Oh, here we go again. Somebody is always banning something, and now it is the AP U.S. history course, on the grounds that it has an anti-American, unpatriotic slant. I haven’t seen the course and can’t weigh in on the facts, but it is troubling to see state legislatures deciding questions of history. That is not the right forum. Controversial issues should be resolved by competent scholars. of whom there are many. Typically, in history, there is not a right answer (even if the multiple-choice test-makers think so); in history, there are interpretations and debates. Students should be aware of those debates, not given pre-fab right answers.
An Oklahoma legislative committee overwhelmingly voted to ban Advanced Placement U.S. History class, persuaded by the argument that it only teaches students “what is bad about America.” Other lawmakers are seeking a court ruling that would effectively prohibit the teaching of all AP courses in public schools.
Oklahoma Rep. Dan Fisher (R) has introduced “emergency” legislation “prohibiting the expenditure of funds on the Advanced Placement United States History course.” Fisher is part of a group called the “Black Robe Regiment” which argues “the church and God himself has been under assault, marginalized, and diminished by the progressives and secularists.” The group attacks the “false wall of separation of church and state.” The Black Robe Regiment claims that a “growing tide of special interest groups indoctrinating our youth at the exclusion of the Christian perspective.”
Fisher said the Advanced Placement history class fails to teach “American exceptionalism.” The bill passed the Oklahoma House Education committee on Monday on a vote of 11-4. You can read the actual course description for the course here.
For other lawmakers, however, Fisher is thinking too small. Oklahoma Rep. Sally Kern (R) claims that all “AP courses violate the legislation approved last year that repealed Common Core.” She has asked the Oklahoma Attorney General to issue a ruling. Kern argues that “AP courses are similar to Common Core, in that they could be construed as an attempt to impose a national curriculum on American schools.”
Advanced Placement courses are actually developed by a private group, the College Board, and are not required of any student or high school. They are the primary way that student can earn college credit in high school. Taking advanced placement course can save students money and are generally seen as a prerequisite to admission to elite colleges. A representative from the College Board called the claims by Fisher and others “mythology and not true.”
Other states are engaged in the same battles. Colorado jumped into this one, and high school students walked out to protest political interference in their studies.
Common Core and AP courses tend to get mixed into the same controversies, because the lead architect of the Common Core happens to be the CEO of the College Board. There is a lesson here about the need to keep politics out of curriculum-making. On both sides of the issue. To the extent that the curriculum is determined by politics, not by scholarship, our nation’s children are dumbed down and deprived of their right to learn.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
An Oklahoma legislative committee overwhelmingly voted to ban Advanced Placement Physics class, persuaded by the argument that it only teaches students “what is attractive about gravity.”
Furthermore, it has been established beyond a doubt that Sir Issac Newton was not an attractive dude.
And don’t forget them thar radicals in math.
Shh, MathVale, or they’ll be banned, and the irrational numbers along with them!
Ohhhh, you gave me a good laugh this morning! Thanks!
AP Courses are trademarked – syllabus must be approved by CB through their Annual AP Course Audit procedure. They track results for each teacher this way. AP teachers do not HAVE to be certified to teach an AP class — they RECOMMEND teachers take their workshops prior to initiating classroom instruction, but no requirement —( just what the district requires.)
In order for schools to officially use the AP on transcripts etc, each teacher’s course syllabus must be approved annually by CB. Google AP Course Audit and look your school up. Even Virtual School Classes are supposed to be registered.
Follow the AP Playbook, Track the Students by teachers classroom, recognize schools that perform well or increase participation…… HMMMMMM— sound familiar?
AP is the ultimate – TEACH to the TEST setup. Problem is two fold. Kids want to take the highest most challenging courses avail to look good — hoping to score 3,4 or 5 for college credit —- WHILE colleges (selective ones) are finding these courses have not prepared students well for the actual setting. Many have upped their score cutoff to 4 or 5s. Many are forgoing — Dartmouth one of them. Google it.
Here’s one:
http://www.npr.org/2012/12/03/166414595/op-ed-ap-classes-are-a-scam
CollegeBoard tried to get more students enrolled in AP beginning in 2007… unfortunately as that article states – not prepared, dragging others down. CB needed to increase BUSINESS — they were not benefiting enough from this incredibly vast audience. ACT was gaining ground — cutting in on the college entrance test portion of their business.
SOOOO, look at the role CB has played in CC…… they’ve got what they were looking for now!!
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ !!
AP is Common Core – purposefully designed, tracked. CB charges students to take test, to send tests to colleges. CB charges colleges access to their massive data files to target students with mailings based on interests, location, academic success… whatever bucket the school is looking to fill.
CB is rolling in the cashola. DATA is big business. THE BIGGEST!!
“AP is the ultimate – TEACH to the TEST setup”
YEP!
one of the professors in a finance course I took said : “You can’t have equity and excellence”… I admired him for most everything else he said but I wanted to get into the nuances on that one…. Another finance guy I generally respect went around talking with school boards in different states : “if this is the value you want to pursue this is what it will cost” and there are always tradeoffs… For too long teachers stood in the background and were “neutral ” about politics (kind of like churches that used to lead but now are afraid of losing their IRS exception ) … teachers thought it was more even handed not to take sides. Politics is how the budget dollars get allocated to priorities. I still have one colleague who says “if the state chose WEDA and 35 states have adopted WEDA then it must be good”… and I have a hard time getting through that thought ; it’s the same thing that the teacher union cannot protect you if you say you won’t give the PARRC tests because you are breaking the law by refusing .
Very well said, sickofitall. While this situation is not a good overall reflection on the Oklahoma legislature, it does demonstrate their knowledge of the interference of big business and “the need to keep politics out of decision making.”
“AP Courses are trademarked – syllabus must be approved by CB through their Annual AP Course Audit procedure. They track results for each teacher this way. AP teachers do not HAVE to be certified to teach an AP class — they RECOMMEND teachers take their workshops prior to initiating classroom instruction, but no requirement —( just what the district requires.)
In order for schools to officially use the AP on transcripts etc, each teacher’s course syllabus must be approved annually by CB.”
It wasn’t always that way. Beginning in 1999 we set up an AP pathway for our Latino students who were studying Spanish as a way of distinguishing themselves in the college application process. We set it up as a way for kids to work from their strengths as Spanish speakers. The teacher who taught the AP class did everything on her own and was required to take no workshop nor to submit any syllabus, nor submit to any audit.
