To: Tom Torlakson, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, The California State House, The California State Senate, and Governor Gavin Newsom
Ancient Persian History in California Schools
I, the undersigned, am requesting:
1. Your support of Senate Bill SB 1057, which provides the opportunity to redress the deficiencies of the current History-Social Science Common Core Standards to reflect current scholarship and the cultural diversity of the State.
2. For Persian civilization to be included as an integral and important civilization of the ancient world in line with this bill’s intention.
Why is this important?
This initiative is driven by the desire to bring about the kind of change in the history curriculum taught in schools across the country that better prepares all students to understand and engage in events of national and international significance. To achieve this end, history must be taught in a manner that is free from bias and based on the most recent scholarship.
In the state of California, world history is introduced to students in sixth grade starting with ancient civilizations. Concerned with an inadequate and outdated coverage of the ancient Persian civilization by the public school curricula, a group of California parents came together to address this problem. For more detail, please see www.historyadvocates.com.
Currently in the Senate, Bill SB 1057 is addressing these very concerns: http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140SB1057