Teaching for Change sent an email on Constitution Day to its distribution list saying that current teaching methods on the Constitution are akin to "worship" and need to include more focus on race and class issues.
The email, which was sent on behalf of the Zinn Education Project (ZEP), quoted a 2012 Huffington Post article written by ZEP co-director Bill Bigelow. The article criticized Pearson-Prentice Hall textbooks for publishing a quote by Daniel Webster that called the constitution a "compass" for the nation.
"This kind of on-bended-knee Constitution worship has long been a staple of our country's social studies curricula," Bigelow wrote.
"Students deserve a more critical and nuanced exploration of the Constitution—one that is alert to the race and class issues at the heart of our governing document."
The email included links to several Zinn Education Project publications and lesson plans. One of these lesson plans outlined a Constitutional Convention role playing game that is supposed to give students the "chance to see the partisan nature of the actual document produced in 1787."
"Instead of including only the bankers, lawyers, merchants, and plantation owners who attended the actual Constitutional Convention, the activity also invites poor farmers, workers, and enslaved African Americans," the website said.