Just as NMSI set up in my school all that began to change. (See my post above.) What I found further disturbing was that the school was chosen precisely because we had a useful demographic profile – bright, striving kids of color (89%), with poverty level incomes (84%), majority English language learners (66%) many of whom would be the first generation in their families to attend college. (Many of these kids have now graduated from college, but they are still being featured on the Massachusetts website. I doubt they’re being compensated for being used as a marketing tool for the College Board.)
To be clear, we were doing just fine on our own, but the AP take-over distorted all our work. It was especially pernicious for younger teachers who began to see all the testing as a valid measure of what the kids could do. Our union actually won at arbitration because part of the program was to institute merit pay for teachers. The evangelism at the arbitration was unbelievable, along the lines of “STEM AP will solve all of life’s persistent questions, resolve income inequality and be a transformative experience!”
Ah, one other factor. The Executive Chairman of the Massachusetts chapter used to to be our superintendent before his retirement. I don’t doubt that he’s being well compensated, in addition to receiving his pension.
unbelievable. I tutor students for this AP examination. It teaches students to critically analyze historical events. To believe that this country was and is perfect is not scholarship but dogmatism as well as Americocentric. If anything, the course teaches that throughout its history, the United States has tried to come closer and closer to the ideals set forth by our founding fathers. To deny that the constitution was originally an imperfect document based on political compromises is to live in a fantasy land. To deny that there is still discrimination as well as social and economic inequality is also having your head buried under the sand of reality.
But, but, we are exceptionally good at doing just that! It’s proof of American Exceptionalism! Works for me!
No?
“I tutor students for this AP examination”
That’s where your problem lies, in aiding and abetting the forces of standardization, chomping the bait and swallowing the hook of the “educational standards and standardized testing” crew, only to be hauled up out of the water to be hoisted on your own petard.
To understand why what you are doing is UNETHICAL read and understand Wilson’s complete destruction of those educational malpractices in “Educational Standards and the Problem of Error” found at: http://epaa.asu.edu/ojs/article/view/577/700
Brief outline of Wilson’s “Educational Standards and the Problem of Error” and some comments of mine.
1. A description of a quality can only be partially quantified. Quantity is almost always a very small aspect of quality. It is illogical to judge/assess a whole category only by a part of the whole. The assessment is, by definition, lacking in the sense that “assessments are always of multidimensional qualities. To quantify them as unidimensional quantities (numbers or grades) is to perpetuate a fundamental logical error” (per Wilson). The teaching and learning process falls in the logical realm of aesthetics/qualities of human interactions. In attempting to quantify educational standards and standardized testing the descriptive information about said interactions is inadequate, insufficient and inferior to the point of invalidity and unacceptability.
2. A major epistemological mistake is that we attach, with great importance, the “score” of the student, not only onto the student but also, by extension, the teacher, school and district. Any description of a testing event is only a description of an interaction, that of the student and the testing device at a given time and place. The only correct logical thing that we can attempt to do is to describe that interaction (how accurately or not is a whole other story). That description cannot, by logical thought, be “assigned/attached” to the student as it cannot be a description of the student but the interaction. And this error is probably one of the most egregious “errors” that occur with standardized testing (and even the “grading” of students by a teacher).
3. Wilson identifies four “frames of reference” each with distinct assumptions (epistemological basis) about the assessment process from which the “assessor” views the interactions of the teaching and learning process: the Judge (think college professor who “knows” the students capabilities and grades them accordingly), the General Frame-think standardized testing that claims to have a “scientific” basis, the Specific Frame-think of learning by objective like computer based learning, getting a correct answer before moving on to the next screen, and the Responsive Frame-think of an apprenticeship in a trade or a medical residency program where the learner interacts with the “teacher” with constant feedback. Each category has its own sources of error and more error in the process is caused when the assessor confuses and conflates the categories.
4. Wilson elucidates the notion of “error”: “Error is predicated on a notion of perfection; to allocate error is to imply what is without error; to know error it is necessary to determine what is true. And what is true is determined by what we define as true, theoretically by the assumptions of our epistemology, practically by the events and non-events, the discourses and silences, the world of surfaces and their interactions and interpretations; in short, the practices that permeate the field. . . Error is the uncertainty dimension of the statement; error is the band within which chaos reigns, in which anything can happen. Error comprises all of those eventful circumstances which make the assessment statement less than perfectly precise, the measure less than perfectly accurate, the rank order less than perfectly stable, the standard and its measurement less than absolute, and the communication of its truth less than impeccable.”
In other word all the logical errors involved in the process render any conclusions invalid.
5. The test makers/psychometricians, through all sorts of mathematical machinations attempt to “prove” that these tests (based on standards) are valid-errorless or supposedly at least with minimal error [they aren’t]. Wilson turns the concept of validity on its head and focuses on just how invalid the machinations and the test and results are. He is an advocate for the test taker not the test maker. In doing so he identifies thirteen sources of “error”, any one of which renders the test making/giving/disseminating of results invalid. And a basic logical premise is that once something is shown to be invalid it is just that, invalid, and no amount of “fudging” by the psychometricians/test makers can alleviate that invalidity.
6. Having shown the invalidity, and therefore the unreliability, of the whole process Wilson concludes, rightly so, that any result/information gleaned from the process is “vain and illusory”. In other words start with an invalidity, end with an invalidity (except by sheer chance every once in a while, like a blind and anosmic squirrel who finds the occasional acorn, a result may be “true”) or to put in more mundane terms crap in-crap out.
7. And so what does this all mean? I’ll let Wilson have the second to last word: “So what does a test measure in our world? It measures what the person with the power to pay for the test says it measures. And the person who sets the test will name the test what the person who pays for the test wants the test to be named.”
In other words it attempts to measure “’something’ and we can specify some of the ‘errors’ in that ‘something’ but still don’t know [precisely] what the ‘something’ is.” The whole process harms many students as the social rewards for some are not available to others who “don’t make the grade (sic)” Should American public education have the function of sorting and separating students so that some may receive greater benefits than others, especially considering that the sorting and separating devices, educational standards and standardized testing, are so flawed not only in concept but in execution?
My answer is NO!!!!!
