HISTORY WITH EFFORT. Critics moaned that it slighted heroic white men and stressed the bad and not the good. It cited Joe McCarthy or McCarthyism 19 times, one conservative noted, but never mentioned Paul Revere or Robert E. Lee. In short, said Rush Limbaugh, the 271-page guide unveiled last week for the teaching of history should be "flushed down the toilet." But this much can be said for the standards proposed by the UCLA National Center for History in the Schools: They would have kids probing America's past with uncommon vigor.
Fifth graders would define Declaration of Independence terms such as created equal and consent of the governed. Sixth graders would describe Jimmy Carter's human rights policy and his Camp David Accords. Eighth graders would "construct a time line listing the events from the Compromise of 1850 through John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry, and write a persuasive speech, create simulated newspaper editorials or prepare a position paper for a debate." Eleventh graders would compare Thomas Jefferson's ideas with John Locke's and tell why Jefferson wrote of "the pursuit of happiness" instead of "property."
Don't look for the standards soon. They first must clear a yet-to-be-formed national education standards council. Final decisions to implement them would rest with local or state officials, who traditionally have been suspicious of national guidelines.
