The “New” AP American History: Goodbye Original Sources, Hello Revisionism
As the fight against Common Core gears up with the start of the school year, Common Core architect David Coleman prepares to launch the new AP US History Exam. Parents and teachers have been fuming about the new framework. Claims have been made that it leaves Hitler out of World War II and de-emphasizes the Declaration of Independence along with eliminating mention of founding fathers such as Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin. In other words, revisionism.
But is that really true? And exactly what does the new AP History entail? Stanley Kurtz of the National Review Online points out,
“The upshot is that James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and the other founders are largely left out of the new test, unless they are presented as examples of conflict and identity by class, gender, race, ethnicity, etc. The Constitution can be studied as an example of the Colonists’ belief in the superiority of their own culture, for instance. But any teacher who presents a full unit on the principles of the American Constitution taught in the traditional way would be severely disadvantaging his students. So while allowing some minor flexibility on details, the new AP U.S. History framework effectively forces teachers to train their students in a leftist, blame-America-first reading of history, while omitting traditional treatments of our founding principles.”
In his article, The New AP History: A Preliminary Report for the National Association of Scholars, Peter Wood states:
“AP courses undergo frequent revision. The newest revision, however, is radical. The College Board has thrown away its old five-page topical outline for the course and replaced it with an 80-page analytic exposition of the course and a 40-page exposition of the exam with each question keyed to ‘learning objectives,’ ‘historical thinking skills,’ and ‘key concepts’ in the course.”
Wood concludes: “If we had to infer the course from the questions on the final exam, it would be pretty clear that the College Board has turned AP U.S. History into a briefing document on progressive and leftist views of the American past.”
With so many questions surrounding the new framework, the American Principals in Action in partnership with the Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee will be holding an a nationwide conference call on the changes in the new AP Unites States History framework on Monday, August 4th at 8:00 pm Eastern Time. The hosting organizations encourage parents, grandparents, teachers, and concerned citizens are to participate.
From the American Principals in Action Web site, here are the details for the AP History informational conference call:
Date: Monday, August 4, 2014
Time: 8:00 p.m. EST
Conference Dial-in Number: (530) 881-1000
Participant Access Code: 632867#
Panel includes:
- Larry Kreiger- Teacher of SAT classes for over 20 years and AP classes for over 35 years, specializing in AP U. S. History (APUSH).
- Ken Mercer, Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) member who has been working aggressively to delay the rollout of the new APUSH Framework.
- Jane Robbins- Attorney and a senior fellow with the American Principles in Action in Washington, D.C.
