Academia, Bizarre, Politics, Society

Oklahoma Legislator Introduces Bill To Ban Advanced Placement History Classes

Fisher-Danx175Oklahoma State Rep. Dan Fisher presumably has an array of tough issues to tackle for his state from unemployment to the environment to crime. However, Fisher has decided to take on the ignoble task of banning Advanced Placement history classes in the state because he objects to the inclusion of negative aspects of American history and the omission of material embracing “American exceptionalism.” As an academic, I have previously criticized politicians (here and here and here and here) intervening in our school system to impose their own values or priorities on educators. This however ranks as one of the worst such intrusions that we have seen.

Oklahoma has been one of the states rejecting the Common Core curriculum for K-12 programs. There are valid arguments for states in insisting on control of such curricula as a general matter even if one disagrees with the merits of objections to the common core. However, this is beyond the pale. AP classes are a mainstay of our educational system and allow students to get truly advanced studies in given subjects. I have argued for years that we need to ramp up such courses on civics and history. It is therefore particularly distressing to read Fisher’s bill. It is not only would deprive these students of advanced courses but it would place Oklahoma students at a serious disadvantage in college applications which put great weight on such courses.

Fisher’s primary objection is that the AP history courses, in his view, emphasize the wrongs about America. However, these courses allow students to study not just the triumphs but the mistakes of history so history does not repeat itself. We are not a great nation because we did not commit errors and even crimes in our past. We are a great nation because we overcome such history, recognized our failings, and become a better nation despite such failings. The Trail of Tears, Alien and Sedition Acts, Japanese internment camps, Red Scare and other dark chapters reveal both our succumbing to fears and our transcending them. Part of AP curricula is to train students to read history in a critical and objective way. Converting our history into some Disney tale will teach students little about our country or themselves.

The “exceptionalism” of this country is precisely that we are not perfect but strive to be better.

307 thoughts on “Oklahoma Legislator Introduces Bill To Ban Advanced Placement History Classes”

  1. And how about the 1930s Nazi platform?
    Gee, it sounds like standard socialism, and could be adopted by any modern communist. And has.

    “The first obligation of every citizen must be to work both spiritually and physically. The activity of individuals is not to counteract the interests of the universality, but must have its result within the framework of the whole for the benefit of all. Consequently we demand:
    Abolition of unearned (work and labour) incomes. Breaking of debt (interest)-slavery.
    In consideration of the monstrous sacrifice in property and blood that each war demands of the people, personal enrichment through a war must be designated as a crime against the people.
    Therefore we demand the total confiscation of all war profits.
    We demand the nationalisation of all (previous) associated industries (trusts).
    We demand a division of profits of all heavy industries.
    We demand an expansion on a large scale of old age welfare.
    We demand the creation of a healthy middle class and its conservation, immediate communalization of the great warehouses and their being leased at low cost to small firms, the utmost consideration of all small firms in contracts with the State, county or municipality.
    We demand a land reform suitable to our needs, provision of a law for the free expropriation of land for the purposes of public utility, abolition of taxes on land and prevention of all speculation in land.
    We demand struggle without consideration against those whose activity is injurious to the general interest. Common national criminals, usurers, profiteers and so forth are to be punished with death, without consideration of confession or race.
    We demand substitution of a German common law in place of the Roman Law serving a materialistic world-order.
    The state is to be responsible for a fundamental reconstruction of our whole national education program, to enable every capable and industrious German to obtain higher education and subsequently introduction into leading positions. The plans of instruction of all educational institutions are to conform with the experiences of practical life. The comprehension of the concept of the State must be striven for by the school [StaatsbĂĽrgerkunde] as early as the beginning of understanding. We demand the education at the expense of the State of outstanding intellectually gifted children of poor parents without consideration of position or profession.
    The State is to care for the elevating national health by protecting the mother and child, by outlawing child-labor, by the encouragement of physical fitness, by means of the legal establishment of a gymnastic and sport obligation, by the utmost support of all organizations concerned with the physical instruction of the young.
    We demand abolition of the mercenary troops and formation of a national army.
    We demand legal opposition to known lies and their promulgation through the press. In order to enable the provision of a German press, we demand, that: a. All writers and employees of the newspapers appearing in the German language be members of the race; b. Non-German newspapers be required to have the express permission of the State to be published. They may not be printed in the German language; c. Non-Germans are forbidden by law any financial interest in German publications, or any influence on them, and as punishment for violations the closing of such a publication as well as the immediate expulsion from the Reich of the non-German concerned. Publications which are counter to the general good are to be forbidden. We demand legal prosecution of artistic and literary forms which exert a destructive influence on our national life, and the closure of organizations opposing the above made demands.
    We demand freedom of religion for all religious denominations within the state so long as they do not endanger its existence or oppose the moral senses of the Germanic race. The Party as such advocates the standpoint of a positive Christianity without binding itself confessionally to any one denomination. It combats the Jewish-materialistic spirit within and around us, and is convinced that a lasting recovery of our nation can only succeed from within on the framework: The good of the state before the good of the individual.[9]
    For the execution of all of this we demand the formation of a strong central power in the Reich. Unlimited authority of the central parliament over the whole Reich and its organizations in general. The forming of state and profession chambers for the execution of the laws made by the Reich within the various states of the confederation. The leaders of the Party promise, if necessary by sacrificing their own lives, to support by the execution of the points set forth above without consideration.    “

  2. In which Mespo trots out the standard communist explanation of their romance with the National Sociialists and eventual falling out.

    It allows them to sleep at night, and calms their fellow travelers’ anxiety.
    Say it ain’t so, Joe.
    Hush, children, he was No True Scotsman, he lied to me.

  4. I love it when people call each other names on here an then when you finally get sick of it and do it back – they are shocked lolol

    1. Happy, it is horrendously cold in SE Wisconsin, but went to a really great place with outstanding food with a huge fireplace and lots of ambiance. It was worth braving the weather for. And my Irish coffee went down smooth and rich.

  7. Inga (Annie)

    The other Malevolent Sock puppet left right at the same time telling it left after I told him that maybe I didn’t have self esteem and lets see if he could push me over the edge into psychosis since I didn’t care much about my ego and that was all he had and he didn’t dare let go for one second. Well, I think he just left at the same time. The only reason I got mad is because he started really attacking JT’s blog

  9. “The story of the French 75 goes back to around 1915 when Harry MacElhone created in at the New York Bar in Paris. It was brought to the U.S. by returning World War I pilots and became a popular drink at New York City’s Stork Club. The name comes from a 75mm French field gun that was said to have the same kick as the drink.”

    Mespo, I had to look it up, does sound like it’s got a kick. I love champagne, but usually have it in a Mimosa at brunch or New Years Eve.

  13. I know I couldn’t make it through medical school, as Pogo did. Any MD’s here?? I didn’t think so.

  14. Willie used to drink top shelf scotch. But now, he just does slip and fall accidents and drinks McCormick’s.

  15. I loath brandy old fashions. Never ever drink them. I had an Irish coffee for dessert, so I guess that makes me a a Wisconsin lush.

  17. I am better than all the other stew bums in Harry’s place. You see, I am a lawyer. And we lawyers are better than anyone else.

  18. We shouldn’t be too hard on Pogo.

    He probably suffers from dyslexia – doesn’t know his left from his right.

    1. Wadewilliams – dyslexia literally means ‘word blindness’ and has little to do with knowing left from right. Dyslexics make exceptional drivers. Dyslexia is a condition that falls under the ADA, so to call someone dyslexic who is not, might be considered a violation of the ADA.

Comments are closed.