Reagan speeches and Bible studies? Okla. lawmakers are killing AP history — and replacing it with th

[unhappycamper]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/02/reagan-speeches-and-bible-studies-okla-lawmakers-killing-ap-history-replacing-it-with-this/

Reagan speeches and Bible studies? Okla. lawmakers are killing AP history — and replacing it with this
Scott Kaufman
18 Feb 2015 at 11:42 ET

An Oklahoma lawmaker filed a bill that would ban the current Advanced Placement United States History curriculum and replace it with one that taught “foundational documents” that include the Ten Commandments, numerous sermons, and three speeches by Reagan — but none by any Democratic president since Lyndon Johnson.

The bill’s sponsor, state representative Dan Fisher (R), told CNN that the problem with the current course is that, “in essence, we have a new emphasis on what is bad about America.”

The revised course, however, would replace a “robust analyses of gender and racial oppression and class ethnicity and the lives of marginalized people, where the emphasis on instruction is of America as a nation of oppressors and exploiters” with “an emphasis on America’s founding principles of Constitutional government.”

That emphasis would include teaching students Jonathan Edwards’ sermon “Sinners in the Hands of a Angry God,” the purpose of which is to remind the people that God may cast a sinner into Hell at any moment, so the best course of action is to accept Christ immediately. It would also include speeches by both Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, which are included because of their “foundational” value — a standard no speeches by Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, or Barack Obama evidently met.

[yellerpup]

1. Oklahoma lawmakers lowering the bar again.

Making it impossible for a student in Oklahoma to compete in any field but ignorance.

[SheilaT]

2. This shows an enormous lack of understanding of the AP curriculum.

It's intended to be a nationwide study. Sort of like what other countries do. Only people like the OK lawmaker haven't a clue.

Among the problems with our educational system is that there are no national standards. other than the AP exams.

Here's a story about my oldest son and his SAT subject exams. Just in case you don't already know, they are graded 200-800. A 200 means you showed up at the testing place, and 800 is a perfect score. The subject exams are in a specific subject area I hope that's obvious.

Okay, you've got that. Freshman year of high school, my son took biology, took the biology subject test. When the test scores arrive he had a 770 ( a VERY GOOD score for those of you who don't already know). I told him he needed to call his biology teacher, tell her his score, and tell her thank you for what she'd taught him. Yes, he worked hard, but if she hadn't taught him a great deal, he wouldn't have done so well. He called her. All was good.

Sophomore year he took chemistry. Another great teacher. My son took the SAT chemistry exam got a 780. I made him call the teacher and tell him thank you. Again, my son worked hard, but the chemistry teacher was also wonderful.

Junior year, physics. Son seemed to do well in class, took the SAT subject exam. When the scores came in, he had an 800. a perfect score Son said, "Oh. There was one question I wasn't sure of. I guess I got it right."

I recognize that my son is somewhat different from many others. That does not obviate the point that AP exams or the SAT subject exams are excellent national exams in the subjects. Those are the only exams which actually match the students up against a verifiable objective standard. We are the only country with few such standards. Is it any wonder we do so poorly on competitive international exams?

The APs (which my son also did well on) are a similar measure. They really are a national exam, and a student who does well on one will do well in college. A student who does poorly probably won't do as well in college. However, and this is very important, I've seen research that indicates a student who takes an AP course and takes the exam but does poorly on the exam, will still do better in college than a student who never took an AP class of any kind. The point is, AP classes are good. For what it's worth, I went to high school when AP classes weren't available, and I did perfectly well in college. So AP classes, while nice, aren't the only way to measure potential college success.

Overall we have an amazingly wonderful college system in this country. It starts with the junior colleges, and includes all the state colleges/universities and goes on to the most prestigious and outstanding universities, mostly the Ivy League schools, but includes several other amazing and wonderful schools.

One of the things I love about this country is that we have an incredible system of higher education. You don't have to be in the elite to participate. Okay, we all understand that if you just barely graduated from Public School in Middle America you probably won't get admitted to Harvard or MIT, but with all due respect (which they deserve) to those schools, and to all the very prestigious schools in this country, you can do very well if you start out at your local junior college and then transfer to the University of Your State. There is more than one path to success, academically. Especially academically.

[MisterP]

3. I'm more worried that they consider the Bible *US* history