New Mexico high school students are set to learn more about the January 6 Capitol riot than the Apollo 11 moon landing, according to state history guidelines obtained by The Daily Wire.
The New Mexico Instructional Scope for History contains more than a dozen references to the January 6, 2021 riot and mentions the moon landing exactly once. The space race gets a single reference as well.
The guidelines also direct teachers to promote Democratic politicians, discuss reparations, assign students climate change advocacy projects, and explain that “the richest men in the country are still mostly white.”
Teachers are instructed to show NBC News footage of the Capitol breach to “disprove some of the beliefs that it was not violent or a threat to our democracy,” according to the document.
The document repeatedly misspells “Capitol” as “Capital” throughout the January 6 section.
One sample class discussion in the guidance reads: “The freedom of those in America and Ukraine after the 2021 Capital [sic] Insurrection and Russian invasion of Ukraine are two events that reveal the rights and safety of women, immigrants, children, and the LGBTQ community are at risk.”
Students are expected to define terms including “LGBTQ” and “PFLAG” and discuss how “historically underrepresented groups such as women of color, LGBTQ and Indigenous people” offer “diverse views of society.” Another suggested assignment asks students to “join a program already in existence and help spread their message to prevent global warming” or write their representative about climate change.
A separate section recommends listing Democratic politicians from racial and sexual minorities, citing “VP [Kamala] Harris, Transportation Secretary [Pete] Buttigieg, Interior Secretary [Deb] Haaland and Supreme Court Justice Brown.” The last reference appears to be Ketanji Brown Jackson, though she is not named correctly.
The guidance frames Georgia, Texas, Florida, and New Mexico as states with voting restrictions comparable to Jim Crow-era suppression of Black voters.
The New Mexico Instructional Scope is described by the state as “an educator influenced tool designed to provide guidance and support to assure that all students in New Mexico have access to content at their grade level combined with the use of impactful instructional strategies.”