One final note with Wilson channeling Foucault and his concept of subjectivization:
“So the mark [grade/test score] becomes part of the story about yourself and with sufficient repetitions becomes true: true because those who know, those in authority, say it is true; true because the society in which you live legitimates this authority; true because your cultural habitus makes it difficult for you to perceive, conceive and integrate those aspects of your experience that contradict the story; true because in acting out your story, which now includes the mark and its meaning, the social truth that created it is confirmed; true because if your mark is high you are consistently rewarded, so that your voice becomes a voice of authority in the power-knowledge discourses that reproduce the structure that helped to produce you; true because if your mark is low your voice becomes muted and confirms your lower position in the social hierarchy; true finally because that success or failure confirms that mark that implicitly predicted the now self evident consequences. And so the circle is complete.”
In other words students “internalize” what those “marks” (grades/test scores) mean, and since the vast majority of the students have not developed the mental skills to counteract what the “authorities” say, they accept as “natural and normal” that “story/description” of them. Although paradoxical in a sense, the “I’m an “A” student” is almost as harmful as “I’m an ‘F’ student” in hindering students becoming independent, critical and free thinkers. And having independent, critical and free thinkers is a threat to the current socio-economic structure of society.
By Duane E. Swacker
Oh dear. Mea Culpa. I “taught” AP art history for 3 years and though I loved the material, a test at the end of the year over 32,000 years of art is a farce. It’s a gigantic trivia quiz. Based on the writing of some of the kids who got high scores I think they throw darts to find the winning essays. I just hope my instruction was engaging and enlightening, the test certainly wasn’t that.
@Shirley Ende-Saxe
No instruction in art history is ever, EVER, a waste of time! : )
“Oklahoma Rep. Dan Fisher (R) has introduced “emergency” legislation ….”
Yeah, because AP History is a brand new threat that he never saw coming.
Politics and education are not compatible.
This is why you have to put on your safety goggles when you enter a laboratory of democracy.
Maybe the College Board should develop a business model that does not rely on tax dollars to fund its programs. I don’t agree with the Oklahoma Legislature, but I do not sympathize with the College Board either. The College Board has insinuated itself into the secondary education system, but it could easily and happily be replaced.
I agree. AP isn’t what it used to be.
AP was never what it used to be!!!
It has always had the inherent epistemological and ontological errors inherent in any standardized test as proven by Wilson. See above comment in reply to liberalteacher.
Duane: “what it used to be”? it attracted some excellent teachers to the field… I had the privilege of sitting beside some wonderful AP (history/social studies) teachers at conferences and i was always grateful for the exposure. At one conference I came home with a reading list that included “Cows, Pigs and Witches” on advice from an AP teacher ; it was like a graduate seminar for me. At another conference when I was frustrated the AP teacher beside me said “they have left out altruism” (it was more of a discussion of classical republicanism)… and another teacher gave me the reading list that encouraged Jeremy Bentham and benthamite logic… I fear today we have lost the exceptional people who no longer choose teaching ; why? because of a cultural value system that pushes young people into “ways to make money’ whereas the former value I thought we shared was ways to build community. I know I have reduced he discussion down to a very narrow focus in this way but it helps me define “what used to be”….
the arguments about which canon should be taught in what particular ways get into the discussion at the legislature all the time the profession has been demeaned… This is something that Romney did when he was Governor in MA that contributed to it and it is OH today (by the way Silber had an idea that all teachers should be trained at BU and we would solve the problem of the schools and conflicting canon)…
OHIO HEADLINES: A
creative shift of required school revenue from the state to property taxpayers
quoting OH E&A “Contrary to the Ohio Supreme Court’s four rulings in DeRolph, the state has continued to shift the revenue-raising responsibility from the state to local school districts, and thus to property taxpayers….this nefarious shift is revealed in the February 15, 2015 front page article by Charlie Boss in The Columbus Dispatch. The opening sentence of the article is, “Governor John Kasich said Ohio school districts slated to lose revenue under his budget proposal have another pot of money to help offset the loss–their cash reserves.” The administration’s propensity to diminish the state’s obligation to fund the public common school system is reaching new heights. Possibly the state’s cash reserve of more than a billion dollars-the rainy day fund-should be used to increase funding to school districts.”
If they keep us fighting over phonics/whole language or which canon in literature at the high school we don’t have energy to fight the battle as described in the OH E&A email.
Crazy.
Crazy. Hard to believe.
Makes perfect sense to ban AP history. After all, it’s easier to fool and manipulate ignorant people.
Hard to tell who is not in this dangerous and McCarthyesque display of paranoia.
As we continue our steady and determined march backwards to the 1920s, not just in economic terms, but socially and culturally as well, I believe that the novels of Sinclair Lewis from that era should be reissued and made required reading in America’s classrooms. They teach many important lessons about human ignorance and intolerance which are timeless. Maybe Oklahoma could replace AP US History with a course covering Main Street, Babbitt, Elmer Gantry, Kingsblood Royal, and It Can’t Happen Here. Because it is happening there. And here. Please note I am leaving out Arrowsmith since it is rather one-sided in its defense of the scientific method.
Here is another myth for Rep. Fisher and his Black Robe boys to impose on the young people of Oklahoma, after they succeed in defending the myth of American exceptionalism against those heretics at the College Board:
“It’s one of our favorite American myths that broad plains necessarily make broad minds, and high mountains make high purpose.”
― Sinclair Lewis, Main Street
I am coming to believe that there are pockets in this country where people never marched forward out of the 1920s to begin with, or maybe started to but go stuck in the 50s.
My sister’s (she’s 83) former and now deceased husband was a cross-country truck driver, and he said there was two Americas. The east and west coast were one America and then there’s everything in between—especially the Bible belt. And whenever he was crossing the country in his 18 wheller, he said he always felt safer after he left the Bible belt.
In fact, according to this Washington Post piece, there are 11 Americas and the piece comes with a map with descriptions.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2013/11/08/which-of-the-11-american-nations-do-you-live-in/
I’m a history teacher. I don’t teach AP American History (I do teach another AP class), but I’ve read through the course outline, and there’s nothing that is that awful. I honestly don’t understand the fuss. Have any of these legislators actually read the course description?
Whatever the legislators heard—I’m sure most of the committee doesn’t know much of anything about AP American History—probably came verbally from a lobbyist paid by the Walton or Koch foundation.
I’m sure.
During and after the imperial struggles of the mid-18th century, new pressures began to unite the British colonies against perceived and real constraints on their economic activities and political rights, sparking a colonial independence movement and war with Britain.
(ID-1) (WXT-1) (POL-1) (WOR-1) (CUL-2) (CUL-4) A. Great Britain’s massive debt from the Seven Years’ War resulted in renewed efforts to consolidate imperial control over North American markets, taxes, and political institutions — actions that were supported by some colonists but resisted by others. Teachers have flexibility to use examples such as the following:
•StampAct,CommitteesofCorrespondence,IntolerableActs B.
