U.S.A.! U.S.A.!

[Dick Whitman]

A group of Oklahoma state legislators is pushing back hard against the AP History curriculum for high school students because, in a nutshell, it does not promote "American exceptionalism" and is not patriotic enough for their blood:

Why Oklahoma Lawmakers Want to Ban AP US History -- NYMag

 

[EddieM]

In other words, the curriculum doesn't lie enough. Awesome.

You know it's bad when an already whitewashed, male-dominated version of American history doesn't suit the establishment.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

Roughly half of education "policy" in the US is efforts to insure that children grow up as ignorant as adult politicians.

 

[LongTimeListener]

Instead of Eyes On The Prize, schools will be required to show American Sniper.

 

[BitterYoungMatador2]

'Merica

 

[Roscablo]

A school board member in a suburban Colorado district tried to do the same thing this past year and got absolutely blasted. Teachers did organized sick days where whole schools had to be shut down and students walked out for several weeks. They didn't necessarily table it, but they tweaked it a lot and said there would be more community input. It's an a stupid idea and a great way to teach freaking history. Something that already and actually happened!

 

[BitterYoungMatador2]

For a country that likes talking about how great and strong it is it certainly has a very thin skin.

 

[linotype]

Seems like a good time to point out that when I was in grade school and junior high in the 80s and early 90s, our US History classes always seemed to take the same path from the Revolution through Lincoln and the Civil War and to WWI and WWII. But the school year always seemed to end before we got to the Korean and Vietnam wars. It wasn't until I took US History AP in the 11th grade that we actually covered the causes of, and stateside opposition to, Vietnam.

 

[BTExpress]

Seems like a good time to point out that when I was in grade school and junior high in the 80s and early 90s, our US History classes always seemed to take the same path from the Revolution through Lincoln and the Civil War and to WWI and WWII.

With WWII reading something like this: "Hitler took over Europe and then Japan attacked America and the United States joined the war and led the D-Day assault and Germany surrendered and then Japan surrendered and yay America!"

 

[Dick Whitman]

With WWII reading something like this: "Hitler took over Europe and then Japan attacked America and the United States joined the war and led the D-Day assault and Germany surrendered and then Japan surrendered and yay America!"

My son is 5 1/2, and has started to show some interest in American history. The other night he asked me, "Why did Japan want the United States to join in the war?"

"That's an easy one, son! Well ... um ... yeah, whoo, it's getting late. I'll finish telling you about it tomorrow."

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Seems like a good time to point out that when I was in grade school and junior high in the 80s and early 90s, our US History classes always seemed to take the same path from the Revolution through Lincoln and the Civil War and to WWI and WWII. But the school year always seemed to end before we got to the Korean and Vietnam wars. It wasn't until I took US History AP in the 11th grade that we actually covered the causes of, and stateside opposition to, Vietnam.

 

[poindexter]

Does anybody know any specific objectionable passages?

 

[MisterCreosote]

Does anybody know any specific objectionable passages?

Krieger complained that the framework portrays the Founding Fathers as "bigots" and suggests that Manifest Destiny was "built on a belief in white racial superiority and a sense of American cultural superiority," rather than "the belief that America had a mission to spread democracy and new technology across the continent," as he put it. And instead of discussing the "the valor or heroism of American soldiers" during World War II, the course outline mentions U.S. internment camps and moral questions raised by the dropping of the atomic bomb.

In other news, O.J. Simpson would like to be spoken of solely for his accomplishments on the football field. Talking about his murder trial represents a "radically revisionist view" of his life.

 

[LongTimeListener]

That article is pretty frightening -- touches on what is a growing effort in conservative-leaning states to abolish AP U.S. history and the AP program entirely. The movement is also attaching itself to the Common Core debate even though the two have nothing to do with each other.

Insane. But, given that a great majority of this country forgot all about Vietnam and waved the pompons as we invaded Iraq, not surprising.

 

[MisterCreosote]

Yeah, it appears some legislators were sick the day they taught the difference between "non-required framework" and "required curriculum."

 

[cranberry]

Krieger complained that the framework portrays the Founding Fathers as "bigots" and suggests that Manifest Destiny was "built on a belief in white racial superiority and a sense of American cultural superiority," rather than "the belief that America had a mission to spread democracy and new technology across the continent," as he put it.

Not to be included:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/16/opinion/george-washington-slave-catcher.html?_r=0

Washington almost made it through his two terms in office without a major incident involving his slave ownership. On a spring evening in May of 1796, though, Ona Judge, the Washingtons’ 22-year-old slave woman, slipped away from the president’s house in Philadelphia. At 15, she had joined the Washingtons on their tour of Northern living. She was among a small cohort of nine slaves who lived with the president and his family in Philadelphia. Judge was Martha Washington’s first attendant; she took care of Mrs. Washington’s personal needs.

What prompted Judge’s decision to bolt was Martha Washington’s plan to give Judge away as a wedding gift to her granddaughter. Judge fled Philadelphia for Portsmouth, N.H., a city with 360 free black people, and virtually no slaves. Within a few months of her arrival, Judge married Jack Staines, a free black sailor, with whom she had three children. Judge and her offspring were vulnerable to slave catchers. They lived as free people, but legally belonged to Martha Washington.

Washington and his agents pursued Judge for three years, dispatching friends, officials and relatives to find and recapture her. Twelve weeks before his death, Washington was still actively pursuing her, but with the help of close allies, Judge managed to elude his slave-catching grasp.

 

[Oggiedoggie]

It's important to remember that this committee action is designed to put those elitist students who want to do well academically back in their rightful place. Those kids who think that they're so smart need to be taken down a peg or two. If somebody wants a college scholarship or some other program to cut the cost of attending a university, he should do it the old-fashioned way: work hard to become a better football player. Some school teachers and administrators are forgetting the real reason why Oklahoma has universities.

 

[RecoveringJournalist]

Can't they just wait until college to turn our kids into liberal socialists?

 

[Starman]

Amusing that the crew that wants no hint of suggestion that the U.S. government has done anything wrong in the past, is essentially calling for the overthrow (or dismantling) of the current government. Something seems to have darkened their outlook.

 

[RecoveringJournalist]

Amusing that the crew that wants no hint of suggestion that the U.S. government has done anything wrong in the past, is essentially calling for the overthrow (or dismantling) of the current government. Something seems to have darkened their outlook.

I think slavery has always been treated in history books as something that should not have happened. The history book I had 25 years ago mentioned which presidents had owned slaves and portrays the Civil War as one of the darkest points in US History.