^^no doubt that every school district could use a bit more of the r’s (and a little less social stuff)… 
I agree it’s up to the citizens of Oklahoma but that doesn’t preclude non Oklahomans having an opinion on the merits of their decision.
The bill also failed to factor in the enormous cost to universities and students that stem from having to offer more sections of intro US history.
^ I don’t think they care about the cost as it would be unlikely they would increase the university systems budget to compensate for the elimination of APUSH (or other AP classes.)
@xiggi: Please be careful with your generalizations. I’m a lifelong Oklahoma resident, and nothing about this bill is “ok” with me. My 3 Rs are pretty solid, as well. 
I recently read a book called “The Imperial Cruise”. The author seems to say he tries to expose a dark part of American history that is never discussed.
Any one happens to read that book also?
Is the author’s point of view too extreme? He seems to paint a picture of how many offsprings of the rich and powerful at that time became the ruling class of our country between 1860 and 1910 (T. Roosevelt era.) There were all kinds of “wrong doing” in the upbringing of these rich/powerful people. They became our country’s leaders anyway due to their family connections. They led the country to the wrong direction while utilizing the “cover-up” strategies to fool the general population to their advantage. (most of the population seem to be easily fooled or unable/powerless to do anything about it.) It is more about the foreign policy at that time though.
The story about Alice Roosevelt, the D of T. Roosevelt, in that book is interesting (if true.)
This is another reason why it was worth spending all of that money to send my kids to private schools. We never had to endure debates over the merits of challenging the students with AP courses. This is an embarrassment for such a great state to raise a family.
“This is another reason why it was worth spending all of that money to send my kids to private schools. We never had to endure debates over the merits of challenging the students with AP courses. This is an embarrassment for such a great state to raise a family.”
I don’t think this debate they are having is over the merits of challenging the students by offering AP classes. They propose an alternative framework for advanced US History. Many excellent districts, Scarsdale, for instance, has stopped offering AP classes and have substituted their own curriculum for those advanced classes. My son’s private school offered only a few AP courses and instead had University in the Classroom courses and the kids also went to the Community College (conveniently located right next to his school’s campus) for other courses. My son didn’t take any AP courses in high school. They also have decided to adapt only parts of the Common Core but are not going to participate in any of the CC testing. The kids do not take NYS Regent exams, either.
I think the problem is what Oklahoma is proposing to teach in their advanced US History class, rather than the elimination of AP. That being said, I am sure a big factor for a lot of people in Oklahoma will be that they will not have the ability to earn college credits by taking AP classes which will be harmful to those looking to cut the cost of college tuition. For kids whose parents can afford private schools this is not that much of an issue.
The big factor here for Oklahomans (and it should be a concern for people in other states) is the promotion of “American Exceptionalism” as the new Manifest Destiny. The former is just as misguided and wrong as the latter, and the furtherance of curricula teaching American Exceptionalism harms students and society.
The loss of AP credits is secondary to this concern.
Not much of a cost at all. Assuming that US Hist is a required graduation course at U-OK, and it doesn’t have to be required – students will just take USHist instead of another course. They still need 120/180 credits to graduate. (Sure the History department may be overloaded for a couple of years until they adjust, but there are a gazillion unemployed PhD history grad who would love an adjunct appointment.)
Will all due respect, there is a lot of stuff in K12 & college education that is “misguided and wrong…” And that’s the beauty of education; hopefully one learns critical thinking skills to begin to understand when a certain teacher is just a whack-job.
I think if they’d had the AP credit they’d have not taken US Hist or a different Hist since they’d have fulfilled the requirement in HS.
I believe Paul Simon (the musician, not the former senator from Illinois) addressed this issue a while ago.
[Paul Simon & Art Garfunkel – “Kodachrome” (live 1981)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtIA0BP-A7w)
An update: http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/02/why-oklahoma-lawmakers-want-to-ban-ap-us-history.html
As a high school student who took APUSH, I’m utterly disappointed. I enjoyed learning about the events that created the superpower that is USA. From Robber Barons to the Watergate Scandal, there are undesirable facts that contributed to USA being built, but I truly believe that “those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.”
Shaking my head at the idea of a US history course “free of political bias.” I guess a pro-patriotism message is just the objective truth?
That era is often known for “robber barons”, with cursory coverage in typical US history courses in high school.
Some of the names may be familiar to people on these forums: Carnegie, Duke, Mellon, Stanford, Vanderbilt.
Not to mention Rockefeller, who founded the University of Chicago.
can’t believe it. Mostly a political decision.
Good riddance to APUSH.
“Good riddance to APUSH.”
If you are opposed to APUSH (and I assume you are given your comment) why just not allow your kid(s) take the course? It’s not required of anyone to take it - or any other AP class.
I’m not a fan of AP classes in general and was perfectly happy to let my kid take all honors classes instead and a Uni in the Classroom and Comm. College course but I don’t care if other kids take AP courses.
I don’t really care if other kids take AP courses, but they were a negative force in our high school, and for the high-achieving students they were really the only option because the alternative was regular US History which was unchallenging was populated by mostly under-achievers.
I must ask you as well: if you don’t like AP courses and don’t live in OK, then why do you care if they are eliminated there?