Changes to AP U.S. History due to Conservatives

[Guest]

People are told that social studies teachers are going to "indoctrinate" their children and they are looking for it. Add in that kids don't ever tell the whole story and parents will find something to whine about. As an example of that, one parent who called to complain that there was an Obama bumper sticker on my bulletin board had not been told by her kid that there was a McCain one next to it. And she did back down when I told her that. But she (and her teen) were looking for something to fuss about. Sadly, in many ways (not just social studies and politics) our culture has created a mentality where parents believe teachers are the enemy out to hurt or damage their kids.

So much this. I know that here in Kansas teachers are leaving in droves because our governor keeps cutting education and refuses to see teaching as a respectable profession, like so many others.

[Toothfairy]

Are conservatives scared that the upcoming younger generation of young adults won't vote Republican? Or won't join the Republican party? Keeping information from them won't help. I remember finding out the true Columbus and now I still hate Columbus Day.

[twinmama]

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2015/07/30/3686060/conservatives-get-major-win-fight-ap-history-classes/

The college board made some changes to AP U.S. History due to demands from Conservatives. In 2014, it focused on too many negative aspects of U.S. History and will now include American Exceptionalism.

The part that scares me the most is that Texas will no longer include Ku Klux Klan or Jim Crow laws in history textbooks. Many United States textbooks come from Texas.

I don't want to jump right to Godwin-ing, but good lord does American Exceptionalism sound like something Hitler would love (obviously not American tho).

[laPapessaGiovanna]

I don't want to jump right to Godwin-ing, but good lord does American Exceptionalism sound like something Hitler would love (obviously not American tho).

Or Mao, Stalin, Pinochet, Tito, Mussolini...etc. nearly every dictator preaches the supposed superiority of a race, a nation, a religion or an idea.

[Anny Nym]

People are told that social studies teachers are going to "indoctrinate" their children and they are looking for it. Add in that kids don't ever tell the whole story and parents will find something to whine about. As an example of that, one parent who called to complain that there was an Obama bumper sticker on my bulletin board had not been told by her kid that there was a McCain one next to it. And she did back down when I told her that. But she (and her teen) were looking for something to fuss about. Sadly, in many ways (not just social studies and politics) our culture has created a mentality where parents believe teachers are the enemy out to hurt or damage their kids.

Isn´t that issue a bit of a double-edged sword ?

What if the teacher IS teaching "American exceptionalism� For sure you would want to have a say in this too as a parent.

While I consider myself quite liberal, I too do keep up the old tradition of close monitoring my children´s teacher.

There defnitely is no need to round them up (yet ;) ) and to give them any dreadful " You tell me first what you are going to tell them!" treatment like the really eager ones do, but we keep an eye on it as parents.

No offence on you or any other education professionals reading this, but it´s normal a teacher has to earn his/her stripes first and if there is a working communicative base established between teacher and parent, this won´t cause any problems imho.

[louisa05]

Isn´t that issue a bit of a double-edged sword ?

What if the teacher IS teaching "American exceptionalism� For sure you would want to have a say in this too as a parent.

While I consider myself quite liberal, I too do keep up the old tradition of close monitoring my children´s teacher.

There defnitely is no need to round them up (yet ;) ) and to give them any dreadful " You tell me first what you are going to tell them!" treatment like the really eager ones do, but we keep an eye on it as parents.

No offence on you or any other education professionals reading this, but it´s normal a teacher has to earn his/her stripes first and if there is a working communicative base established between teacher and parent, this won´t cause any problems imho.

No. I would not "closely monitor" my child's teacher. Nor do I consider that any sort of a "tradition".

Firstly, teachers do not make the curriculum. State standards, Common Core, school boards and everyone/everything else determine curriculum these days. If you want to monitor the curriculum, most schools will provide you with the curriculum outlines that the teachers are given (and obligated to follow).

So if, keeping with the example that started the thread, a history teacher is teaching American Exceptionalism, it is likely that someone else placed it in the curriculum and the teacher must cover it in some way in order to retain his/her job. (Since I can tell you first hand the difficulty of getting a job outside of teaching if that has been your long term career, I do not begrudge any teacher who chooses to go along and get along and thus keep his or her job). Attacking the teacher for it being in the curriculum would accomplish nothing. If a parent wanted to ask questions, the better question would be "how are you approaching this?". If I were forced as an American history teacher to include it, I would introduce it as a theory/ideology and open the idea to debate. If I were a parent and my student was being taught it without any debate, I would have that discussion at home and perhaps ask the teacher if the students have been allowed or encouraged to question the idea.

