Oklahoma State Superintendent To Meet With GOP'ers Trying To Ban AP US History Classes

[big_dog]

Source: Talking Points Memo Feb. 18, 2015, 11:09 AM EST

The Oklahoma state superintendent plans on meeting with state Rep. Dan Fisher (R), the lawmaker who sponsored a bill that would eliminate funding for AP U.S. History. Superintendent Joy Hofmeister did not take a stance on the bill, but her spokesman, Phil Bacharach, told Oklahoma Watch that she wants to discuss Fisher's concerns about the bill.

"I know she is withholding her judgment until she meets with him," Bacharach said. "Obviously, it’s gotten some attention." The bill sponsored by Fisher would keep the state from funding AP U.S. History classes unless the College Board changes the course framework. The legislation also calls for the state's Department of Education to develop a U.S. History curriculum that would replace the AP course.

Fisher believes that the new course framework released by the College Board in 2012 presents a negative view of American history. "In essence, we have a new emphasis on what is bad about America," Fisher said about the AP framework on Tuesday. &quot The new framework) trades an emphasis on America's founding principles of Constitutional government in favor of robust analyses of gender and racial oppression and class ethnicity and the lives of marginalized people, where the emphasis on instruction is of America as a nation of oppressors and exploiters."

Since the College Board released the new framework, conservatives have decried the course as negative and unpatriotic. The Republican National Committee, as well as numerous states, have condemned the revised coursework.


Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/oklahoma-ap-history-superintendent

[longship]

1. Let me guess...

The AP History curriculum needs... (wait for it)

MOAR RELIGION!!!!!

I would guess that's it. Can hardly wait for my prediction to be confirmed.

Stupid, theocratic GOP.

[big_dog]

2. fear the reaper!

of brand spanking new textbooks

[xocet]

20. Here is some of the background information....Beck, Barton, Fisher, Muhlenberg's Robe, etc....

Dan Fisher, a Patriot/Pastor/OK-R State Representative Extraordinaire, wants to bring back the "Black Robed Regiment": he even has his own "history" books for sale....



http://www.bringingbacktheblackrobedregiment.com/dan-fisher.html

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=1017019

[longship]

21. Like I wrote. Bring more religion into history.

Most specifically, the incredibly warped universe of fundamentalist Christianity.

The problem is... That is exactly what the GOP has become, a cabal of theocratic Christians. We let these people obtain power at our collective peril.

WAIT A FUCKING MINUTE!

We DID let these idiot assholes gain power. Over and over again.

People are so stupid that they will wring their hands about ISIS and at the same time elect Christian theocrats to office.

[xocet]

32. Exactly...

[Marthe48]

3. U.S. is a nation of 1% oppressors/exploiters

and we don't need to be a 'marginalized people' to know that!

[gholtron]

4. So the GOP don't like the way their grandfathers treated other people

Now they want to re-write history

[Bandit]

9. apparently they don't think the way some were treated should ever be discussed

Slavery should NEVER be mentioned as a bad thing and neither should the destruction of the indigenous people. It isn't patriotic to mention such things..

[erronis]

16. Perfect call.

[C_U_L8R]

5. Apparently they want to raise children dumb enough

to watch Fox and vote Republican.
As pathetic as Republicans make themselves,
they really are rather funny.
Perhaps if they believed in evolution,
they'd realize the fool's errand they're on.

[Runningdawg]

8. They homeschool

their children already get the "correct" history SMH
Their kids are so dumb and so anti-social they can't get a job, the only way they can succeed is to dumb YOUR kids down even further.

[erronis]

17. They really are rather funny

If we still have a way to compare them to normal rational people.

"Git all them children indoctrinated into the Right Way and we won't have to worry none bout those librals anymore."

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

6. The truth hurts. The TRUTH!

They can all get bent.

[RationalMan]

7. Once again conservatives do not like "facts".......

Based on a Christian belief that America is the new "promised land", the "shining city on a hill", conservatives wrap themselves in American exceptionalism and the American flag.

