AP Classes "Unpatriotic"

[GeoBQn]

In several states, conservative lawmakers and school board members have tried to either alter the curriculum of AP US History classes or get it banned. They feel the class only teaches "what's bad about America." Some people want to ban ALL AP classes, because it is dangerously close to a national curriculum.

http://thinkprogress.org/education/2015 ... ory-class/

[FundieWatcher]

Or your kid can just not take the AP class option. Instead of throwing a fit about it. We had AP, CP or standard options.

[browncoatslytherin]

In several states, conservative lawmakers and school board members have tried to either alter the curriculum of AP US History classes or get it banned. They feel the class only teaches "what's bad about America." Some people want to ban ALL AP classes, because it is dangerously close to a national curriculum.

http://thinkprogress.org/education/2015 ... ory-class/

so, any history lesson that doesn't totally kiss the red white & blue ass of america isn't okay? is that basically what the issue boils down to?

[sparkles]

Or your kid can just not take the AP class option. Instead of throwing a fit about it. We had AP, CP or standard options.

Ah, but where's the control in that? It's all or nothing with these people.

[keen23]

Next thing you know, they'll be teaching Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States"...

[GeoBQn]

When I took AP US History, my summer reading before the class was Lies My Teacher Told Me. My dad was a history teacher, but he has a conservative bent, so we'd get into playful arguments about the book. He asked if I was going to go to school on Columbus Day and demand to learn.

[keen23]

When I took AP US History, my summer reading before the class was Lies My Teacher Told Me. My dad was a history teacher, but he has a conservative bent, so we'd get into playful arguments about the book. He asked if I was going to go to school on Columbus Day and demand to learn.

I hope you told him that you could not go to school on Columbus Day, because you'd be attending a "die-in" at your local liberal college.

*For those of you who did not attend UMass Amherst in the 1990's, a die-in is when you gather on the green, and lay down in silent protest against the genocides committed by Columbus and Lord Amherst.

[browncoatslytherin]

*For those of you who did not attend UMass Amherst in the 1990's, a die-in is when you gather on the green, and lay down in silent protest against the genocides committed by Columbus and Lord Amherst.

i haven't heard of that, keen. that's actually a pretty cool idea for protest.

[church_of_dog]

I hope you told him that you could not go to school on Columbus Day, because you'd be attending a "die-in" at your local liberal college.

*For those of you who did not attend UMass Amherst in the 1990's, a die-in is when you gather on the green, and lay down in silent protest against the genocides committed by Columbus and Lord Amherst.

I like to call Columbus Day "Happy Imperialism Day". Or is that July 4?

I also tend to call Sept. 11 "Be Very Afraid Day"

:stir-pot:

[browncoatslytherin]

I like to call Columbus Day "Happy Imperialism Day". Or is that July 4?

I also tend to call Sept. 11 "Be Very Afraid Day"

:stir-pot:

be vewy vewy qwiet. we're hunting tewwowwists.

sorry, couldn't resist. back to your regularly scheduled programing.

[IronicallyMaeve]

Do students still get Columbus day off? I'm in college and I don't. It's a regular day at the middle school I work at too.

[Letgo]

My kids took AP classes. I don't remember the history ones being anti-patriotic. I loved them as it allowed my kids to start college as sophomores and skip some of the prerequisite classes.

[GeoBQn]

Do students still get Columbus day off? I'm in college and I don't. It's a regular day at the middle school I work at too.

An increasing number of states no longer recognize Columbus Day.

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[keen23]

My kids took AP classes. I don't remember the history ones being anti-patriotic. I loved them as it allowed my kids to start college as sophomores and skip some of the prerequisite classes.

AP History isn't unpatriotic it just tends to have more critical thinking than the basics introduced in other classes. If you believe in 'Merica, God and Guns, you might not like your kids hearing that the Vietnam War was a massive failure or that the beloved Ronald Regan sold arms to Iran, effectively setting up the current Middle East situation.

My kids don't get Columbus Day off, unless it falls during the regular October break. I don't get the day off from work either.

