Texas limiting new AP history course's influence

[alp227]

Last edited Wed Sep 17, 2014, 10:48 PM - Edit history (1)

Source: Associated Press (not Advanced Placement)

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Amid uproar in conservative circles about perceived anti-American bias in the new Advanced Placement U.S. History course and exam, Texas on Wednesday moved to require its high school students to learn only state-mandated curriculum — not be taught to the national test.

The Board of Education approved a measure declaring that the history curriculum its members set trumps that covered by the AP history course created for classrooms nationwide. That class concludes with an exam that can earn college credit for students who score high enough.

The board must still take a final vote, but the measure's content isn't expected to change.

The controversy stems from the recent overhaul of the AP test, administered by the New Jersey-based College Board, that was meant to de-emphasize memorization. The new exam will be given for the first time in May and includes a lengthy framework to help teachers better-prepare students for the requirements.

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ce7127c04153499d8375842bd891fd73/texas-limiting-new-ap-history-courses-influence

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Texas public education: creationism, censoring the bad parts of US history (because the kids will grow up to be commies, yaknow!), abstinence only education - what COULD go wrong?

(But Texas public schools provide accurate football education, though. Haha.)

[Gothmog]

1. It is tough living in Texas at times

This is really stupid

[YOHABLO]

5. It's not just Texas, but every Southern State.

[Rozlee]

7. You said it.

If my family and my husband's family didn't all live here, we'd be in a much more sane locale, preferably some place where people don't believe in handling snakes.

[Judi Lynn]

11. Not handle snakes? What? Never heard of such things! Maybe they just drink poison, instead! n/t

[Rozlee]

12. Their drink of choice is Tea-Aid.

Which is why they handle snakebites so good. All that poison has given them a lot of resistance.

[alarimer]

2. I guess if it's not all "USA! USA!" it must be bad.

The attitude that the US can do no wrong and to even mention good things that other countries do (like, say, universal health care) is tantamount to treason.

No wonder Americans are so ignorant; this simply assures another ignorant generation that truly believes the US saved the world or some such.

[TygrBright]

3. And then there's this gem...

...from a Democrat, even! ""I think we need to teach history as it happened and not change it," Perez said."

::sigh::

"History as it happened."

Right.

Actual historians-- the ones who make an ill-paid, poorly-respected 'career' out of rootling out primary source material, comparing it with other primary source material, placing it in a larger context, analyzing the sources and all of the commentary and analysis and conclusions it's generated to date, and then coming up with their own analysis and conclusions, documenting them and adding references, finding the all-too-few places to publish or archive their material so other historians can access it, and probably also trying to drum some curriculum into a few adolescent and post-adolescent heads... THOSE people...

...are hooting helplessly and bitterly when they read these words "History as it happened."

Ah, well...

There is a 'historical record'... ish... thing. Incomplete, intentionally or unintentionally biased, and generally poorly preserved.

There are primary sources.

There is something called a "historical consensus."

I suppose you can put a certain amount of those three things together and CALL it "History as it happened."

But that don't make it so.

amusedly,
Bright

[niyad]

9. "history is written by the victors"

[PFunk]

14. and edited/corrected by the historians-usually.

[KamaAina]

4. Texas' derp affects edumacation across the nation

because they buy all their textbooks through a central source (does the name "Texas School Book Depository" ring a bell?), and publishers don't want to lose such a huge market. So everyone's textbooks are dumbed down Texas-style.

[Judi Lynn]

10. They probably peg bright students for intensively-dumbed down versions. Gotta reign them in. n/t

[KamaAina]

13. I guess you were a bright student.

It's "rein them in".

[joe_stampingbull]

6. why are these super americans...

also secessionists who wanted to destroy America and are still proud of it?

[niyad]

8. well, you cannot have the sheeples learning the truth, now can you?

[melm00se]

15. Its not just Texas

(although they make a good whipping boy in DU).

Read "Lies My Teacher Told Me", it talks about how history is taught at the high school level, the texts they use and the fact that only one side of history (especially the History of the United States) is taught