. Whyatt Mondesire, President, NAACP Philadelphia

“American life is inconceivable without its Black presence. The sheer intelligence and imagination of African Americans have disproportionately shaped American culture, produced wealth in the American economy, and refined notions of freedom and equality in American politics. Consequently, the teaching of African and African American history reminds us that there would be no American culture without Black America.”

–Testimony before Philadelphia School Reform Commission by NAACP, June 15, 2005

Chester Finn, President of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation

“Philadelphia is setting a woeful precedent. If it holds firm to this mandate, it will either anger 35 percent of its own students by ignoring their stories, perhaps driving them out of the public schools and further segregating that system. Or it will have to follow its required course in African/African American History with scads of others, tailored to singular histories of other groups and places.”

–Newsletter of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, June 16, 2005

Mark H. Morial, President and CEO of the National Urban League

“This isn't a brief for 'division.' Rather, it's a frank acknowledgement that we can't honestly face our present and our future until we've honestly faced our past.”

–www.civilrights.org, posted June 29, 2005

John Perzel, Speaker, Pennsylvania House of Representatives

“I would like to see students master basic reading, writing, and arithmetic. Once we have them down pat, I don't care what they teach... They should understand basic American history before we go into African American history.”

–Philadelphia Inquirer, June 22, 2005

Donald H. Smith, past president, National Alliance of Black School Educators