When Maryland students learn about American history, they could see some more information on groups including African Americans, women, Asian Americans, American Indians and more.
A number of Maryland state lawmakers are proposing a change to what’s required in the state’s social studies curriculum. Senate Bill 462 would provide for changes requiring the State Board of Education and county school boards to set new curriculum guides for “expanded American history.”
Maryland State Sen. Susan Lee testified in favor of the bill before the Education, Health and Environmental Affairs committee in Annapolis on Wednesday.
“Our collective history must include the history of those individual who have been marginalized, too,” Lee said.
Amy Jean Chung Fry, with the Asian American Advancing Justice, told committee members that “through education learned through our elementary schools, we can address the behaviors and attitudes learned early on to educate against stereotypes and learned biases that are at the core of racism.”
Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich, a former public school teacher, also testified in favor of the bill, saying” “We should be not afraid of understanding the truth of what happened in America, so that we can become what we want to become, which is a just, free and open society.”
If adopted, the legislation would require that new standards be developed by Dec. 1, 2022.