The resulting independence movement was fueled by established colonial elites, as well as by grassroots movements that included newly mobilized laborers, artisans, and women, and rested on arguments over the rights of British subjects, the rights of the individual, and the ideas of the Enlightenment.
•Sons of Liberty,MercyOtisWarren,Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania C.
Despite considerable loyalist opposition, as well as Great Britain’s apparently overwhelming military and financial advantages, the patriot cause succeeded because of the colonists’ greater familiarity with the land, their resilient military and political leadership, their ideological commitment, and their support from European allies.
Loved your link to the newspaper article about the 11 different Americas. Look at the above, I do not see anything controversial in this. However, this excerpt from the framework for the AP was criticized because it mentioned the word “elites” and mentioned “women.” This critic said America in colonial times had no “elites” and that the only woman who played a role was Abigail Adams. I guess those New English traders and lawyers, such as Hancock and Adams and those plantation owners from Virginia, such as Washington and Jefferson were not any type of “elite.” Just plain folks. In addition, many primary documents show that there were women who were camp followers who mended, cooked and took care of wounded men within the camps. Also to be noted was Deborah Sampson who spent the war impersonating men so she could fight in various battles. By the way, after her third impersonation, she was honorably discharged from military service and subsequently married.
Our right wing friends not only want American exceptionalism but also one that totally excludes anyone not male and white. Yes, the reality is that the Southern Elite during the revolution existed thanks to the backbreaking work of black slaves. Yes, my words are harsh, but unfortunately true.
I think it’s called revisionist history where a few very wealthy individuals have history revised on paper to say what they want it to say. For instance, I read a piece where a noted historian said he had been approached by a Middle Eastern billionaire and offered a gross amount of money to rewrite the history of the region to be what the billionaire wanted it to say instead of what historians have written based on records. The author turned the oligarch down.
“This critic said America in colonial times had no “elites” and that the only woman who played a role was Abigail Adams.”
George Washington was one of the wealthiest men in the colonies. He had slaves and he was worth, measured by today’s dollar, about $500 million from what I’ve read. And he wasn’t an elite?
On that note, an old friend of mine who was seduced about fifteen years ago to the dark side of evangelical fundamentalist Christian thinking sent this e-mail to me today:
“Here’s something I didn’t know, but I am not surprised that it wasn’t taught when the Scopes Monkey Trial was covered in my high school.”
“… and those who stuck to traditional teachings were branded as backward fundamentalists. It is still ill remembered that, in the infamous Scopes Monkey Trial, William Jennings Bryan’s main objection to a school textbook teaching evolution was that it presented evolution as proving a hierarchy of races. One of the main scientific theories used to advance racism was polygeny, or the idea that the different races evolved from different origins; Christians who objected on the grounds that the Bible describes the entire human race as descending from Adam and Eve were dismissed as obscurantists.”
My Response follows:
Did you know that it has been proven that we all carry some Neanderthal genes. I wonder if Adam had sex with any Neanderthal women and bore children with them. I think so, because, if Adam and Eve were the very first humans, then what else could explain the discover of Neanderthal genes in human DNA?
“Although modern humans are the only surviving human lineage, other groups of early humans used to live on Earth. The closest extinct relatives of modern humans were the Neanderthals, who lived in Europe and Asia untilthey went extinct about 40,000 years ago. The ancestors of modern humans diverged from those of Neanderthals between 550,000 and 765,000 years ago.”
http://www.livescience.com/42933-humans-carry-20-percent-neanderthal-genes.html
I read in the Bible that when Adam and Eve were tossed out of the garden, they weren’t alone out there in the cruel world where the strongest survive. There were other humanoids already outside of the garden. Read the Bible carefully and its there.
How else did Adam and Eve’s children find mates. I don’t think they only had children with their brothers and sisters?
“While people used to think that there was a single line of human species, with one evolving after the other in an inevitable march towards modern humans, we now know this is not the case. Like most other mammals, we are part of a large and diverse family tree. Fossil discoveries show that the human family tree has many more branches and deeper roots than we knew about even a couple of decades ago. In fact, the number of branches our evolutionary tree, and also the length of time, has nearly doubled since the famed ‘Lucy’ fossil skeleton was discovered in 1974.”
http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-fossils
And this was his reply—Note that he doesn’t admit that he agrees with what he read about the Neanderthal genes. The fact is that after debating my old friend for more than a decade via e-mails, he has seldom admitted he is wrong about anything and almsot always dismisses any valid facts that I link to primary sources to prove him wrong on many of his rigid beliefs. If I back him into a corner by getting angry at him, he starts to profess his love for Jesus Christ and avoids debating, and he never debates with scientific or historical facts. When he provides links, they always, always lead to other opinions that are not substantiated with valid evidence and facts.
“Yes I had read about the Neanderthal genes.”
And that is why the right hates any type of AP course in social studies. They hate that students, as part of a college level course, have to interpret, analyze and draw conclusions from primary documents. History is often written by the winners and those in power. It is our greatness that we have a constitution that allows free expression so that in our time, historical concepts and ideas have become more inclusive. They should celebrate that we now have a richer understanding of what happened in the past. Imagine if the great library in Alexandria, Egypt was not destroyed by the Romans what type richer understanding we would now have of the ancient world. But instead, many fear and hate these new sources because it contradicts a wonderful fantasy of American exceptionalism. We are no better and no worse than many other nations in human history. What is truly great about our nation is that we still have the ability to acknowledge our misdeeds, learn from them, create a more just society, and move forward.
Is America unique in the idea of American exceptionalism, and does the arrogance of exceptionalism only come with military and/or economic power?
Maybe we can learn the answer from the Brits. After all, the British were an empire centuries before the U.S. became one with the end of World War II.
How the Empire has been taught in British Schools
The Empire is a topic that motivates people from all sides of the political spectrum but often in contradictory ways. Those on the right have often used the topic as an example of British national pride and of British exceptionalism.
Accordingly, the very existence of an empire is proof that the British were a uniquely creative, dynamic and modern force in World history. The prominence of the Union Jack fluttering over all the corners of the globe played well to ideas of national vigour and strength.
Those on the left have tended to emphasise the subjugation and force required to take and hold an empire. For them, the empire is a negative force denying colonised peoples a voice and political rights. It has often been characterised as an economic system designed to benefit the rich mercantalists or industrialists at the expense of peasants and workers all over the world.
