AP American History Framework is Revised to Include “American Exceptionalism”

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This is one of those tricky stories where it’s tough to really know what to think unless you’ve done a lot of research and know exactly what’s going on. I haven’t done that. Nevertheless, from what I read in Newsweek, I feel the situation is worth flagging for readers.

On the one hand, it appears that names such as Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton and John Adams were somehow not included in the recent framework for AP U.S. History, and this has now been changed. Of course, omitting these names from such a course is absolutely preposterous, so that appears to be a positive thing.

On the other hand, insanely enough, the College Board apparently felt a need to include “American exceptionalism” in its new framework. This sounds like pure propaganda, and I don’t see how the inclusion of such a concept belongs anywhere near a history course. If America is exceptional, let students decide that on their own! Anyone who thinks Americans must be taught that America is exceptional is a propagandist who cares nothing for critical thinking. A secure, powerful and righteous nation is not so unbelievably insecure that it needs to run around telling everyone how exceptional it is. Such a fact, if true, would be self-evident.

Now, from Newsweek:

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.

Last year, after the College Board released its redesigned standards for AP U.S. history, a document more than a decade in the making, OklahomaGeorgia and Texas all introduced bills threatening to pull the course altogether. The Jefferson County school district in Colorado convened a board committee to review the curriculum, stating that all materials should promote “patriotism” and “respect for authority,” and “should not encourage or condone civil disorder.”

Of course, “respect for authority” is the most anti-American concept there is. If the colonists had “respected authority,” there wouldn’t have been a country in the first place.

“The amount of press it got was entirely ridiculous because I don’t think they understood what it was meant to be. It was a framework that meant to let teachers understand the limits of what would be tested. You add examples, you teach it how you want to teach it, just make sure you teach these important concepts,” Hastings said. 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.

I previously covered this topic last fall in the post: Students and Teachers Protest in Colorado After Proposal to Censor “Civil Disobedience Topics” from AP History.

In Liberty,
Michael Krieger

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2 thoughts on “AP American History Framework is Revised to Include “American Exceptionalism””

  1. As usual, Progressives seek to change the meaning of terms and phrases that can help us better conceptualize who we are. American exceptionalism is based on the Protestant idea of equality before God, and property rights here on earth. Neither warring classes nor global bloody conquest would be consistent with it. How it would be taught in a statist common core would likely be something else entirely. It would probably be along the lines of MSM-style links Google lists up top instead of better links buried below.

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  2. here’s one for the history books…….

    31 July 2015
    President Carter: US Is Now ‘Just an Oligarchy With Unlimited Political Bribery”

    You might not have heard about this interview on the mainstream media. It occurred several days ago.

    It is the root issue at the heart of the lack of reform and recovery. But the pundits, even the so-called liberal media and the disgruntled conservative media, will not discuss it frankly and openly. Much less the pampered corporatist mainstream media whose sole job is to obfuscate and distract from the issues.

    This is the kind of thing that everyone in power and those who bask in that power know but never talk about openly, except in the most dismissive terms.

    It is the dark heart of corruption, the quiet coup d’état that has overthrown the American republic.

    And the elite will look with bewilderment, fear, and anger at the fruits of their treachery and deceit.

    They will think to themselves, ‘We know that we are superior people, tasked with the burdens of leadership, so they must simply be ungrateful, jealous of our success.’

    Hubris begets nemesis. If they were not so self-absorbed and morally stunted by their narcissism and selective experience they would understand that people will not stand by and allow themselves to be abused forever.
    http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/2015/07/president-carter-us-now-is-just.html

    Reply

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