Michigan plans to move social studies to the right

WZZM  - Potential changes to Michigan's school social studies standards are stirring controversy because they remove references to Roe v. Wade, gay rights and climate change while trimming references to the role of the NAACP. The revisions also eliminate the word "democratic" from the phrase "core democratic values."

Democrats on the state board — which must approve the changes — are now pledging to push back against the draft. . Meanwhile, some members of the group that worked on the revisions also are threatening to withdraw their support. A change.org petitionhas also been started to urge the board to reject the current version of the draft.

Among the changes raising concerns:

• Gays and lesbians: The proposed standards remove a reference to civil rights for gay and lesbians. There are no references to gays and lesbians, or the LGBTQ community, in the proposed revisions. Roe v. Wade: 
• The lone reference in the current standards to Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court case that affirmed a constitutional right to abortion, was removed. 
• Climate change: A sixth-grade reference to global climate change in the standards has been deleted, though climate change is included as an example teachers can use when teaching about global issues that affect many regions of the world. 
• Core democratic values: Every reference to the phrase "core democratic values" has been altered to delete the word "democratic." The phrase "constitutional democracy," to describe the U.S. form of governance, has been changed to "constitutional republic."