I love my country and choose to live here but I am not fooled into believing we are somehow exceptional or that we are better than any other country or that God blesses us more than any other nation.

It is time that we accept the fact that the first European settlers began a 4 century long campaign of death and oppression of the native Americans who were here long before them. It is time we accept that Christians, using the Bible as a shield, oppressed and enslaved millions of African-Americans and the poor (poor houses).

It is time we accept the fact that "owners" subjugated free men workers on their farms and plantations and in their sweat shops. Europeans seeking opportunity in America often found themselves living in crowded, disease-infested hovels in cities like New York, Boston, Baltimore, etc. They worked for slave wages. It wasn't until the strength of unions forced their hand did the wealthy begin to pay men a fair wage.

There has been a systematic oppression of women and minorities generally.

We have allied ourselves with the worst of the worst

We have also done many good things. Americans are a very generous people. We saved Europe from itself twice and defeated Japan in WWII. Our people have led in innovation, medicine, etc. We have been a force for good at the same time we have our dark history.

It is time we had a fair and balanced account of our history just as we expect Germany to teach children about their dark Nazi past.

[erronis]

18. +1 - and now 99.9% are being subjugated.

[muntrv]

10. Dan Fisher wants to deny slavery and Jim Crow segregation. Amurka is happyland, according to him.

[turbinetree]

11. Created

This is the same yahoo's that have a nation of first people (Cherokee my heritage) and there descendants living in Oklahoma today because of a systematic oppression caused by the white guy's wanting there land back east in the mid and early 1800's so they were forced off there land and marched to some piece of land (Trail of Tears) that had nothing, what part of American history doesn't this hypocrite understand

[BumRushDaShow]

12. They spent hundreds of years teaching bullshit

about Columbus sailing the ocean blue and George Washington never telling a lie and chopping down cherry trees, and happy "darkie" slaves "singin' roun' the slave cabins", and other nonsense. Time to purge the fantasies of these people whose ancestors weren't even here until the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and who are the very ones who whine the most about what happened in this country before their families got off the boat.

And the irony is that their insistence on focusing on "the Constitution" is comical, as they are the very ones doing everything in their power to undermine the tricameral system that was created, in order to destroy a black President.

[FSogol]

13. +1 n/t

[erronis]

19. Maybe, some day, not in the too distant future

We can rid this country of the white bigots like the whole of the GOP (group of plutocrats?)

However, I think the nature of the beast is to be tribal/familial/racial and whatever replaces the recent interlopers (since 1492) will probably have some of the same meanness.

[BumRushDaShow]

24. They prefer to gloss over certain facts

including incidents that happened right here in the City of Brotherly Love (and Sisterly Affection), the cradle of this great nation -

In 1844 - The Nativist Riots in Philadelphia



The city, you see, was becoming "too Irish" and "too Catholic".

This type of stuff looks oddly familiar -



Nowadays, they have co-opted the rhetoric, adapted it to fit their own biases, and re-purposed it for the modern era.

[Roland99]

14. If I was the superintendent, it would be one helluva short meeting!

"SHUT. THE. FUCK. UP. You embarrassing fucking moron!"

[DisgustipatedinCA]

22. Damn right.

These idiots need to be ridiculed over and over and over, as publicly as possible.

[Roland99]

30. +a brazillion

[wolfie001]

15. Good luck reasoning with those slack-jawed GOoPers.

waste of time......

[displacedtexan]

23. So... No one in Oklahoma wants to go to Harvard any longer?

Unintended consequences will bite those pig ignorant morons in the ass.

[Paladin]

26. Suits me---more room at Harvard for my grandkids.

Boomer Sooner, boneheads......

[displacedtexan]

28. Mine, too!

It'll be interesting to watch the Backpedal Two-Step begin once the state's parents figure out that this just screws their kids.

[V0ltairesGh0st]

25. Couldn't help but remember this OzzY song

It's just so appropriate for the fascist/religious/police state we are all being forced into.

