I am sure it is. It’s just that I find it amazing that those questions would be asked of 1st graders.
IMO it’s the sort of thing that can placate parents who worry about rigor in their children’s education. This includes parents whose kids aren’t learning the basics, however, because the pedagogy includes exposing all students to the material, including those who have fallen behind.
For many schools, most of the kids have fallen behind. But rather than requiring them to first master the basics of reading and writing. Those kids will only be the more confused as they are expected to retain detailed information on esoteric subjects they can only have recited to them because they can’t yet read.
Of course, this will assure endless job creation for teachers unions, since more reading tutors and the like will be required all they while these kids progress through elementary school.
It’s a shame.
About 3/4 of that is quite simply past the cognitive ability of the vast majority of first graders! I see two things I think they’d be able to manage, and both relate to physical objects rather than any sort of abstraction. Children that young have very limited capability for abstraction.
Also, I’m honestly a little skeptical on the wisdom of teaching about the Revolutionary War and why it happened for another year or two. Lifelong impressions of who is considered an ally and who is an enemy are formed that young, without the capacity to understand that Britain is a valued friend now. In other words, this seems like it has the potential to imprint a dislike and distrust of Britain deeply at an age where it’s not likely to ever be questioned, the same way as Palestinians indoctrinate their children to hate Jews.