In short, the empire is a controversial topic that has been used and abused by politicians and educators for as long as there has been an educational system to speak of. This article will track how attitudes to the empire have been reflected by teachers, schools and politicians from the 19th Century to the present day. The one thing that should be clear is that the debate over what should or should not be taught in British schools is still a ferocious one and not likely to die down any time soon.
http://www.britishempire.co.uk/article/historyteaching.htm
For an excellent read on the “problems/concerns” in doing history I recommend John Tosh’s “In Pursuit of History”.
I wonder where these legislatures went to school and whether they ever took an AP course. How did they do in their US History class? When you hear them speak, sometimes you wonder if they even graduated from high school. I swear, a lot of them must have been home schooled (no offense intended to those who had a positive home schooling experience).
Another example of individuals thinking they are experts on education simply because they were once students.
flos 56…..I wouldn’t disparage the families in the state completely; my nephew was married in Virginia and has raised 3 kids in OK. They have a unique heartland viewpoint… for example, he has his mortgage paid of (he’s under age 60) and not like some of the individuals here who buy million dollar houses at interest only mortgage (one family I know with 3 boys). The values that they share in OK are more traditional but they are not “Battered” with the fast shifting trends that blow through here on the east coast hurricanes, just the tornadoes they have. Fast paced changes are not the preferred styles and there is something to be said for that ; I think the lifestyles are uniquely American wherever they are . There are always politicians and corporations who will take advantage of a populace that they perceive to be “backwards” or “greenhorns” and that has to be some of what is going on. I know when I speak to my nephew he easily says that xenophobia takes over sometimes but here on the east coast we have our own sets of paranoias …. some similar and some different.
I have very mixed feelings about this. Remember, this is not your father’s AP History– this is David Coleman’s brand new micro-managed Common Core infused AP History, and I’m not sure it isn’t crap. Not for the reason the Tea Partiers think, but still. This is not a hill I’d want to die on.
The revision of AP US History course began before Coleman joined College Board, I think.
That is correct, booklady. But the new stuff is very Common Core-ish. Or else Coleman wouldn’t support it.
It says we don’t cover things superficially anymore and stresses habits of mind. But reading the AP that I teach (European History), it still expects to cover everything. It’s the same breadth and greater depth.
I agree Peter. I have mixed feelings about AP, not because of the content, but because it is being misused. Students are encouraged, sometimes forced, to take AP classes even if the results are poor. This is high school and not college – so why should students load up on “college” level courses when they haven’t even take a high school level class? It’s like learning multiplication before you can identify any numbers.
Let teenagers be teenagers. I resent this mass push towards all things AP when the driving force is the monetary reward for the College Board. Once again, they are not for everyone – one size does not fit all.
This is not about the course curriculum, it’s about the cultural evolution which has been occurring in education over the past several years. The same thinking that’s driving the CC.
Whether the legislature is pushing for or against – it’s all just too scary to contemplate.
Maybe the Oklahoma legislature just heard about the machinations of Indiana’s erstwhile governor.
http://www.democracynow.org/2013/7/22/censoring_howard_zinn_former_indiana_gov
I just know somewhere out there in CyberSpace, in a cold, damp and lonely Interwebz attic, that SomeDAM Poet is already hard at work on an updated rendition of “Oklahoma!” I sense it, as sure as the wind comes sweepin’ down the plains. I anxiously await what is sure to be SDM’s chef-d’oeuvre.
Me, too. But I picture SD Poet in a joyous place–why would such wit be in a “cold, damp and lonely” setting?
SD Poet pls fill us in.
I thought all true poets worked alone in cold, dark attics? No? You’ve pierced my Romantic bubble, BookLady. sob! :””(
Michael Payne on Poetry, Narrative, History said: “if a literary critic has a weekend free, he or she can perhaps straighten out problems that fusty scholars have not been able to work through:… so keep writing Some Damned Poet and others (Book Lady etc)
The computer I write at is in a basement, not an attic — but it is unheated and hence fairly cold (55 or so) in winter and often damp in summer.
But then again, I’m not a real poet or even a “literary critic” (though I do write and am critical and maybe that counts for something), so really am no help when it comes to the matter of typical (or even atypical) poet environments.
SomeDam Poet ….. yesterday I was referring to the fact that you bring us/me wisdom…. when I referred to a “literary critic”…. to explain where I am coming from… the standards for my grand-kids high school English class now say “put in from of the child the text of Elie Wiesel’s speech” that was delivered in Washington COLD… with no teacher explanation or background… so in the dialogue I ask her have you ever read “Night”?.. (turns out she had. What i was referring to is their insistence in the standards that a middle school pupil or high school student (even in an AP class) would do this “close reading”…. of an unfamiliar text with no background in the topics or subjects. In my volunteer efforts with high school students I find I have to use the annotated Ulysses, an annotated edition of Jane Austen and even after many years of teaching reading comprehension I don’t really know if I am a capable “close reader” and they are forcing the standard on immature students; this is another example of the math wars, the reading wars, the canon wars. Someone who pushes “the text itself as a main source” is fulfilling only one obligation (we understand as primary sources in history , for example) … there are things a classroom teacher understands about the student’s background experiential knowledge, the reader’s response, and the determination of meaning all of which take teacher time… and in large class sizes can be impossible… These are some of the details behind my comment yesterday ; but, indeed you do bring wisdom along with poetry and thanks for what you do….
jeanhaverhill@aol.com
Now that I’ve had to think more about this not-so-weighty topic, I believe the proper term for the location in which poets do their poeticizing (or whatever it is they actually do) is “garret” not “attic”.
But, I guess a basement will do as long as yon wing-ed words take flight o’er the blessed Ether-webz for us to savour on this most congenial of Bloges.
Personally, I think “American exceptionalism” is a load of crap. Citizens of every nation think that their nation is exceptional!
“Exceptionalism”
Exceptional is
As exceptional does
Not as it says
And not as it was
INSANITY comes to mind. Hmmmmm….marketing lies.
Why do we have to be ashamed or embarrassed by pointing out American exceptionalism? Stating exceptionalism does not mean braging or boasting or thinking we are better than others. It merely points out factors that make our country great and what makes us different from other countries. Most countries can lay claim to exceptionalism for one thing or another. We are quick to point out exceptional schools, food, wine, movies etc but it’s not appropriate to talk about what makes this country exceptional? I don’t get it. I attended the debate last March at Dartmouth between Dinesh D’Souza and Bill Ayers entitled “So what’s so great about America?, in which the two debated American exceptionalism. I’d encourage you all to watch it.
