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Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 683
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Joined: Sep 2009
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Our school board is proposing a "curriculum review committee." It will review, among other things, whether APUSH should be excluded from the high school curriculum because the redesigned course has a "agenda." One of the school board members said that she wants to develop citizens, not rebels. How can you possibly discuss American History without talking about rebelling against the power structure??? Is anyone else running into this? My daughter is slated to take APUSH next year as a sophomore. I'm concerned that her educational opportunities will be censored by this school board.
Last edited by Lewis; 09/22/14 08:53 AM.
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Joined: Mar 2013
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What? How is the new curriculum for APUSH any more "*******" than the old curriculum?
No we are not running into this. My son isn't taking APUSH, but my school board wouldn't consider removing this class. And our area is quite *****, although more ***** than ******.
Last edited by Lewis; 09/22/14 08:54 AM.
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Joined: Feb 2011
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You have NO idea how amusing this is to me personally-- my DD's APUSH teacher was a foaming ******* (maybe ********-- hard to say for sure)-- to the point that she argued with my DD over the definitions of "socialism" and "communism" both being the same thing in practical terms, etc. etc.
We came to regard this as a "learning opportunity" for my DD to learn to aim her work at her intended audience. Mission accomplished, by the way. DD had quite a good time writing on the subject of the Red Scare and the Wobblies, and then again with McCarthy and HUAC. (misunderstood, bad, a noble figure in American history, and largely maligned by The Left, incidentally).
She had more trouble knowing where to aim LBJ and stuck with international affairs and Vietnam.
DD found the entire thing both sad and deeply amusing. Which is good, because it so easily could have gone the other way with her. In any event, she had about zero respect for the academic integrity of the course when the teacher was continuously stating that the "Textbook is full of half-truths and entirely too much sympathy for non-****** ideals." (So far as DD and I could tell, not so much.)
I can certainly see how a curriculum committee stacked with people like that teacher could opt out of APUSH.
I'm sorry, knute. This really sucks for students. This is a good course for teaching reading and analysis skills, and note-taking.
Last edited by Lewis; 09/22/14 08:56 AM.
Schrödinger's cat walks into a bar. And doesn't.
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Joined: May 2014
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So you don't have to take the class to take the test. Take honors American history, seach the web for teachers who have put stuff online for APUSH, seach the web for college American History stuff online, buy a study guide or two, learn how to write the essay question answers and find a school that will let you take the test there.
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Joined: Mar 2013
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What I don't understand is the insistence the APUSH fit "common core". APUSH is supposed to be a college class. Your district is right in the fact that they don't HAVE to teach it, although it clearly would be to the detriment of the students. From what I understand AP course is a framework and a test. Districts & states can implement the course however they want.
One of the problems with the old APUSH is that it wasn't like any college course that I know. Their objection is "George Washington, Jefferson and a full understanding of our founding principles are on the way out." Well there is a lot more to US History than the founding fathers. And that students needs to learn U.S. History of the past 100 years as well. The problem with the old APUSH is that covering 300 years of US History to any depth in a year it unrealistic for most students. Perhaps districts should require a H.S. survey course for their graduation requirements and turn APUSH into an optional 2nd year.
What I found interesting is the emphasis on H.S. History as the study of the founding fathers. My son is taking regular US History in California. Clearly our requirements for the class are different with Texas requirements. Regular US History in CA if officially from Reformation (post Civil War) to present time. They are doing a unit of "review" to start but don't even taken much time on the Civil War. The assumption is that students learned about Colonial times through Civil War in 8th grade and 5th grade. Do kid in Texas not learn about U.S. History before H.S?
Last edited by bluemagic; 09/21/14 07:24 PM.
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Joined: Feb 2011
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Yeah, when my DD took APUSH recently, she had the entire second semester to do the 20th century, more or less. I thought that was great, myself-- there's a lot of stuff there that didn't get good coverage in elementary and middle school.
Schrödinger's cat walks into a bar. And doesn't.
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Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 2,639
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The Republican National Committee has passed a resolution describing its objections to APUSH, which seem reasonable to me. RESOLUTION CONCERNING ADVANCED PLACEMENT U. S. HISTORY (APUSH)
WHEREAS, almost 500,000 U. S. students take the College Board’s Advanced Placement U. S.
