Hamilton College to Host Conference on National History Standards

Hamilton College will host a free one-dayconference for area middle school and high school social studies teachers onThursday, May 2, from 9 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. in the Bristol Campus Center. Thefocus of the conference will be the National History Standards for U.S. historyand what they mean to social studies teachers in the Mohawk Valley.

The Standards were prepared as a part of the Goals 2000 Project, funded by theDepartment of Education and the National Endowment for The Humanities. Sincetheir completion in 1994, the Standards have been emersed in controversy.National figures such as Lynn Cheney and Rush Limbaugh emphatically condemnthem, whereas scores of nationally and internationally prominent educatorsenthusiastically support the Standards.

The conference will feature discussions, workshops and explanations byeducators who worked on the Standards. Featured speakers include Hamilton'sJames S. Sherman Professor of Government, Dr. David Paris; Claire Deloria, anadjunct instructor at Le Moyne College and member of the N.Y.S. Curriculum andAssessment Committee for Social Studies; Dr. William Everdell, dean ofhumanities at Saint Ann's School and Dr. John Pyne, the humanities supervisorat West Milford High School (N.J.) and member of the U.S. History Focus Groupfor National History Standards.

The event is funded by a grant from the Organization of American Historians'Fund for American History, the Rockefeller Foundation and Hamilton College.