And I agree with Peter that we opponents of common core should be very wary and suspicious of any curriculum that comes out of David Coleman’s play book.
For several years, NJ high schools have partnered to offer college credit courses rather than use AP. Syracuse U has a program, and in-state Morris Co College trained high school biology teachers to conduct transcript credit courses. St Peter’s and Seton Hall also have partnered w. schools. Readers from south Jersey can probably cite other universities.
One advantage was that students wouldn’t have to contend with the uncertainty of colleges accepting a 3 cf 4/5 exam score.
I’d be in favor of a ban on all AP courses, actually. After the invasion of ExxonMobil and BillandMelinda money into my school, pushing AP’s in math and science under the National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI) in its Massachusetts iteration, I came to believe that AP classes are simply the ultimate metric dressed up in meritocracy.
Our 7-12 selective admission school had a minority population of 89%, which made us a perfect market for this experiment. We were flooded by a demand to “vertically align” curriculum beginning in middle school. Resources were re-purposed to purchase “aligned” texts and CD’s (remember those?), old ones were jettisoned; large numbers of consultants appeared; professional development was hijacked to focus on AP exam prep; Saturday classes were added for students enrolled in those courses; the schedule was re-written so “the best teachers” could teach AP classes. Teachers were paid for passing scores on the exam – merit pay. Our students began to think that it was the norm to carry 3 or 4 AP classes in a 6 period day and that they were failures who would never be admitted to college if they did not.
By the way, NMSI was dreamed up by Tom Luce, under secretary of education under George W. of NCLB fame. Luce, having lost a bid for governor of Texas, nonetheless utilized the so-called Texas miracle to create an industry out of the AP, as a solution to the so-called STEM crisis. Now, they have UTeach, a “graduate school” just like Relay’s on-line parody. See more crisis hyperventilation at: http://www.nms.org/Home.aspx
Reminds me of ministry bureaucrats of country J ordering ban on particular terms such as “sexual slavery” in history textbooks. Speaking of narcissism. It’s very contagenous among politicians.
I am not that sympathetic to the idea of banning the AP US History course, regardless of whether David Coleman is a decent sort who should be in charge of AP. But I DO have a problem with the way AP is used for accreditation points in my state, for example. School districts get points for offering AP, creating an incentive for schools to push these courses on students. It is not right for governments to be involved pushing private products in this way, and that is what it amounts to. So again, while banning AP US History for the stated reasons makes little sense, a questioning of AP in the broader sense does make sense, IMO.
AP Courses are trademarked – syllabus must be approved by CB through their Annual AP Course Audit procedure. They track results for each teacher this way. AP teachers do not HAVE to be certified to teach an AP class — they RECOMMEND teachers take their workshops prior to initiating classroom instruction, but no requirement —( just what the district requires.)
In order for schools to officially use the AP on transcripts etc, each teacher’s course syllabus must be approved annually by CB. Google AP Course Audit and look your school up. Even Virtual School Classes are supposed to be registered.
Follow the AP Playbook, Track the Students by teachers classroom, recognize schools that perform well or increase participation…… HMMMMMM— sound familiar?
AP is the ultimate – TEACH to the TEST setup. Problem is two fold. Kids want to take the highest most challenging courses avail to look good — hoping to score 3,4 or 5 for college credit —- WHILE colleges (selective ones) are finding these courses have not prepared students well for the actual setting. Many have upped their score cutoff to 4 or 5s. Many are forgoing — Dartmouth one of them. Google it.
Here’s one:
http://www.npr.org/2012/12/03/166414595/op-ed-ap-classes-are-a-scam
CollegeBoard tried to get more students enrolled in AP beginning in 2007… unfortunately as that article states – not prepared, dragging others down. CB needed to increase BUSINESS — they were not benefiting enough from this incredibly vast audience. ACT was gaining ground — cutting in on the college entrance test portion of their business.
SOOOO, look at the role CB has played in CC…… they’ve got what they were looking for now!!
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ !!
AP is Common Core – purposefully designed, tracked. CB charges students to take test, to send tests to colleges. CB charges colleges access to their massive data files to target students with mailings based on interests, location, academic success… whatever bucket the school is looking to fill.
CB is rolling in the cashola. DATA is big business. THE BIGGEST!!
In NYS, the schools get credit for the total number of students taking AP exams, regardless of how they do on the test. Not very many kids get a four or a five, and most get a one or a two.
So, when you come down to it, what does it all mean? Is this an educationally sound system?
Status or bragging rights
It is MONEY in CollegeBoard’s pocket. It’s a way to get at the millions of students’ data….. CB sells that data — for mailing from colleges, for tracking teacher’s success in the classroom, for awarding schools who follow that carrot. Just increase participation by x percent and get a point, make their annual kudos list.
All the national rankings Magazines utilize this information as well.
Participation does NOT equal success. Preparation and effort does. Can’t measure that very easily. OH wait — it’s called GRADES. but those aren’t profitable to a NonProfit Company.
it is all about the Money for CB. The new APUSH would require EVERY school in the country to purchase new books, materials etc — It about the Money. Lots and LOTS of $$$$$$$$$
Sharon in NYS
Shh, MathVale, or they’ll be banned, and the irrational numbers along with them! ” Sharon , are those irrational numbers building a coalition with the hysterical suburban moms that Arne Duncan talks about ????
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Texas Education and commented:
This is amazing. Maybe we should ban all forms of curriculum because they are all Un-American!
“The Crackpots”
The crackpots are coming
It’s easy to see
The crackpots are coming
For you and for me
They’ve got their own theories
And got their own facts
And pick their own cherries
And goofballs and quacks
George Carlin wrapped it up so neatly:
“Forget the politicians. The politicians are put there to give you the idea you have freedom of choice. You don’t.
You have no choice. You have owners. They own you. They own everything. They own all the important land, they own and control the corporations that have long since bought and paid for, the senate, the congress, the state houses, the city halls, they got the judges in their back pocket, and they own all the big media companies so they control just about all of the news and the information you get to hear.
They got you by the balls. They spend billions of dollars every year lobbying to get what they want. Well, we know what they want. They want more for themselves and less for everybody else. But I’ll tell you what they don’t want.
They don’t want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking. They don’t want well informed, well educated people capable of critical thinking. They’re not interested in that. That doesn’t help them.”
So very true and equally as sad.
