Mayor asserts battle is ignored
Bunker Hill history at issue
Mayor Thomas M. Menino made what could be an extraordinary statement yesterday at the base of the Bunker Hill Monument, speaking on the very spot of the bloody struggle that marked a turning point in the American Revolution 234 years ago.
Menino said the Battle of Bunker Hill, a heroic stand by a ragtag army of farmers against a larger and better-trained British force, is no longer part of classroom instruction in Charlestown.
“These youngsters over here aren’t taught that in school anymore,’’ Menino said as he gestured toward a group of 80 children from two nearby Boston public grammar schools, “and so we are losing part of that American history.’’
The remark was made at a ceremony marking Bunker Hill Day, one of two Suffolk County holidays under fire, along with Evacuation Day on March 17. Critics have taken aim at the holidays, observed only in Suffolk County, where some 35,000 government workers get both days off, at a cost estimated at $5 million.
The mayor has avoided taking a position on the issue, pointing out again before his speech that they are “state holidays’’ which the city is required to treat as paid days off because of its labor contracts. When asked later, Menino’s spokeswoman, Dot Joyce, clarified his comments about schools when asked, pointing out that Menino did not know the history curriculum taught in each classroom in Boston.
“I think what he means in the greater context,’’ Joyce said, “is that in the hectic world we live in, we need to stop and reflect on the history in our own backyard.’’
Officials at Boston public schools could not be immediately reached for comment. They took the day off to observe the holiday.
The state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, however, has its headquarters in Malden in Middlesex County, which does not observe Bunker Hill Day. Officials there provided specifics about the state curriculum and said it strongly suggests that Massachusetts students learn about the battle.
In fact, the state recommends that third-graders should be able to explain the “important political, economic, and military developments leading to and during the American Revolution.’’ The guidelines refer to one major military engagement of the Revolution: the Battle of Bunker Hill.
On the state’s 2008 standardized tests, every fifth-grader faced a multiple choice question about “an important outcome of the Battle of Bunker Hill.’’
“We know for sure public schools are teaching about the American Revolution,’’ said JC Considine, spokesman for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. “Bunker Hill is included.’’
