Name the first state where men voted to give women the vote.
What language is the word “Colorado”? What does it mean?
Are we “Coloradoans” or “Coloradans?”
Did Molly Brown build the Brown Palace Hotel and donate the land for the Colorado State Capitol?
The Colorado Constitution stipulates “The history and civil government of the state of Colorado shall be taught in all the public schools of the state.” Unfortunately, the state does not enforce this or include these fields in the accountability process used to assess schools. Teachers, under terrific pressure to improve student standardized test scores, understandably do not teach what is not tested.
Over the past decade, social studies teaching time has been cut by more than half as teachers focus on math, science and reading. Last week, the State Board of Education faced this problem and voted unanimously to include, for the first time in 10 years, social studies in the state assessment system. This promotes the teaching of history, geography, civics, economics and personal financial literacy.
Chris Elnicki, Cherry Creek Schools social studies coordinator, said, “The social studies community finds itself in a tough place. As a result of not being part of the No Child Left Behind law and the Colorado Student Assessment Program, social studies instruction and learning in elementary and middle schools has decreased across the nation and in Colorado. Consequently, students learn far less about the world they are being prepared to compete in.
“Adding social studies to the assessment system would contribute to preserving the greater goal of public education — creating an enlightened citizenry with the capacity to make a democratic constitutional society work.”
Some of us think Colorado is a special place. We need to educate our youngsters on why Colorado is special and how to keep it that way. Without a knowledge of Colorado history, students would not know that many of today’s issues have historical context.
History shows, for example, that the current conservation debate began more than 100 years ago. Around 1900, Colorado hosted a passionate conservation vs. extraction debate, with many locals fighting President Theodore Roosevelt and the budding conservation movement. Conservationists, then as now, argued that many federal lands should be spared exploitation and used recreationally, that some resources should be reserved for future generations.
On another fiercely fought front, we also have seen anti-immigrant sentiment before: In the 1920s, the Ku Klux Klan briefly ruled the state.
As to the answers to the quiz: Colorado is a Spanish word meaning “red” or “reddish.” One of my Hispanic students tells me it also can mean “embarrassed,” which Coloradans should be for the way our history is sidelined. Coloradans should be proud that in 1893, men voted to give women the right to vote, and should know the difference between Molly Brown and Henry C. Brown.
Contact Tom Noel at . The Auraria Higher Education Center Library offers reviews of new books on Colorado published in 2010. Check out these and other Colorado history resources at .