I miss George Carlin….he was right about a lot of things in his own warped way….:-)
I’m not sure about the materialists and secularists being “anti-God” in their curriculum, though our basic concepts of justice and equity are based on the biblical idealism of showing no partiality, bias or favoritism of any sort, to any person, regardless of color or class (and only theism provides the axioms for such equity, not humanism, secularism or post-modernism). If one begins with Darwin, then maybe the rich and powerful can derive some kind of socio-economic “selection” where oppression is rationalized as “competition for capital”, but such values as this are called sin in the Bible. The whole “manifest destiny” fallacy that god somehow preordained Europeans to takeover N America is so unbiblical as to make me nauseous. Love does no harm to its neighbor, and the usurping of others’ lands is theft; no matter how the empire try to rationalize it. The inception, growth and development of the US is another chapter in the “kingdoms of men”, all of which are fallen and corrupt as compared to the perfect Kingdom (with a perfect King).
“I’m not sure about the materialists and secularists being . . . (and only theism provides the axioms for such equity, not humanism, secularism or post-modernism).”
Rick, you can count on me to say bullshit every time you state that your god is the only source for “axioms” and/or ethics & morality.
Overall, you usually have some excellent observations but then skew them (ruin them to me) with this god rationale.
If by unbelief you reject the Divine inspiration of Scripture, I understand, many do. I would only point out that when one studies the moral-ethical code of the Pentateuch one is confronted with something “from another realm”. There is no hint of favoritism, bias, partiality to the rich, powerful, poor, leaders…..no one. Perfect equity and justice is commanded, for loving ones neighbor as oneself means “love does no harm to its neighbor”. While people may not like the penal code, ex. stoning adulterers, the One that inspired it made the punishments severe so that “my people would depart from evil and do justice” (good psychology). Either Moses was on some kind of LSD that enabled him to hallucinate the concepts of universal justice and equity by some mental musings, or God spoke to him, or some kind of amalgamation? The idealism in the OT is so transcendent, so different, so superior to any of the moral codes of the Gentile nations throughout history (not debatable), that our entire foundation of “western” justice is built upon it. I personally don’t think self-centered, pride-filled, oppressive empire-building humans are capable of creating the ethics of the OT, or NT; they are too altruistic, too perfect to be the product of depraved humans (myself included).
If you read the right passage in the Bible where Moses goes up on the mountain to pick up the 10 Commandments from God, it reads like a scene out of a SF film. The mountain is covered in fog/clouds because God doesn’t want anyone but Moses to see Him, and God arrives from Heaven on a pillar of flame that drops into the clouds surrounding the mountain top and then vanishes from sight.
I wonder of a company like SpaceX built that rocket.
Rick,
May I suggest that you read Andre Comte-Sponville’s “A Small Treatise on the Great Virtues” if you haven’t already for a cogent explanation of human good-virtue-without referencing a god. If you’ve read it what are your thoughts?
Thanks,
Duane
Duane, send me your personal email and we can dialogue about the nature of ethics, anthropology, humanity-in-God’s image or ascended primates, and any other topics. I do believe that with starting with “humanity as instinct-driven animal” leads to ethical systems that are contradictory or unreliable. Yes, I’ve read many of the postmodernists, constructivists, French nihilists, and see serious holes in their “epistemological ships”, that cannot float on the sea of realism, IMO.
Reblogged this on justdeeblog and commented:
An Oklahoma legislative committee overwhelmingly voted to ban Advanced Placement U.S. History class, persuaded by the argument that it only teaches students “what is bad about America.” Other lawmakers are seeking a court ruling that would effectively prohibit the teaching of all AP courses in public schools.
Oklahoma Rep. Dan Fisher (R) has introduced “emergency” legislation “prohibiting the expenditure of funds on the Advanced Placement United States History course.” Fisher is part of a group called the “Black Robe Regiment” which argues “the church and God himself has been under assault, marginalized, and diminished by the progressives and secularists.” The group attacks the “false wall of separation of church and state.” The Black Robe Regiment claims that a “growing tide of special interest groups indoctrinating our youth at the exclusion of the Christian perspective.”
Fisher said the Advanced Placement history class fails to teach “American exceptionalism.” The bill passed the Oklahoma House Education committee on Monday on a vote of 11-4. You can read the actual course description for the course here.
For other lawmakers, however, Fisher is thinking too small. Oklahoma Rep. Sally Kern (R) claims that all “AP courses violate the legislation approved last year that repealed Common Core.” She has asked the Oklahoma Attorney General to issue a ruling. Kern argues that “AP courses are similar to Common Core, in that they could be construed as an attempt to impose a national curriculum on American schools.”
Of course, if we start letting legislatures ban curriculum, we are opening Pandora’s Box.
Oops – I think it’s already been opened with controversies over topics such as sex education and evolution.
Before those of us who oppose standardized testing throw our support behind legislation that increases a State’s role in setting educational standards we need to think about how that will play out in places like Oklahoma where legislators are eager to attack the “false wall of separation of church and state”. Here’s hoping our plutocrats who ant to privatize our school and issue vouchers are not supportive of tearing down “this false wall”!
The “false wall of separation of church and state” is an argument that has been practiced and refined by conservative groups for at least the last 30 years, probably 40-50 years. It was one of the main arguments by voucher proponents in the school voucher cases in the late 1990s and early 2000s. (Dr. Ravitch was among the more prominent people who made this argument, and I believe her work was cited by voucher proponents in these cases.)
“it is troubling to see state legislatures deciding questions of history. That is not the right forum. Controversial issues should be resolved by competent scholars”
I will state the obvious, but this is part of the overarching and difficult question of “who shall decide?” On this blog — which is focused largely on the resistance to NCLB, RTTT, and standardized curricula and assessments — this question is usually framed as a choice between national, remote control versus local control, or between control by private entities that are not directly accountable to voters versus control by public entities that are directly accountable to voters. The principles that animate these choices seem to be that (1) control should be allocated in a way that promotes the best decision-making over education policy in a large and diverse society with many different types of schools and students; and (2) those who exercise control should be accountable to the public, consistent with principles of democracy.
So, who shall decide what standards schools will use, what curricula will be used, what tests students will take, how teachers teach? At one end of the spectrum, there is national control, whether exercised by the federal government, or large textbook companies, or nongovernmental academic associations (composed of “competent scholars,” presumably), or some combination of these. At the far other end, there is local control, exercised by individual teachers who decide what material they will teach, how they will teach it, and how they will assess their students. State legislatures are in the middle of this spectrum — they are accountable to voters and more local than the federal government or national nongovernment associations, but they are still relatively remote from classrooms and may not be well-positioned (i.e. knowledgeable enough or qualified) to make these kinds of decisions.