What I would never do is attack the teacher. For anything short of abusive behavior toward a student. And in the current climate, I don't know a single teacher who is not verbally attacked multiple times a year by parents, often for things beyond their control or because of students telling half the story. The mother who called about the Obama sticker on the bulletin board did not say "I was wondering if you are presenting both sides to the students in regard to the presidential election". She said "Why the f*ck do you have an Obama sticker in the room? I don't want my daughter indoctrinated by liberals!". No one in any setting should be talked to like that.

[Anny Nym]

No. I would not "closely monitor" my child's teacher. Nor do I consider that any sort of a "tradition".

Firstly, teachers do not make the curriculum. State standards, Common Core, school boards and everyone/everything else determine curriculum these days. If you want to monitor the curriculum, most schools will provide you with the curriculum outlines that the teachers are given (and obligated to follow).

So if, keeping with the example that started the thread, a history teacher is teaching American Exceptionalism, it is likely that someone else placed it in the curriculum and the teacher must cover it in some way in order to retain his/her job. (Since I can tell you first hand the difficulty of getting a job outside of teaching if that has been your long term career, I do not begrudge any teacher who chooses to go along and get along and thus keep his or her job). Attacking the teacher for it being in the curriculum would accomplish nothing. If a parent wanted to ask questions, the better question would be "how are you approaching this?". If I were forced as an American history teacher to include it, I would introduce it as a theory/ideology and open the idea to debate. If I were a parent and my student was being taught it without any debate, I would have that discussion at home and perhaps ask the teacher if the students have been allowed or encouraged to question the idea.

What I would never do is attack the teacher. For anything short of abusive behavior toward a student. And in the current climate, I don't know a single teacher who is not verbally attacked multiple times a year by parents, often for things beyond their control or because of students telling half the story. The mother who called about the Obama sticker on the bulletin board did not say "I was wondering if you are presenting both sides to the students in regard to the presidential election". She said "Why the f*ck do you have an Obama sticker in the room? I don't want my daughter indoctrinated by liberals!". No one in any setting should be talked to like that.

Maybe a poor choice of words on my side or maybe it is just my POV. Maybe even "cultural". Probably all of it together. Curriculums ( or "year plans") for the upcoming school year are handed out by the PTA to the parents before the begin of it, I don´t know it any other way and frankly I wouldn´t want it any other way.

Of course it´s the state, the education ministry/office/board, who makes the curriculum in theory.

But it´s always the teacher conducting it. It´s in his/her power what to empathize and what not to.

And this could conflict with what the parents wish to empathize more or less - if it isn´t talked over beforehand.

A teacher can´t "just go on and teach" and curse that darn parents not letting him. That is not how it works.

I´m with you so far as to open a idea to debate, to introduce certain subjects as theories/ideologies, putting them into context, drawing a bigger picture etc. My favorite teachers for e.g. always did exactly that, they were usually also the ones favoured by the parents.

However if I would find out anything controversial to be taught as a mere fact or that a teacher might act on one´s own authority regarding any sensible topics, I for sure would be standing on that teacher´s doormat the same day.

And that´s why I think a close PTA connection or "monitoring" is so important imho. As is to talk over sensible topics befor they are discussed in the classroom to make sure you have all parents well-informed to prevent anyone feeling patronized. My mom was a PTA spokesperson, both at our school and supraregional as well as on the school board for many years. I never really understood why she always stressed the importance of beforhand communication on certain topics so much. Now, as I am getting gradually involved in my own children´s PTAs more and more (and they are still quite young), I do.

No Louisa05, nobody should be spoken to in this manner as this certain mother did. That is unacceptable. But it seems there are alot of parents not speaking to the teachers at all at your school? Wasn´t there any PTA meeting, conference,... regarding how to handle that topic in class?

[Discobiscuits]

I find it ironic that the group who complains the most about political correctness is suddenly on end when they want the facts made to be more sensitive (read: Falsified) for their jingoist founding father tears.

[louisa05]

Maybe a poor choice of words on my side or maybe it is just my POV. Maybe even "cultural". Probably all of it together. Curriculums ( or "year plans") for the upcoming school year are handed out by the PTA to the parents before the begin of it, I don´t know it any other way and frankly I wouldn´t want it any other way.

