The Oklahoma state legislature has overwhelmingly (11-4) approved a bill that would cut funding for the teaching of Advanced Placement U.S. History because the class is representing the nation in a negative light instead of focusing on American exceptionalism. The bill’s author, Republican Rep. Dan Fisher, said the course focuses on “what is bad about America”, so the state will develop its own version of the Advanced Placement U.S. History if the College Board does not make changes that would give teachers more freedom to cover important concepts in American history.
During Monday’s legislative hearing, the bill’s author Republican Rep. Dan Fisher, said the course focuses on “what is bad about America”. According to the new bill, the curriculum must include many of the “founding documents” of the nation, as well as those relating to the “foundation or maintenance of the representative form of limited government, the free-market economic system and American exceptionalism”.
The idea of “American exceptionalism” was defined by the Time magazine in 1988 as “the divine dispensation that the nation thought it enjoyed in the world”, so it means that America is special.
Oklahoma is not the only state that criticized the new course framework after it’s introduction this past fall and conservative activists said since the beginning that it spreads anti-American biases. The Republican National Committee adopted a resolution in August last year, condemning the course by claiming it “reflects a radically revisionist view of American history that emphasizes negative aspects of our nation’s history while omitting or minimizing positive aspects.”
Advanced Placement U.S. History courses are developed by a private group, the College Board, and are not required of any student or high school, but are the primary way that student can earn college credit in high school. The class is generally seen as a prerequisite to admission to elite colleges. The framework was authored by U.S. History teachers and college-level U.S. history professors and over 460,000 students throughout the country took the AP U.S. History exam in May 2014.