Should individual teachers make all these decisions? Many teachers may share the Oklahoma legislature’s views about what students should be taught. Many elected school boards may share those views, too. Is that a problem?
On the other hand, if “competent scholars” are to decide what students should be taught, who chooses these scholars, and what is their authority? Should states, or school boards, or individual teachers have the right to reject the standards or curricula that are handed down by associations of “competent scholars”?
Good questions.
I think, competent scholars from, let’s say, who grew up in the three states with the highest ratio of Evangelical Protestants: Oklahoma (53%), Arkansas (53%) and Tennessee (51%) when compared to California (18%) or New York state at 11% might have different opinions but still be considered competent in their field depending on their focus.
I think it is arguable that—on average—the environment one grows up in influences their thinking to some extent.
http://religions.pewforum.org/maps
Good post, FLERP. I have no answers. And, by the way, what would determine a competent scholar? It all depends on where they’re funding comes from, right? It’s a hedge maze no matter what.
Steve, most scholars are not “funded.” They are paid by their university.
Decisions about the laws of physics are not left up to government committees (Federal, state or local).
They are left to competent physicists — and, ultimately, to Nature.
The issue facing schools is which of those laws to teach at what age and how to teach them — not the truth of the laws themselves.
Not sure why it should be so very different in an area like history, where there are experts whose job it is to decide what actually happened (not simply what they wish were true).
I think this is not as difficult an issue as some make it out to be.
After all, there is such a thing as “reality” and not all “theories” about the world (and about America) are equally valid.
And whatever else may be true, banning a course because it does not teach “American exceptionalism” is just goofy. That’s not even properly defined. Does that mean American exceptionalism on everything? Clearly, that’s just nonsense.
The issues for schools include what to teach, what grades to teach it in, how to teach it, and how to test it. “Nature” doesn’t make those decisions. Government often does make these decisions, as Oklahoma has most recently shown us. And a lot of these decisions have not been rendered self-evident by experts, especially outside the realm of K-12 physics.
Just as in physics, there are facts, there are facts in history.
The determination of what is factual should not left to government committees.
That’s a fine sentiment — I certainly agree that some things are facts, and that government committees shouldn’t be in the business of deciding what’s a fact and what’s not a fact — but it doesn’t answer the question of who should decide (1) what gets taught, (2) what grades it gets taught in, (3) how it gets taught, and (4) how what’s taught gets tested. Do you think that each of those things should be up to the discretion of individual teachers? Should school administrators have any say? Should school boards have any say?
Technically speaking, members of the Oklahoma legislature are not deciding “what to teach.” They are deciding what not to teach (an entire course), based on their opinion that it only teaches “what is bad about America” and does not teach American exceptionalism.
As I indicated above, I find that goofy.
But if a bunch of legislators want to ban a course who am I to stop them?
Heck, they can also ban AP biology because it only teaches the bad (evolution)and not the good (creationism).
That doesn’t mean I think it’s right, just that I accept that they are entitled to make their own decisions regarding their own state.
Do their students suffer because of such decisions? You betcha.
Talking about things left out – I never learned about the Trail of Tears or the Japanese Internment until I was an adult. What is or isn’t in the curriculum shapes the viewpoints we teach our children.
It’s a form of brainwashing.
As a current APUSH student (who is also enrolled in two other classes and planing to enroll in 4 AP classes next year) I can truthfully say this bill is an insult. The curriculum does not in any way teach “only the bad things about America”. While the course touches on things that are unpleasant everything is objective and shown from many perespecitves because history is not from one perspective. When one goes to college they do not sugar coat anything and that is what this class does, it gives the facts and allows one to decide what they want to. The course still shows the good things America has done and it explains how this country works. If these bills are passed and APUSH, along with other AP classes, are taken out of public schools the students who wish to apply and attend competitive universities no longer have a chance at admission. AP classes are needed for a competitive college application and are a helpful way to cut down on the cost of college by giving students the chance to earn college credit in high school.
Thank you Lauren! It’s great to hear from an actual student. I was going to ask my daughter for her opinions on APUSH. She took the class last year.
I am actually surprised the OK legislators haven’t gone after the AP Global History course. It’s a full two-years’ worth of *indoctrination* about how great other countries are compared to the US! (And yes, that last bit was sarcasm.)
somedam poet: this probably belongs somewhere else but I have lost my place…. • this is the kind of “fight” that I see the schools are in today when we have articles that proclaim : “Our schools are Petri dishes of vice: impiety, lust, spiritual sloth, ambition, and avarice” …
it brings to mind one of my favorite teacher/authors David Foster Wallace when he wrote about the trivium quadrivium; (on my last busman’s holiday I went to the Harry Ransom Center at U .Austin TX but the archives where his materials are stored were closed for the holidays and I had to get back to Boston)…. To put it in the more particular context of my neighborhood, I was envious of my significant other who could go to Holy Cross (even though he was a commuter student and not an “on campus” student much to his chagrin )… the women in his family and myself all went to the teacher’s college across town where the tuition was $100 /year. He could still recite Robert Burns’ poetry up until the age of 80 when he died. Why am I envious? I certainly had great privileges to go to college at all; my sister went full time to BU on a church scholarship; another sister went to BU one year and couldn’t raise the tuition for the next 3 years so I settled for my local version (and lived at home)…. To put the personal into the more general context of today…. It would be fabulous if I could teach “close reading” to the students in the high school who are ready for it and have some experiential knowledge as a base but in classes of such huge size I don’t think I could do it… I told my friends in a similar vent I have been known to teach first grade classes of 40 but as soon as you add a child with a breathing tube i lose my capability and I need a nurse to consult…. The standards are marvelous if they are appropriate for a student and if we give teachers the resources to pull it off. I know you agree with these things Somedam poet and you always reduce it to “WISDOM’ which is what we have always demanded of our bards…. thanks for what you do
A LOT OF TALKING ABOVE, FINE. wHAT YOU’RE NOT SAYING IS HOW DANGEROUS AND STUPID, YES STUPID, 99% OF REPUBLICANS ARE! THAT IS PRECISELY THE SOURSE OF PROPOSED CHANGES. aDDITIONALLY, AM I GLAD THE WE DON’T LIVE IN SUCH A BACKEARD STATE!