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The company behind Advanced Placement courses for U.S. high school students will release a revision to the standards for AP U.S. history on Thursday morning, after significant pushback from conservatives who claimed the redesigned course framework, released last year, painted American history in too negative a light...

The new framework significantly pares down last year’s framework, simplifying and condensing the course’s Thematic Learning Objectives from 50 to 19, according to an official at the College Board, the nonprofit organization that administers AP exams. In the process, a new section on the concept of “American exceptionalism” has been added. Some names that were omitted from last year’s framework, such as Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton and John Adams, have been added—a key sticking point for critics of the prior document, who objected to Founding Fathers being omitted and negative aspects in American history being more emphasized, they claimed, than positive periods. Ben Carson, a GOP presidential candidate, said the curriculum was so anti-American that students who complete it would be “ready to sign up for ISIS.”

Teachers Newsweek spoke with, who sat on a committee to draft the framework, stressed that the document was never meant to be a description of the totality of what an AP U.S. history teacher must teach, but rather a simplified outline that guides the course toward certain themes. The impetus for the original revision, published last year, was to redirect the course away from rote memorization of facts and more toward “historical thinking skills,” according to Ted Dickson, a teacher at Providence Day School in Charlotte, North Carolina. For example, when he used to teach about the Protestant Reformation in the United States, his students “had to learn 20 different names. Now with the new course it’s more about understanding a few of them well.”...


But critics saw it as excluding, among other things, favorite Founding Fathers and historical events that contribute to America’s legacy, such as its role in winning World War I and World War II. In the new framework, America’s military achievements are given a greater emphasis than in the last document.

The College Board official did confirm that “American exceptionalism” was added to the new document. The official said that the phase didn’t appear in the 2014 edition because the organization assumed it wasn’t something it needed to spell out as part of what would be taught in an American history course.

Ibanez wrote:Why can't we teach what happened? How difficult is that.

OL FU wrote:Not sure I get all of that, but if you teach history appropriately you don't need a section on American exceptionalism. I am not sure how you teach American history leaving out Franklin, Jefferson and Hamilton etc. But it seems to me, you can understand how "exceptional" we are from an historical view point (this is history we are talking about, right?) by studying the country's foundations, principles, accomplishments, etc. and still study our warts at the same time.

CAA Flagship wrote:

Ibanez wrote:Why can't we teach what happened? How difficult is that.

One reason might be that we don't really know what happened. Hell, we don't really know what happened over the last 5 years because of all the lies, email tampering, forced over-regulation, and deflated footballs.

Ibanez wrote:

CAA Flagship wrote:
One reason might be that we don't really know what happened. Hell, we don't really know what happened over the last 5 years because of all the lies, email tampering, forced over-regulation, and deflated footballs.

We know. We have newspapers articles, diaries, letters, official documents, etc.... We know.

OL FU wrote:Not sure I get all of that, but if you teach history appropriately you don't need a section on American exceptionalism. I am not sure how you teach American history leaving out Franklin, Jefferson and Hamilton etc. But it seems to me, you can understand how "exceptional" we are from an historical view point (this is history we are talking about, right?) by studying the country's foundations, principles, accomplishments, etc. and still study our warts at the same time.

Ibanez wrote:Why can't we teach what happened? How difficult is that. Teach the colonization of America from the perspective of the Colonizing countries and the Native Americans. Teach the American Revolution from the perspective of the Colonists and the British.

Too negative? Our country has and continues to do some bad things. But you don't ignore your history. You don't celebrate the bad. You simply acknowledge and remember the past. That way, you know where you came from. You know the whole story. You understand how the country has come to be. At that point, the students can work in AMerica and move the country forward in a positive way.

CID1990 wrote:

Ibanez wrote:Why can't we teach what happened? How difficult is that. Teach the colonization of America from the perspective of the Colonizing countries and the Native Americans. Teach the American Revolution from the perspective of the Colonists and the British.

Too negative? Our country has and continues to do some bad things. But you don't ignore your history. You don't celebrate the bad. You simply acknowledge and remember the past. That way, you know where you came from. You know the whole story. You understand how the country has come to be. At that point, the students can work in AMerica and move the country forward in a positive way.

^^ I feel the same way

just teach history as it happened. there is no need to spin it.

for better or worse, our bad history tells a narrative as much as the good. taken as a whole, our history is a perfect example of a founding on an idea - inspired by the enlightenment - and then a journey where we frequently stray from the path, but in the long run we do manage to get a little closer to that shining city

we will never be perfect - not even close - but whether America is exceptional is really something that people need to decide for themselves. It is a conclusion - a belief - and not everybody arrives at that same conclusion. I think that if we teach ALL of our history without omission or invention, most people will conclude that we ARE exceptional in certain ways

I remember an old interview with Ice Cube where he traveled to Africa and on his return he said something like "you know, we dont have it so bad in America"

none of my travels- even to Scandinavian Europe - have done anything to convince me that America is not an exceptional country - but you cannot teach that. it has to be an experience, with a foundation in real education rather than indoctrination

kalm wrote:

CID1990 wrote:
^^ I feel the same way

just teach history as it happened. there is no need to spin it.

