An Oklahoma legislative committee overwhelmingly voted to ban Advanced Placement U.S. History class, persuaded by the argument that it only teaches students “what is bad about America.” Other lawmakers are seeking a court ruling that would effectively prohibit the teaching of all AP courses in public schools.
Oklahoma Rep. Dan Fisher (R) has introduced “emergency” legislation “prohibiting the expenditure of funds on the Advanced Placement United States History course.” Fisher is part of a group called the “Black Robe Regiment” which argues “the church and God himself has been under assault, marginalized, and diminished by the progressives and secularists.” The group attacks the “false wall of separation of church and state.” The Black Robe Regiment claims that a “growing tide of special interest groups indoctrinating our youth at the exclusion of the Christian perspective.”
Fisher said the Advanced Placement history class fails to teach “American exceptionalism.” The bill passed the Oklahoma House Education committee on Monday on a vote of 11-4.
And that ladies and gentlemen is how you keep the voters ignorant and voting Republican.
It seems that more and more Republican political tactics are beginning to mimic fundamentalist religious tactics.
Keep the sheep from learning any truths that you don't spoon feed them yourself, and they will be all that much easier to manipulate.
They are depriving high school students of the opportunity to be educated, to have a competitive advantage in college admissions and to save money on their college education by getting credit for a course.
ReplyDeleteThis is child abuse.
The bottom line is that it will be more difficult for children in Oklahoma to earn a college education.
DeleteAnd that is just a bonus side effect as far as republicans are concerned. The last thing they want is an educated population.
Your are absolutely correct. My grandchildren take as many AP classes as they can. My sophomore grand already has college credit. Chances are, he will have a year of college, maybe more when he graduates high school. Amazing the ignorance.
DeleteDiane 7:02
DeleteWay to go for raising great kids who value education! And your grandson is off to a great start. My hubby teaches AP english here in Canada. It gives the kids a taste of what's to come and saves them money. Hundreds of kids he has taught over the years have told him they wish they had taken the AP courses in high school.
It's even more important when you consider the high cost of tuition and student loan debt.
DeleteStudents taking Advanced Placement courses in high school are almost invariably headed to college. The lawmakers are deluding themselves that the students won't encounter "real" history soon.
DeleteIf my high school had offered AP courses, I would a) not been such a discipline problem in high school; b) triple majored instead of struggling to fit in a double major; c) been more competitive in college with students that had AP.
Dianne 7:02 Yes, I do know the proper usage of your and your're(fingernail on blackboard)! You'd think my brain would work better after coffee!
DeleteMy brother lives in OKC.
ReplyDeleteHe makes a good living off of these so-called religious types.
And no, he is not a believer.
He must sell booze and porn.
DeleteI'm not a conspiracy theorist, but it appears that this anti-education, anti-intellectualism movement is an insidious and concerted effort of a very cynical and powerful group with very deep pockets. They know that if they succeed in dividing us by the repetition of their relentless negative rhetoric against teachers, unions and public education,etc. they will take hold of our very democracy and crush it. The reason? They can. I hope I'm wrong. But if one just listens to all the rhetoric, it is the same everywhere, and it has already succeeded in causing fear and distrust. Unions-bad. Teachers-bad. Public pensions-bad. Public education-bad. Anti-intellectualism is the new exceptionalism.
ReplyDelete...and Palin is the poster child. You can't get more anti-education than that buffoon.
Delete"Fisher said the Advanced Placement history class fails to teach “American exceptionalism.”
ReplyDelete---------------------------------------
The Advanced Placement American History class is not intended or supposed to teach "American Exceptionalism." It is intended and supposed to teach American History.
This is frighten lay pathetic. I guarantee you that these morons have never even read this course syllabus. My son is currently taking this class and these idiots could not be further from the truth. This course teaches history and what actually happened-not some whitewash that these jackasses are trying to change. It does not disparage the U.S. but it also does not neglect the facts. You can't imagine how angry thist makes me, this fucking around with our kids' education. These people are dangerous. In so many ways.
ReplyDeleteIf they want to teach American "exceptionalism" (superiority and infallibility) then they're free to offer after-school and weekend classes.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was growing up, Roman Catholic students were released 15 minutes early on Wednesdays to go to their religious studies at their church.
Any church can decide to teach whatever "history" it thinks is factual.
Schools must teach what is really factual.
As Moynihan said, "You're free to have any opinion you want to have, but there's only one set of facts."
I was one of those Catholic kids and I can tell you it was a nightmare attending those classes. If you raised your hand and asked “why is ... “ in response to the insane set of “facts” we were taught the nuns would become irritable. It was hellish for a curious and skeptical child to be exposed to such inanity.
DeleteI was a Catholic kid who attended Catholic elementary school. I was lucky as our nuns were very much involved with the peace and social justice movements of the 60s and taught us to question things we didn't understand.
