Remember when you took AP U.S. history in high school? How magical it was to learn about hundreds of years of history in only two semesters? Now imagine if you were no longer allowed to even learn all of those facts in school. This is the fate of current and future Oklahoma high schoolers all due to the passing of HB1380, a bill that does away with the funding for Collegeboard's AP U.S. history and replaces the course with one focusing on American exceptionalism. One of the main reasons the Oklahoma legislature passed the bill is because they claimed that the new curriculum of the class was un-American. Well, that's where they're wrong. Because it is, in fact, the Oklahoman legislature that is un-American and here's why.
Faulty Logic.
They consider it un-American based on the fact that the course no longer focuses only on specific historical figures and events, but mostly on historical themes. If you're a college student who has or is taking a U.S. history course in college, this sort of curriculum must sound familiar. If not only because Collegeboard designed their new course after surveying college classes. Yes, it's true. What the Oklahoma legislature is calling un-American is the curriculum of hundreds (if not thousands) of U.S. history classes taught by many colleges and universities.
Lack of American Exceptionalism.
Oh. They're concerned that Collegeboard is making America look bad by telling the truth of our history? What is so bad about teaching the mistakes of our past? Any parent, teacher, and human will tell you that you must learn from your mistakes, but with this new course, the Okie students will not get to learn these mistakes nor understand their impact in American history. The new course will only teach students half-truths. This does not exemplify the American spirit, but rather tarnishes the Okie spirit.
Re-writing history.
One thing I learned when I took APUSH was that the winners of history tend to end up writing history. This is why the North wrote about what happened in the Civil War, why the Suffragettes wrote about getting the right to vote, and why the Oklahoman legislature gets to pick and choose which American facts their students get to learn. Wait, what fight did Oklahoma win again?
Ignorance is not bliss.
Probably the biggest impact of this bill will be the resulting ignorant population of students who will not know the truth about America. They will never know the minority struggles that have been a prevalent theme throughout the course of this country, they will not understand the true ideals set forth by our founding fathers (although granted, they were a little racist back then), but most importantly, they will never know what America truly is. What is the U.S. if not just a melting pot of people, but also a melting pot of events? The Battle of Lexington and Concord, the Thirteenth Amendment, the Trail of Tears. All of those events are vastly different, yet equally as influential in creating the issues that we have in society today, and in creating solutions for them.
I am not alone in my opinion, hopefully, you agree too. The only question that remains is, is it too late to rescind this bill's passing? History has taught us that it's never too late to fight for what is right.
