HISTORY WITH AN AGENDA: Conservatives who claim the AP U.S. History curriculum is un-American are simply trying to censor facts and rewrite history with their own agenda. Cartoon by Phineas Alexander
By LOUISE PLATTER – Print Editor-in-Chief
There’s nothing un-American about the Advanced Placement United States History Curriculum.
When I took Advanced Placement United States History as a junior, I was prepared to be thoroughly bored. I like history, to an extent, but something about the idea of spending 70 minutes in a plastic chair listening to someone drone on about the Founding Fathers didn’t particularly appeal to me.
I couldn’t have been more wrong.
My teacher, former CCHS social studies department teacher Harry Cooper, brought the history of the United States to life. I looked forward to going to class just to hear him talk about battles and politicians and everything in between that made up the fabric of what he considered to be a proud history.
The way Mr. Cooper taught made it clear that he loves America, and his passion was infectious. Though at times his viewpoint was more conservative than mine, I could have listened to him talk about it for hours.
But here’s the thing: I learned the facts. I would be lying if I said there was no slant to the class. You can’t teach history effectively without some interpretation on your own part, but never, at any point, did I feel like I was being indoctrinated.
Several state legislatures, Georgia’s included, have raised concerns that the College Board’s curriculum for AP US History is “leftist” and, in the words of Georgia State senator William Ligon (R-Brunswick), “minimizes America’s attributes yet maximizes her flaws.”
Ligon’s proposed solution?
Senate Resolution 80 (SR-80). This document hopes to compel the College Board to change its curriculum.
The resolution actually reads “Demanding revision by the College Board of Advanced Placement U.S. History.”
So what specifically is Ligon so afraid of?
In his editorial published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, he objects to the inclusion of terms such as “big business” rather than “free enterprise.” Ligon also laments the way that the concept of Manifest Destiny (you know, the ideal that forced Native Americans to relocate from their homelands, killing thousands) is not presented as “America’s commitment to expand democratic ideals.”
You know what scares me?
The idea of an entire generation being taught American history through rose-colored glasses, which seems to be exactly what Ligon’s resolution is asking for.
Mr. Cooper is living proof that American history doesn’t have to be “leftist” to be balanced, and there is nothing unpatriotic about acknowledging that, as a country, the United States of America has a fraught history, with both dark moments and proud ones.
What Ligon is really worried about, buried under the guise of fear of the “liberal agenda”, is students looking at their history with a critical eye and refusing to accept the time-honored narrative of the great melting pot.
What Ligon, and the entire Georgia General Assembly need to realize is that knowledge is not the enemy. SR-80 is not going to clean up the skeletons in our country’s closet.
A generation of students who know their true history–highs and lows–and are armed with the tools to create a brighter future is what we need.
Shame on the state legislators, like Ligon, who would rather lie about the past then focus on the future.
