Article content continued

He similarly claims that history has been practically removed from the program of studies. However, turning to the draft, we find the Grade 4 curriculum still devotes a lot of focus to “stories about Alberta’s past,” albeit with a new emphasis on understanding how those stories are shaped. In other words, Alberta history is a priority for this curriculum; it will just be presented in a way that Staples finds objectionable.

Others find it less objectionable; some would see it as a just act of restitution to devote attention to groups like the French or First Nations, whose stories had previously been explicitly censored by educators (consider the residential schools or the historical opposition to separate schools). Moreover, there is nothing novel about judging a society by how it treats its most marginalized.

Turning to the specific content of the curriculum, there are some major problems with Staples’ analysis. He only had access to the K-4 program of studies, so he does not know whether the aspects missing from this curriculum may show up later. Last year, the government released an overall draft of its K-12 “Scope and Sequence” social curriculum, and some of what Staples laments as absent is slated to show up later in the program.

Much of what he misses in the new curriculum is also absent from the current one. For example, he complains that the values of self-reliance and fortitude are not mentioned. But the current social studies curriculum also does not mention these things in the way Staples seems to be looking for. The curriculum mainly deals with intellectual rather than personal development. The section on “Skills and Processes” students are to learn mentions mainly cognitive habits, like “critical and creative thinking” or how to “conduct research ethically.” The health curriculum is where skills like “resiliency and self-efficacy” (a neat synonym for “fortitude and self-reliance”) are taught.