The American Historical Association registers strong concerns about Iowa House File 402 and its companion bill Senate File 322, which is now under consideration by a Senate education subcommittee.
HF 402 / SF 322 threatens to undermine the quality of history instruction at Iowa’s public universities and community colleges, tarnishing the reputation of these world-class institutions of higher learning. The bill creates a new, one semester “survey course in American history and civil government,” but imposes unwieldy and overly specific requirements that will handcuff educators and undermine student learning.
We encourage you to contact your elected representatives in both the House and Senate and draw their attention to some of the concerning elements in HF 402 / SF 322, including:
- Undermining the quality of history instruction in Iowa. The one-semester course outlined in this bill fails to do justice to the rich and vibrant history of the United States. Faculty and departments across Iowa already teach two semester sequences in US history, and many do so exceedingly well. HF 402 demands that instructors cram double the content into half the time. This is a recipe for failure.
- Reducing our national history to a canned commodity. History faculty understand how to design compelling courses that engage students and prepare them for future success. This bill offers a hodgepodge of overly prescriptive content requirements that will leave students with neither time nor opportunity to read, think, contextualize, and analyze the past.
- Stripping Iowans of control over the undergraduate curriculum. HF 402 / SF 322 is neither for nor about Iowa. The text of the bill is copied nearly verbatim from model legislation promoted by a national coalition of education activists headquartered on Madison Avenue in New York City.
- Slowing student progress toward graduation. This bill places an additional hurdle between each Iowa student and the completion of their degree without adequate consideration for the needs of students.
- Hobbling academic freedom in the classroom. HF 402 / SF 322 insists that this course instruct students in “the study of and devotion to American institutions and ideals.” History education that is rooted in professional expertise and integrity can inspire patriotism in American students through deep and honest engagement with our nation’s past. But this bill rejects good history, demanding instead that faculty tell students how they should feel about the nation’s past.
HF 402 strips Iowa educators of most decisions about what college students should learn about US history. We have serious concerns about the rationale behind the specificity with which this proposal spells out what the new course must look like. History faculty in Iowa need little encouragement to teach the founding documents of the United States. It would be far more productive to give them the instructional time and resources they need to do so in accordance with professional norms. We suspect that many Iowans would prefer that students enroll in courses designed and taught by someone at their local university as opposed to out-of-state lobbyists.
If you live in Iowa, it is crucial that you contact your state legislators as soon as possible and encourage them to oppose this troubling bill.
You might also wish to submit written testimony for consideration by the Senate education subcommittee at its hearing at on Tuesday, March 4 at 8:30 a.m. CST. To do so, find SF 322 on the Senate Education Committee’s list of subcommittee hearings, click the “view comments” link, and select add comments. You will need to provide contact information, and you will have the option of writing out a comment or uploading a document.
It can be helpful to reference the opposition of the AHA and other professional associations to this bill. You should feel free to quote or paraphrase our observations. At this stage in the process, it is most important for legislators to hear personal narratives about the specific consequences of this bill directly from their constituents. This includes students, parents, faculty, staff, administrators, and Iowans invested in history education.
Thank you for your participation in the democratic process. We can’t do this work effectively without your contributions.
If you have any questions about this proposed legislation or would like to request updates about its status, please feel free to reach out directly to Brendan Gillis, director of teaching and learning at the AHA (bgillis@historians.org).
The AHA, its members, and other historians find ourselves on the front lines of a conflict over understandings of America’s past, confronting radical activists who are promoting ignorance in the name of unity. Please visit our Teaching History with Integrity site for the most up-to-date information about AHA efforts to combat these bills and for resources and expressions of support for history educators.
The AHA’s advocacy work is more critical now than perhaps ever before. If you believe in the importance of honest history education, please donate to the AHA’s Advocacy Fund to support this advocacy work.