[Letgo]

I tend to be fairly conservative about some issues, but I agree with those things! I just hate seeing war documentaries about Viet Nam on TV. Such a waste. So many lives lost. Studying history can help open eyes, get another point of view. I enjoyed reading what my kids read. We could talk about it and discuss what they were learning at school. We have relatives who are VERY conservative and believe in "Merica and guns and all that. Discussions can be lively, but it's good to make people think.

[sparkles]

I don't recall any of Junior Sparkles' AP classes being particularly "unpatriotic" but then we're not the kind of people who consider a "warts and all" approach to teaching history to be unpatriotic. Because critical thinking and open debate and all that.

[ViolaSebastian]

If you only talk about positive things, it's going to be a mighty short history class. This is the same for every country, by the way, not just America.

[StacyW]

Taking AP classes allowed my son to spend less time (and less $$) at his evil liberal university, so I'm all for them

[OddlyAmused]

Taking AP classes allowed my son to spend less time (and less $$) at his evil liberal university, so I'm all for them

This is also really important. I had about 25 credits worth of AP classes by the time I came in to university. I ended up staying for the full 4 years because of my double major combined with study abroad, but had it been necessary I could have graduated at least a semester early. It really can help students save thousands of dollars, which could make some colleges more accessible for students. Or maybe that's what they don't want...

[GolightlyGrrl]

Next thing you know, they'll be teaching Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States"...

One of my favorite books.

American history is filled with the good, the bad and the ugly. And I believe our young people can handling learning that.

I am so sick and tired of the dumbing down of America. Or as I like to call it the "Palinization" of America.

[lawlifelgbt]

I must be so tainted by AP History! My dad was so evil for encouraging me to learn about the 1960s and Vietnam in that class...

He was born 1950, and was in DC when King was shot. He has photos of himself at protests, and went to college just to dodge the draft. He'll tell you that history isn't as whitewashed and revisionist as some people would like it to be. Sometimes, leaders make mistakes, and it's just gritty and awful.

As an aside, I also took a college history class that focused on the history of the oil industry, and wrote about the events of the 1950s on in Iran- nationalization of the British oil companies, CIA interference with the Iranian leadership (Mossadegh) to get the oil for the Western world, etc., for a term paper. It really opened my eyes to see that the US does some shady things.

And if anyone is interested in history here, check out the Stuff You Missed in History Class podcast! They are now covering the major segregation court cases; first Plessy, and Brown is next. My favorite episodes, though were (I'm horribly biased), the Stonewall riots one, and one on gay and lesbian prisoners in concentration camps, where they pulled info from an interview with a gay man who survived to liberation.

[SquirrelySquirrel]

One of my favorite books.

American history is filled with the good, the bad and the ugly. And I believe our young people can handling learning that.

I am so sick and tired of the dumbing down of America. Or as I like to call it the "Palinization" of America.

Not only can they handle it, but we have a responsibility to teach it to them!

This is just downright frightening. And for anyone (not necessarily here) who loves to say Democrats and Republicans are basically the same: is there ever any doubt which party this kind of bullshit is coming from? I'm so sick of idiots calling Obama a communist while Teapublicans are the ones wanting so much power and control over our lives. What will it take for them to open their eyes to the truth?

I'm out of patriotism. I am embarrassed by my country and it has nothing to do with the truth about Vietnam for FFS.

[freejingerbeth]

This crap is happening in our school district, as well. A very conservative group of people were elected to our school board and came up with a brilliant plan ensure that AP History is taught only from a patriotic point of view. Both parents and teachers are outraged and have staged a few protests. I did read something else though that I thought was equally stupid. Apparently, our state universities have just adopted an approach on the opposite extreme. They want things like The Holocaust and other historical tragedies, to be taught, without mentioning who the countries are that participated, UNLESS it was The United States. Whatever happened to an an objective, truthful approach? That's what I got, at least by college. BTW, I read Howard Zinn, in college, too. Love that book!

[RachelB]

I like to call Columbus Day "Happy Imperialism Day". Or is that July 4?

I also tend to call Sept. 11 "Be Very Afraid Day"

:stir-pot:

On my university's calendar, it is Indigenous People's Day.

[Toothfairy]

I swear white rich conservative are stupid. They're scares that the younger generation might actually learn something about their history then turn against them. My daughter took AP US and now US government it really opened up her eyes to things going on in this country. If you don't like a class don't take it unless it's required.