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.
