AP U.S. History curriculum is essential for students
Oklahoma lawmakers have been attempting to reject the new curriculum for Advanced Placement U.S. History on the basis that it emphasizes “what is bad about America.”
Erin Bamer
“(The new framework) trades an emphasis on America’s founding principles of Constitutional government in favor of robust analyses of gender and racial oppression and class ethnicity and the lives of marginalized people, where the emphasis on instruction is of America as a nation of oppressors and exploiters,” said Oklahoma state Rep. Dan Fisher.
Fisher and the majority of the committee are pushing legislation to bar state funds from being used on AP History courses that adhere to the curriculum. They also list several examples of what they think should be taught in U.S. History, including the Gettysburg Address and several speeches given by former U.S. Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush.
This piece of legislation seems to have significant support in Oklahoma’s Legislature, and it’s appalling.
The reasons this bill is damaging should be obvious. Students deserve an accurate depiction of our country’s history, and they won’t receive it if the truth is ignored.
America isn’t perfect.
Prominent figures in our nation’s history have made bad decisions and done some bad things. The notion of pushing “pro-America” curriculum on students isn’t an opinion reflected in legislators in Oklahoma alone. Lawmakers from around the U.S. believe this as well.
Ironically, these legislators don’t seem to realize leaving out important portions of U.S. history is essentially lying to students and only adds yet another immoral act to the history books — at least it will be added to the accurate ones.
The most disappointing thing is that this is happening to AP U.S. History curriculum. If the bill passes, students who are passionate about their education will be fed information not up to par with what they deserve to know, only for the sake of promoting excessive nationalism to our youth. It’s not like students don’t already get a variety of patriotic messages through countless other outlets anyway.
AP courses are important in high schools and they should be given more attention and care than they have received in recent years. There are plenty of students who are eager to further their education and learn more than is required for them to get a diploma, but too many times these resources aren’t available to them.
I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to take multiple AP classes when I was in high school, including AP U.S. History. That class in particular was one of my favorites because my teacher was unafraid to tell us about both the good and bad of America’s history.
Unfortunately, I’ve realized the story of my education is a less common one. I’ve made many friends in college who went to high schools in Idaho and around the Northwest and were given few options for advanced courses — if they were given any at all.
AP classes are needed in high schools and they should be held to high-quality standards. These courses are too important to be compromised by ignorant legislators who simply wish to lie to themselves and look at their country through rose-colored glasses.
Erin Bamer can be reached at [email protected]