Of course it´s the state, the education ministry/office/board, who makes the curriculum in theory.

But it´s always the teacher conducting it. It´s in his/her power what to empathize and what not to.

And this could conflict with what the parents wish to empathize more or less - if it isn´t talked over beforehand.

A teacher can´t "just go on and teach" and curse that darn parents not letting him. That is not how it works.

I´m with you so far as to open a idea to debate, to introduce certain subjects as theories/ideologies, putting them into context, drawing a bigger picture etc. My favorite teachers for e.g. always did exactly that, they were usually also the ones favoured by the parents.

However if I would find out anything controversial to be taught as a mere fact or that a teacher might act on one´s own authority regarding any sensible topics, I for sure would be standing on that teacher´s doormat the same day.

And that´s why I think a close PTA connection or "monitoring" is so important imho. As is to talk over sensible topics befor they are discussed in the classroom to make sure you have all parents well-informed to prevent anyone feeling patronized. My mom was a PTA spokesperson, both at our school and supraregional as well as on the school board for many years. I never really understood why she always stressed the importance of beforhand communication on certain topics so much. Now, as I am getting gradually involved in my own children´s PTAs more and more (and they are still quite young), I do.

No Louisa05, nobody should be spoken to in this manner as this certain mother did. That is unacceptable. But it seems there are alot of parents not speaking to the teachers at all at your school? Wasn´t there any PTA meeting, conference,... regarding how to handle that topic in class?

We "monitor" criminals and people who are a danger to themselves or society. Not adult professionals doing their jobs. Your position is the increasingly default position of parents which is that teachers are simply not to be trusted. Why not take the position that you trust your child's teachers until they give you reason not to? Why start from the assumption that they are automatically going to fail you and your child and you must be on guard for it to happen? In the end, you are buying the new narrative that the majority of teachers are incompetent. I have literally known maybe two actually incompetent teachers in over 20 years in education. And both left the profession quickly on their own accord.

And, no, in most public schools, teachers no longer have a choice about what to emphasize in the curriculum. Those choices are made for them by outside groups. Even in a private school, I had to teach to state mandated standards which very specifically proscribed what was taught and what was skipped in American history. In the elementaries I sub in now, teachers are given week by week curriculum outlines that say exactly what must be taught and when it must be taught. In middle and high school, those outlines are based on the quarter, but include specific projects that must be assigned--the teachers are not even developing major assignments on their own.

Your accusation that neither I nor my school communicated with parents could not be more wrong. The assumption you make, which anyone who has been in the classroom for more than a semester would laugh sadly about, is that all parents are showing up and being engaged with their child's school. However, it is the on guard parents (like you confess to being) who do the attacking. They are the ones who are waiting for teachers to fail, damage their kids, show bias, be unfair, or whatever. The parents who are never engaged in the first place are rarely the ones calling or showing up angry. Sadly, parents will sit at parents night and hear about the class and projects, take home the syllabus, read the State Standards for the course, follow the class webpage, and still call or show up screaming bloody murder because they don't like something or they or their child misinterpreted something. When you are a self appointed monitor of failure, after all, you haven't succeeded until you find it and confront it.

[VelociRapture]

My sister teaches. The worst accusation I know of that a parent made against her was calling our Uncle's house (thinking it was our parents' home) and accusing her of being racist.

My sister is white. This student is Black. The mother made the accusation because my sister told the student she wasn't going on a Field Trip. . . that she never turned in a permission slip for despite the fact that my sister made numerous announcements and sent home several reminders. :angry-banghead:

Her school district also recently joined Common Core (I think.) They don't have the money to buy the novels required though. . . so they aren't teaching novels and are simply telling teachers to rely on the textbooks. My sister supplements with required reading projects where her kids pick a book to read and write a report on. . . but it is not the same. She's frustrated and the kids are upset because the novels actually interested them.

This sort of news really bothers me. I hate the idea that my kids are going to run the risk of receiving a sub-par education because people who have no fucking clue about educating children are calling the shots. Hopefully I can stay home with them for a bit and help supplement their educations through trips to museums, educational videos regarding the truth, and providing age-appropriate reading materials.

