The debate over the new Advanced Placement U.S. History framework is rolling through the states.
Oklahoma’s House education committee last week approved a bill that would have forbidden schools from teaching the new framework released by the College Board. Later that week, however, Rep. Dan Fisher, the Republican who introduced the bill, pulled it for revisions after receiving national attention on the issue, according to The Oklahoman. The new bill would call not for the elimination of the history course, but rather for a review of the new framework.
In its earlier version, the bill would have barred the use of state funds on anything related to the course. It also required U.S. history courses to use specified historical documents, including the Declaration of Independence; the Bill of Rights; John Winthrop’s sermon"A Model of Christian Charity"; the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s “I Have a Dream” speech; two speeches by President Lyndon B. Johnson; three speeches by President Ronald Reagan; and President George W. Bush’s address to the nation on Sept. 11, 2001.
State Sen. William Ligon, a Georgia Republican, introduced a resolution this month calling for the return of the previous course framework. He said the new one “reflects a radically revisionist view of American history that emphasizes negative aspects of our nation’s history while omitting or minimizing positive aspects.”
The Republican National Committee has also condemned the framework, and the Texas state board of education approved a measure requiring high schools to teach the state curriculum rather than the AP framework.