for better or worse, our bad history tells a narrative as much as the good. taken as a whole, our history is a perfect example of a founding on an idea - inspired by the enlightenment - and then a journey where we frequently stray from the path, but in the long run we do manage to get a little closer to that shining city

we will never be perfect - not even close - but whether America is exceptional is really something that people need to decide for themselves. It is a conclusion - a belief - and not everybody arrives at that same conclusion. I think that if we teach ALL of our history without omission or invention, most people will conclude that we ARE exceptional in certain ways

I remember an old interview with Ice Cube where he traveled to Africa and on his return he said something like "you know, we dont have it so bad in America"

none of my travels- even to Scandinavian Europe - have done anything to convince me that America is not an exceptional country - but you cannot teach that. it has to be an experience, with a foundation in real education rather than indoctrination

CID1990 wrote:

Ibanez wrote:Why can't we teach what happened? How difficult is that. Teach the colonization of America from the perspective of the Colonizing countries and the Native Americans. Teach the American Revolution from the perspective of the Colonists and the British.

Too negative? Our country has and continues to do some bad things. But you don't ignore your history. You don't celebrate the bad. You simply acknowledge and remember the past. That way, you know where you came from. You know the whole story. You understand how the country has come to be. At that point, the students can work in AMerica and move the country forward in a positive way.

^^ I feel the same way

just teach history as it happened. there is no need to spin it.

for better or worse, our bad history tells a narrative as much as the good. taken as a whole, our history is a perfect example of a founding on an idea - inspired by the enlightenment - and then a journey where we frequently stray from the path, but in the long run we do manage to get a little closer to that shining city

we will never be perfect - not even close - but whether America is exceptional is really something that people need to decide for themselves. It is a conclusion - a belief - and not everybody arrives at that same conclusion. I think that if we teach ALL of our history without omission or invention, most people will conclude that we ARE exceptional in certain ways

I remember an old interview with Ice Cube where he traveled to Africa and on his return he said something like "you know, we dont have it so bad in America"

none of my travels- even to Scandinavian Europe - have done anything to convince me that America is not an exceptional country - but you cannot teach that. it has to be an experience, with a foundation in real education rather than indoctrination

houndawg wrote:

CID1990 wrote:
^^ I feel the same way

just teach history as it happened. there is no need to spin it.

for better or worse, our bad history tells a narrative as much as the good. taken as a whole, our history is a perfect example of a founding on an idea - inspired by the enlightenment - and then a journey where we frequently stray from the path, but in the long run we do manage to get a little closer to that shining city

we will never be perfect - not even close - but whether America is exceptional is really something that people need to decide for themselves. It is a conclusion - a belief - and not everybody arrives at that same conclusion. I think that if we teach ALL of our history without omission or invention, most people will conclude that we ARE exceptional in certain ways

I remember an old interview with Ice Cube where he traveled to Africa and on his return he said something like "you know, we dont have it so bad in America"

none of my travels- even to Scandinavian Europe - have done anything to convince me that America is not an exceptional country - but you cannot teach that. it has to be an experience, with a foundation in real education rather than indoctrination

Anybody who has ever travelled abroad has felt this way.

We should feel this way, we're 5% of the planets population using 25% of the planet's resources.

andy7171 wrote:We are not them, because of us.

89Hen wrote:

GannonFan wrote:

houndawg wrote:
Anybody who has ever travelled abroad has felt this way.

We should feel this way, we're 5% of the planets population using 25% of the planet's resources.

It's good to be the king.

houndawg wrote:

CID1990 wrote:
^^ I feel the same way

just teach history as it happened. there is no need to spin it.

for better or worse, our bad history tells a narrative as much as the good. taken as a whole, our history is a perfect example of a founding on an idea - inspired by the enlightenment - and then a journey where we frequently stray from the path, but in the long run we do manage to get a little closer to that shining city

we will never be perfect - not even close - but whether America is exceptional is really something that people need to decide for themselves. It is a conclusion - a belief - and not everybody arrives at that same conclusion. I think that if we teach ALL of our history without omission or invention, most people will conclude that we ARE exceptional in certain ways

I remember an old interview with Ice Cube where he traveled to Africa and on his return he said something like "you know, we dont have it so bad in America"

none of my travels- even to Scandinavian Europe - have done anything to convince me that America is not an exceptional country - but you cannot teach that. it has to be an experience, with a foundation in real education rather than indoctrination

Anybody who has ever travelled abroad has felt this way.

We should feel this way, we're 5% of the planets population using 25% of the planet's resources.

CID1990 wrote:

houndawg wrote:
Anybody who has ever travelled abroad has felt this way.

We should feel this way, we're 5% of the planets population using 25% of the planet's resources.

houndawg-

just by virtue of the fact that our electricity stays on all day, we have clean drinking water, and you can drive faster than 30 mph because you have no expectation of falling into a 30 ft pothole or running into a herd of oxen in the road accounts for a large portion of the disparity

we could be just like 90% of Africa or even 50% of the Americas and use significantly less resources

but i have a suspicion you wouldnt be happy about it and complaining that a parliamentarian form of government would surely fix it