"Rock 'N' Roll Rebel"

[Osbourne]

They couldn't see what I thought would be so obvious
They hide behind the laws they made for all of us
The ministry of truth that deals with pretense
The ministry of peace that sits on defense
I'm washing my hands of what they're trying to do
It's for me, it's for me, it's for you, it's for you

I'm just a rock 'n' roll rebel
I'll tell you no lies
They say I worship the devil
They must be stupid or blind



I'm just a rock 'n' roll rebel

They live a life of fear and insecurity
And all you do is pay for their prosperity
The ministry of fear that won't let you live
The ministry of grace that doesn't forgive
Do what you will to try and make me conform
I'll make you wish that you had never been born

Cause I'm a rock 'n' roll rebel
I'll do what I please
Yes I'm a rock 'n' roll rebel
And I'm as free as the breeze
I'm just a rock 'n' roll rebel

They'll try playin' win your heart
They know it rules your head
If they could read between the lines
You know they'd see the real day

God only knows why they couldn't see the obvious
Is it because they manifest the incubus
The ministry of war that got caught in the draft
The ministry of joy that still hasn't laughed
When it's all boiled down and the day's at an end
I'll give you no bullshit and I'll never pretend

Cause I'm a rock 'n' roll rebel
I'll tell you no lies
They say I worship the devil
Why don't they open their eyes
I'm just a rock 'n' roll rebel
A rock 'n' roll rebel
I'm just a rock 'n' roll rebel

[Ramses]

27. dan fisher is everything that is wrong in America

Fishers politics belong in Fascist Italy.

[Judi Lynn]

31. He's hideous, ignorant, unstable. Good old Rep. Pastor Dan Fisher, public servant.

Why would anyone want this clown making decisions for him/her, ever?

[center]





[/center]

[DeSwiss]

29. K&R

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

33. What does

AP stand for?

[deurbano]

34. Advanced Placement

These are college level classes taught in high school.

[deurbano]

35. My 16-year-old is taking APUSH this year.

I'm not getting the controversy. Yes, the material is less jingoistic than what I studied in the Dark Ages of my youth, but it doesn't seem radically different from what my adult daughter learned in US History 25 years ago. (Okay, we do live in San Francisco...)

I do question the desirability of the rise and pervasiveness of AP classes, in general. They seem designed to kill all interest in the topics studied. My son took AP World last year. Yikes! A huge test at the end of the year covering all of human history for the entire planet! (At least APUSH has more manageable parameters...) And a lot of the preparation involves learning how to take the test, itself, especially the dreaded DBQ. (Sadly, I now know what that stands for.) My son did get a 5--which is good-- but only about 6% of the kids who took it last year achieved that. The whole thing just seems like a money making racket that needlessly stresses kids out for dubious results. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2011-08-18/not-for-profit-college-board-getting-rich-as-fees-hit-students
(And then there is the question of unequal access, since taking AP classes can provide an advantage in college admissions.)

On the positive side, the UC California system gives credit for all AP classes-- I think if the kid gets a 3 or higher. (Not all colleges are that generous, though.) So, if the AP classes don't kill kids in the short term, it might save them money in the long term. Based on what he has already taken and what he is planning to take next year, my son will probably have a year's worth of college credit coming out of high school. (Since his life expectancy has been shortened, it's good he's getting out of college faster, anyway.)

[woodsprite]

36. My daughter was lucky. The PTA paid for any of the kids who were in AP classes

to take the test. Parents fully expected to have to pay, but the PTA funded it. It will be interesting. I have 7 years between kids. My son is gearing up to take AP US History next year. I wonder if we'll notice a difference from when my daughter had it. I remember being pleased that their summer assignment was to visit the Constitution Center. We had a liberal guide who was a gem to talk/ask questions of. We were just gearing up for the election and much of their display was on voter rights/suppression.

[Paladin]

37. Think of the companies who were thinking of opening offices in Oklahoma......

....and will now open those offices in Denver, Dallas or Phoenix. There is nothing of more long-term importance to potential employees than the quality of their children's education. What a huge fuck-up by Oklahoma.