darkSpyro

Surprising that no one's made this topic yet.


Well, anyway, conservatives in Oklahoma have started a movement to ban the Advanced Placement U.S. History course because it apparently paints an unpatriotic picture of America and seems to only stress the negative events in our history. A few more states (including mine) have called for at least a review of the curriculum, if not an outright ban.

For those who don't know, Advanced Placement is a nationwide program of the College Board (which is privately owned and not affiliated with any governing body of education anywhere) where students on the higher end of the academic spectrum* can take college-level versions of normal high school classes, culminating in an examination at the end of the school year. If students pass the exam, they receive a college credit for that class, allowing them to skip a semester of that class when they go to college (depending on where you go for college, this can save you a good bit of tuition money).

I took AP U.S. History last year and I made a 4 on the exam (AP exams are on a scale from 1-5, 3 is considered passing), so I received my credit for it. I hope the course stays, not only because I don't want to lose that credit, but because I think it gave a rather inspiring view of our nation. Yes, we saw some parts of history that we shouldn't be particularly proud of, but we also studied the moments of triumph, the moments of rising above the tragedies and conquering those unpleasant tides. It was very scholarly indeed.


*I say the higher end because in general, "average" students can't keep up with the rigorous coursework and curriculum. The classes are NOT easy. But, that's not to say that nobody can do it. They're definitely achievable.

I took AP World History. That class and it's teacher are what made me want to go into Homeschooling.

While I hate politics (Especially people who are too far left and too far right) I do have somewhat of a say on the matter. Personally, I feel as if America wants to censor it's darker history. It wants to pull a 1984 and convince the children of today that America is a great country and has done nothing wrong to anyone! Which, isn't true on account of..Hiroshima, Civil War, to name a few.
If they were really going to ban it, then they should at least let the people who passed keep the college credit, otherwise that'd be sending a bad message. Something along the lines of "We don't care about how hard you worked, if you cried, or didn't sleep, we like America and you better like it too!" But that's just my opinion. :P

Hey! I got a 4 on my exam too! Yeah, I don't agree with those Oklahoma conservatives. I'm a patriotic American, and frankly I can't understand how someone would believe the APUSH curriculum is anti-American. My guess is that it's the Vietnam war? We talked about America's brutal way of fighting through that war (such as the Tet Offensive).

But I still think that the book remains patriotic when need be. Such as when discussing our victory in WWII or Ronald Reagan destroying the Soviet Union with the power of Capitalism.

It's an absolutely stupid movement. Whether you're patriotic or not, it's important to know that a country grows not only from its achievements, but its struggles. These conservatives are sending a bad message to future generations by trying to tell our youth that America is perfect and clean, AND trying to censor our darker moments and pretend nothing happened. Hell, it's probably better if we knew that America made mistakes and learned from them. It shows that our country has overcome the worst. but nope, apparently a class on our history wasn't good enough, so conservatives like the ones in Oklahoma need to tell everyone that America is perfect and has done NOTHING wrong.

Honestly it's one of the most ignorant ideas I've ever heard of. but that's just me.

I find this rather stupid and really just makes our government look bad.

While I dislike the College Board and what it stands for, this is not the right way to go about trying to encourage positive change. Besides, it's important to know both the highs and lows of world history. That way, we can try to avoid repeating the lows again. <.<;

I was about to write a long rant but I just say few things that come to my mind about this subject. That suggestion by conservatives in Oklahoma is ridiculous and uttermost stupid. It is a step back in everything that history as a field of science and study wants to stand up for.

History is an OBJECTIVE description of the things that have happened in the past. It is based on evidence which has gone through proper analytic operations etc. Of course history is a fascinating in a way that it is hyper-sensitive to change when new evidence is brought up etc. Of course the things that have happened already cannot be changed and they will never change. But all in all my point on this paragraph is that one cannot select ways to teach it if one wants to keep its scientific purity intact.

In terms of history there are no things such as positive or negative. Actually in everyday life those subjects are subjective and are always based on highly altering world of values which doesn’t hold a long-term meaning of importance and ever-so shady term of factuality. There is only history based on proof which should be taught in a way that it already is no matter of people’s values about what is right and what is wrong.

And of course in terms of reality as we know it is that we are what we are. We all, people, nations, organizations, etc., are creations of the things that have happened throughout our existence. And by denying some parts which could be considered as negative, we are at the same time denying ourselves. And I think that is not a way to handle life at all. It regresses our progress in moving forward, being a better human beings and mankind as a whole.

So that is what I think. Teach things as they are, not as one wishes them to be. Carry on people…

Exactly. I'm all for patriotism, but come on Oklahoma, this sounds like some **** North Korea would do.


And actually, I think the most "unpatriotic" part of the curriculum is when it gets to the Industrial Revolution and talks about how Rockefeller, Carnegie, and Vanderbilt basically made slaves out of wage workers, and then it goes into the muckrakers like Upton Sinclair. Remember that, Mrmorrises?

Quote: Metallo

Exactly. I'm all for patriotism, but come on Oklahoma, this sounds like some **** North Korea would do.


And actually, I think the most "unpatriotic" part of the curriculum is when it gets to the Industrial Revolution and talks about how Rockefeller, Carnegie, and Vanderbilt basically made slaves out of wage workers, and then it goes into the muckrakers like Upton Sinclair. Remember that, Mrmorrises?

Yeah, although that was back in the late 19th century.I think it's extra stinging to a history class to hear the details of such a putrid, pointless, and overall brutal war we fought in less than 50 years ago. There were people bashing Vietnam war veterans, calling them "baby killers" because of it.