History (APUSH) course each year which has traditionally been designed to present a balanced
view of American history and to prepare students for college-level history courses; and
WHEREAS, the College Board (a private organization unaccountable to the public) has recently
released a new Framework for the APUSH course that reflects a radically revisionist view of
American history that emphasizes negative aspects of our nation’s history while omitting or
minimizing positive aspects; and
WHEREAS, the Framework includes little or no discussion of the Founding Fathers, the
principles of the Declaration of Independence, the religious influences on our nation’s history,
and many other critical topics that have always been part of the APUSH course; and
WHEREAS, the Framework excludes discussion of the U. S. military (no battles, commanders,
or heroes) and omits many other individuals and events that greatly shaped our nation’s history
(for example, Albert Einstein, Jonas Salk, George Washington Carver, Rosa Parks, Dr. Martin
Luther King, Tuskegee Airmen, the Holocaust); and
WHEREAS, the Framework presents a biased and inaccurate view of many important events in
American history, including the motivations and actions of 17th
-19th
-century settlers, American
involvement in World War II, and the development of and victory in the Cold War; and
WHEREAS, the Framework describes its detailed requirements as “required knowledge” for
APUSH students, and the College Board admits that the APUSH examination will not test
information outside this “required knowledge;” and
WHEREAS, because the Framework differs radically from almost all state history standards, so
that APUSH teachers will have to ignore their state standards to prepare students for the AP
examination, the Framework will essentially usurp almost all state history standards for the best
and brightest history students; and
WHEREAS, the College Board is not making its sample examination available for public
review, thus maintaining secrecy about what U. S. students are actually being tested on; therefore
be it
RESOLVED, the Republican National Committee recommends that the College Board delay the
implementation of the new APUSH Framework for at least a year, and that during that time a
committee be convened to draft an APUSH Framework that is consistent both with the APUSH
course’s traditional mission, with state history standards, and with the desires of U. S. parents
and other citizens for their students to learn the true history of their country; and be it further
RESOLVED, the Republican National Committee requests that state legislatures and the U. S.
Congress investigate this matter; and be it further
RESOLVED, that the Republican National Committee request that Congress withhold any federal
funding to the College Board (a private non-governmental organization) until the APUSH course
and examination have been rewritten in a transparent manner to accurately reflect U. S. history
without a political bias and to respect the sovereignty of state standards, and until sample
examinations are made available to educators, state and local officials, and the public, as has
long been the established practice; and be it finally
RESOLVED, that upon the approval of this resolution the Republican National Committee shall
promptly deliver a copy of this resolution to every Republican member of Congress, all
Republican candidates for Congress, and to each Republican state and territorial party office.
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Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 2,639
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What I found interesting is the emphasis on H.S. History as the study of the founding fathers. My son is taking regular US History in California. Clearly our requirements for the class are different with Texas requirements. Regular US History in CA if officially from Reformation (post Civil War) to present time. They are doing a unit of "review" to start but don't even taken much time on the Civil War. The assumption is that students learned about Colonial times through Civil War in 8th grade and 5th grade. Do kid in Texas not learn about U.S. History before H.S? A U.S. history course taught to bright and motivated high school juniors and seniors can cover topics of greater difficulty and with greater depth than courses in 5th and 8th grade. I doubt that the 8th graders are closely reading the Federalist and Anti-Federalist papers, for example.
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Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 2,856
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I'll hold off on getting caught up in the right-leaning rhetoric and wait until some substantial information comes forward. After all, these are the same people who made a collection of unfounded charges against Common Core. There is room for rational criticism, but those voices got drowned out.
I suspect it'll be worse this time, because conservatives have long considered Social Studies, and US History in particular, as a means of indoctrination to certain principles and behaviors. The history has been specifically tailored to those goals. It wouldn't do, for example, to give fair treatment to class conflict in the industrial age while the Soviets are aiming missiles at you and looking for sympathetic citizens to act as agents.
It also makes it kinda funny whenever they talk about "revisionist" history.
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