[Anny Nym]

We "monitor" criminals and people who are a danger to themselves or society. Not adult professionals doing their jobs. Your position is the increasingly default position of parents which is that teachers are simply not to be trusted. Why not take the position that you trust your child's teachers until they give you reason not to? Why start from the assumption that they are automatically going to fail you and your child and you must be on guard for it to happen? In the end, you are buying the new narrative that the majority of teachers are incompetent. I have literally known maybe two actually incompetent teachers in over 20 years in education. And both left the profession quickly on their own accord.

And, no, in most public schools, teachers no longer have a choice about what to emphasize in the curriculum. Those choices are made for them by outside groups. Even in a private school, I had to teach to state mandated standards which very specifically proscribed what was taught and what was skipped in American history. In the elementaries I sub in now, teachers are given week by week curriculum outlines that say exactly what must be taught and when it must be taught. In middle and high school, those outlines are based on the quarter, but include specific projects that must be assigned--the teachers are not even developing major assignments on their own.

Your accusation that neither I nor my school communicated with parents could not be more wrong. The assumption you make, which anyone who has been in the classroom for more than a semester would laugh sadly about, is that all parents are showing up and being engaged with their child's school. However, it is the on guard parents (like you confess to being) who do the attacking. They are the ones who are waiting for teachers to fail, damage their kids, show bias, be unfair, or whatever. The parents who are never engaged in the first place are rarely the ones calling or showing up angry. Sadly, parents will sit at parents night and hear about the class and projects, take home the syllabus, read the State Standards for the course, follow the class webpage, and still call or show up screaming bloody murder because they don't like something or they or their child misinterpreted something. When you are a self appointed monitor of failure, after all, you haven't succeeded until you find it and confront it.

Maybe I should have used "looking over the shoulder" instead of "monitor"...

Louisa, if I would completely mistrust a teacher per default, I wouldn´t have either choosen that school or have my child placed in another group. Or even opted for homeschooling. This is certainly not the case.

However trust is -imho- as much of a obligation to deliver as to collect and it´s my child and my child´s education I am trusting someone else with. That is a very big thing and of course I want to know who that is and what she does all school-day long.

We seem to simply have very different experiences and opinions on what teachers can and cannot do in the class room and how far parental engagement should go.

For example, what you call "a assumption ... which anyone who has been in the classroom for more than a semester would laugh sadly about" is in fact not only higly engaged in DD1´s school and in DD2´s kindergarten - it is expected.

In DD1´s case, "Elternpartizipation" /"parental participation" is even a school ground rule. You just can´t just not show up or refuse to get engaged. That is not a option and we picked that school out, partly because of that concept (among many other reasons, like we actually DO trust them :) )

Sorry, but we probably could only agree on the point that we disagree.

[sawasdee]

The teaching profession has been steadily declining in public esteem for the last forty years - not only in the US, but also in Europe. I think there are two main reasons for this - a general decline in respect for all authority figures, and a more and more centralized curriculum, which prevents gifted teachers using imagination and inspiration to engage their pupils. Many truly good teachers have just up and left, where they no longer had any discretion in how they approached a subject. I feel myself very fortunate to have been educated in the public school system of 1960s UK high school - we had teachers who had us write a diary of our passage on the Mayflower, and our first year in the New World, and taught us the rules of an 18th century duel as we read Sheridan's The Rivals. This, by the way, was at the age 13. At nine. at my primary (elementary) school in London's very poor East End, we had a grand time with Macbeth - murders, ghosts, witches - what more could a kid want? (And it's Shakespeare's shortest play!) We were too young to know we weren't supposed to enjoy it!

These experiences, among others, made me love literature, and taught me how to research in a library, and put me on the road to critical thinking. Unfortunately, any teacher in England now straying so far from curricula and set test goals would probably not last.....poor kids.

[FloraKitty35]

People are told that social studies teachers are going to "indoctrinate" their children and they are looking for it. Add in that kids don't ever tell the whole story and parents will find something to whine about. As an example of that, one parent who called to complain that there was an Obama bumper sticker on my bulletin board had not been told by her kid that there was a McCain one next to it. And she did back down when I told her that. But she (and her teen) were looking for something to fuss about. Sadly, in many ways (not just social studies and politics) our culture has created a mentality where parents believe teachers are the enemy out to hurt or damage their kids.

It's not only Social Studies or Government classes that they (the kids and the parents) bitch about "indoctrination". I subbed for a high school math class just before Xmas last year, and one of the students complained that having to take an algebra I test was just another form of liberal Obama indoctrination. :roll: