COLUMBUS, Ohio - Some history teachers say they're unhappy with proposed state standards that would end, in high schools, the teaching of ancient history.

        The social studies curriculum standards being considered by the Ohio Board of Education would teach history in chronological order.

        The school board is considering a proposal in which world history through 1750 would be taught in seventh grade.

        Eighth-graders would learn U.S. history through 1877.

        Modern world and U.S. history would come in ninth and 10th grade, respectively.

        The board must approve the standards by Dec. 31.

        A new state law that changes Ohio's student testing system requires the board to adopt grade-by-grade standards for each subject.

        School districts are not required to follow the models, but ignoring them would place students at risk of failing the new assessments, including a 10th-grade graduation test.

        Several longtime history teachers in central Ohio say they don't understand why state officials want early world and U.S. history taught in middle school.

        “The serious teaching of American and world history is irrevocably damaged by these standards,” said Tom Peet, a 28-year veteran at Westerville North High School.

        He said the proposed sequence for history courses is illogical because it requires weighty subjects such as Greek philosophy to be taught to seventh-graders, who aren't ready for them.

        “These are some of your more abstract and complex problems - the history of Greece and Rome, development of comparative religion,” he said. “For most students, this is their only shot at it.”

        In Westerville, a Columbus suburb, ancient world history is taught to ninth-graders and students in higher grades who choose advanced-placement courses as electives. Seventh-grade students are taught geography, which relies more on memorization.

        “Our problem is cognitive appropriateness,” said John Jordan, who teaches global history at Worthington Kilbourne High School.

        “Ideally you're teaching students to understand how Greek philosophy affects our lives today - Plato with his theory of ideal forms, Aristotle and his idea that all objects have form and matter.

        “Now you can certainly teach Greek philosophy to a seventh-grader, but what they'll come out with is that Aristotle is a philosopher and not much more.”

        Mr. Jordan also said that older students who take history have the added advantage of a better foundation in related subjects such as economics, geography and law.

        Donna Nesbitt, a social-studies consultant for the Ohio Department of Education, said the department supports the standards as proposed. Many schools in Ohio already teach ancient history in the seventh grade, she said.

        “You are really building the foundation in the seventh grade, and then students will make connections over time when they take modern history in high school,” Ms. Nesbitt said.

USS Cincinnati caught in tug-of-war
Shooting raises alarm on Main St.
Tristate better prepared for attack
NY vendors hawk 9-11 memories
Sept. 11 baby reason for joy
9-11 birthdays take on new meaning
Tristate events mark Sept. 11
CPS fails graduation test
Tailgate parties only reason to cheer
Wrong-way crash causes I-275 pileup
Cincinnati bucks crime trend
Girl, 10, gives birthday money to Afghan children
Health Foundation forms fund to assume new roles
Man accused of propositioning child
Mason sewer rate change proposed
You Asked For It
Good News: Show raises money, awareness
History teaching plan has critics
Midwest not popular for exchange students
Train, pickup truck wreck kills four
Alternative schedule has parents on day-care ropes
Deaths investigated as murder-suicide
Council becomes video camera-shy
Fort Campbell soldiers face anxiety of war
Grocer brothers convicted of racketeering
Militia movement fading in Kentucky
Poll: Kentuckians back strike on Iraq
Theft suspect accused of IRA connections