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+--- Thread: Republican National Committee Denounces AP US History Framework (/Thread-Republican-National-Committee-Denounces-AP-US-History-Framework)
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Republican National Committee Denounces AP US History Framework - Jonathan Whatley - 08-14-2014
Steve Benen of MSNBC Wrote:By way of an example, the RNC believes the AP framework portrays early U.S. colonists as âoppressors and exploiters while ignoring the dreamers and innovators who built our country.â
In other words, the Republican National Committee wants these advanced-placement classes to put a more positive, more deliberately patriotic spin on history.
Right Wing Watch explained yesterday that the RNCâs interest didnât just come out of the blue. [â¦]
[quoting Right Wing Watch:] "Concerned Women for Americaâs Georgia chapter has sponsored a nearly identical resolution, as did Eagle Forumâs Alabama affiliate."
Indeed, after the RNC resolution was approved, Concerned Women for America and others wrote to the College Board, arguing that the AP classes should do more to teach high-school students that the United States is a âCity upon a Hill.â
As the Education Week report added, the College Board appears to be taking the complaints seriously: âTroubled by the controversy, College Board President David Coleman released to the public a practice AP U.S. history test. Practice tests are typically only released to certified AP teachers. He also announced that the College Board will issue âclarificationsâ about the new framework.â
RNC denounces high-school history exams (Steve Benen, MSNBC, August 14, 2014)
Republican National Committee Denounces AP US History Framework - sanantone - 08-14-2014
I haven't seen the test, so I wouldn't be able to judge if it's biased one way or the other. However, one is more likely to not hear the white-washed version of history in AP courses. Americans, especially minorities, need to teach their children history at home. When I was in school, we spent about one week on black history, one day on Cesar Chavez, one day on the Japanese internment camps, and one day the Chinese railroad workers. Native Americans were the only minorities that received a decent amount of coverage. Texas history has been thoroughly white-washed for as long as I can remember; it's probably always been that way.
I can't remember if the changes went through, but Texas tried to white-wash U.S. history in Texas schools. They wanted to give white men more credit for the positive things that happened during slavery and the Civil Rights Movement. The positive stuff was covered; what they really meant is that they wanted to limit the negative stuff. It's already bad enough that they spent so little time covering black people who were important to American history, and they wanted to take more time away from them.
Republican National Committee Denounces AP US History Framework - UptonSinclair - 08-14-2014
I lived in California and didn't hear about the Japanese internment camps until we read a book about it English class.
What they complain about, most people would consider critical analysis. There is no benefit from teaching young adults historic fiction. It is far more beneficial to teach them to take a critical view of the history of their country. American history is full of bad decisions, but the RNC would rather live in fantasy land.
Republican National Committee Denounces AP US History Framework - FallingWaters - 08-14-2014
The Gettysburg Address and MLK, Jr are also left out of the APUSH exam. Is that fantasyland?
Republican National Committee Denounces AP US History Framework - UptonSinclair - 08-14-2014
According to the College Board, the course work is structured in a very general way to allow educators to deal with the particulars. Therefore, MLK and the Gettysburg Address are only left out if the educator chooses to leave them out. Dealing with MLK, which is more important? Who he was or the larger context in which he operated? I would argue that MLK was a very small part of the much larger issue of civil rights. History should be about making connections and understanding context rather than creating heroes. Heroes should be left to mythology where they belong.
Essentially, modern education reform is attempting to take students beyond the "what" to the "why" in order to better prepare them for college and adult life. What many interpret as a liberal bias, is simply teaching people to think critically about the facts.
Republican National Committee Denounces AP US History Framework - Bibby - 08-15-2014
I haven't seen the curriculum, but history is complicated. You can't teach history responsibly unless you show a balanced picture of significant individuals, groups, and philosophies - because there's both good and evil in everything humans have done.
Republican National Committee Denounces AP US History Framework - sanantone - 08-15-2014
I think it's important to cover the Gettysburg Address and MLK. MLK is important to the greater context of the Civil Rights Movement. He was assassinated, the FBI spied on him out of fear that he was a communist, and there was controversy over naming a holiday after him. The last state to recognize MLK day did so in 2000. John McCain apologized repeatedly for voting against it knowing that that one vote could turn off African American voters and others.
Republican National Committee Denounces AP US History Framework - UptonSinclair - 08-15-2014
I would be far more concerned about Dredd Scott, Plessy vs Ferguson, and Brown vs the board of education being taught. MLK was a strong figure, but there are far more important issues in the civil rights struggle. American history has been taught as a group of dates, wars, and important figures for too long. We should be teaching High School students to interpret and evaluate the bigger picture.
The College Board has explained that the redesign is intended to reflect the outcomes of a college history survey course. They have also explained "AP teachers will have the flexibility to use specific historical examples in order to explain the key concepts within each period, without worrying that this will hurt their students on the AP Exam." (College Board)
Republican National Committee Denounces AP US History Framework - sanantone - 08-15-2014
Focusing on specific court decisions is the same thing. You're only getting a snapshot of a specific point in time. In order to understand the effects of those cases, you have to follow what came after them including the marches, boycotts, etc.
Republican National Committee Denounces AP US History Framework - cookderosa - 08-15-2014
There is no way to avoid bias, whether through a teacher (parent) or text book. I mean the idea of a teacher and a text book is to take vast amounts of information and recreate a "story" of the events. I mean honestly, you couldn't even get 100 Americans to retell a major recent event or timeline without the story being heavily influenced by the teller's political and religious position, as well as their age and their prior understanding of history and how these events fit into a bigger-global picture. It's just impossible. In my home, I like my kids to read autobiographies, not because I don't think they're biased, but because we know they are. There is transparency in knowing that what you're reading is from a person's perspective (as opposed to a text book which tries to feel very much like "the whole truth and nuttin but the truth" which is confusing for children, teens, and adults. Hell, adults can't even read the internet and decipher fact from fiction.
All that aside, I really wonder why RNC needs to weigh in on the test content. <eye roll>