DeleteO/T - Hey, Gryphen. Did you see this about Palin at SNL's 40th? Check his feed for epic details about the Sunday night event. https://twitter.com/normmacdonald/status/568234567150145537
ReplyDeleteNot teaching American exceptionalism? So leave out the slavery, Native American genocide, Jim Crow lynchings, killing and abuse of workers as they were trying to form unions in the 20's and 30's, etc, etc. They need to be taught all American history, good and bad. And they call themselves the Black Robe Regiment? You know who else wears black and believes in the value of their religion above anything else? ISIS. You know who else believes in limiting what people learn based on their religious beliefs? The Taliban. I just made someone's head explode. No, they are not beheading people in the street or shooting school girls for trying to learn, but aren't they trying to impose their religious beliefs on everyone else? Aren't they saying my religion usurps everything else? There is no false wall of seperation of church and state. It is a real wall that the founders set up specifically to stop chuckleheads like the Black Robe Regiment. And I guess they went with black robes because pulling their white robes out of the closet would be too obvious and really show what they mean by murican exceptionalism.
ReplyDeleteOnce you go black, you never go back. :(
DeleteNicely said 7:03am. If you haven't caught Stonekettle's latest I think you would enjoy it.
Deletehttp://www.stonekettle.com/2015/02/the-camels-nose.html
Of course, they'll also make sure the history classes include examples of "small government" not messing unnecessarily in citizens' lives.
DeleteI second 8:32 AM!
DeleteWell done.
What about RED... no one expects the Spanish inquisition !!!!
DeleteBring me (dramatic pause), the comfy chair!
DeleteNothing like setting up kids to fail.
ReplyDeleteNeither side would dare tell the truth about American History. And both sides made that happen with compulsory education. No American government textbook will ever tell the truth. The whole idea of compulsory eduction was dumbed-down compliant workers.
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Underground_History_of_American_Education
http://www.amazon.com/The-Underground-History-American-Education/dp/B00FRJRNHM#
Ha! If they tried that in my state, there would be a parent revolt.
ReplyDeleteThis is a long read but very interesting and would really freak out these bastions of revisionist American History.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cracked.com/article_19864_6-ridiculous-lies-you-believe-about-founding-america.html
Off topic...
ReplyDeletehttps://www.yahoo.com/movies/american-sniper-chris-kyles-widow-at-center-of-111390083907.html
Chris Kyle widow being questioned on funds disbursement to veterans families.
If anything, the text books used for American history classes tend to whitewash our excesses as a nation. We remain a great country with much to be proud of, but that pride should come with a full understanding of our shortcomings. And the phrase American exceptionalism -- a Sarah Palin favorite -- should be understood as code words for hyper-nationalism and racial supremacy.
ReplyDeleteMake that Christian Nationalism and you've got them pegged.
DeleteIt is beyond alarming to see this sort of fascism being employed in the U.S.
ReplyDeleteIf these revisionist clowns really loved America, they would not be afraid of teaching its entire history, good and bad. They would be proud of how we have grown and changed for the better over the course of our history.
ReplyDeleteIf they really loved America, they wouldn't try to hide America. They are either ashamed of things this country has done in the past (ex. slavery) and just won't admit it, or they deeply resent everything Americans have changed and improved over the years and wish to promote the idea that everything was better the way it used to be (ex. slavery).
Either way, they are disgusting.
As usual, follow the money.
ReplyDeleteWhen a high school student takes AP classes and scores a 4 or 5 on the final AP exam (out of 5 points) they get college credit for that class. My daughter had 54 potential college credits when she started her freshman year, which made her about halfway through her sophomore year in college upon entering college. The University only accepts up to 45 college credits from AP classes, so she got to choose which 45 credits out of the 54 she would like to apply to her general education requirements. (the other 9 AP credits she earned don't count, then). So she had many gen ed requirements satisfied before she even had her first day at her university.
This is a great way for parents to save money on college, and really evens the playing field for students. Why? Because the AP exams are the same all over the country, so anyone can sign up and get the same college credit. No income requirements, no test to enroll in the AP class, etc... If you can handle the course work and score a 4 or 5 on the final exam, you have college credit. Republicans hate anything that gives a level playing field to poor kids.
Here's something else: the private religious schools have a hard time offering AP classes. The instructors are usually highly qualified teachers, some in my district were college professors who came to teach at our high school later in their careers, upon retirement. Some are grad students. But those type of teachers are not usually found at the religious private high schools. And it costs money to take an AP class, but our school district pays the costs for our public school students. Our high school offers 27 AP courses (I think my daughter took most of them!!!) and our private high school only offers 9 AP courses. The private high schools can't compete with the public schools, so take away the AP exams in the bizarre world of Republicans. They are so transparent.
Banning material because it doesn't kids how wonderful our country is? WTF?! Sounds like the sort of crap they pull in North Korea. Constantly screaming "we're the best!!!" while things go downhill. Yelling louder won't fix things.
ReplyDeleteStudents need to get together and protest this; parents too.
ReplyDelete"It seems that more and more Republican political tactics are beginning to mimic fundamentalist religious tactics."
ReplyDeleteI'm confused, Gryph. You realize you're talking about the same people, right? All that Sarah Palin brought to politics is the manipulative crap she learned from religionist con artists. Nonsensically arranged but emotionally charged buzz words, catch phrases and dog whistles, and rah! rah! rah!, they all heard exactly what they each arranged the pieces into in their own heads - the perfect speech!
Here's a good refresher on how that works - and how frighteningly predictable it is: Marjoe