Education bill would mandate classes on labor history

An education bill filed in the New Hampshire House of Representatives this month seeks to make lessons about labor history a mandatory part of New Hampshire middle and high school history curriculum.

The bill’s primary sponsor, Rep. Eric Gallager (D-Concord), told the House Education Committee on Tuesday that adding teaching about labor history in schools would give students knowledge that could be useful to them in practice when they enter the workforce.

“One thing I heard a lot in the school system growing up was that teachers are trying to prepare students for the workplace, for getting a job, for what they’re going to do when they grow up,” Gallager said. “It’s biased toward the employers’ point of view, and there’s not really as much education from the workers’ point of view of what sort of skills they might need to stand up to their boss, to fight for higher wages or better working conditions.”

The bill, HB1144, would update RSA 89:11, the state law that regulates history education, to include a line requiring instruction of labor history. Currently, the law requires lessons about civic engagement, the U.S. and New Hampshire constitutions, the government’s role in making laws and regulating economic activity, and how intolerance and discrimination can lead to genocide such as the Holocaust.

Read more: https://www.concordmonitor.com/Teaching-Labor-History-in-Schools-44637894