A legislative committee in Oklahoma has voted to ban Advanced Placement (AP) U.S. History courses for high school students, after a Representative argued that it teaches too much bad stuff about America. As Think Progress noted, Rep. Dan Fisher (R), who introduced the emergency legislation, is part of a group known as the “Black Robe Regiment” whose mission it is to stop “indoctrinating our youth at the exclusion of the Christian perspective” by “special interest groups. Fisher said, “We don’t want our tax dollars going to a test that undermines our history.” However, the College Board, the private group that develops AP courses, disputes his claims, noting that AP courses are completely voluntary and are designed to teach college-level curriculums that save university-bound high schoolers money.
Fisher also argued that the course did not teach the idea of “American exceptionalism.” Another lawmaker, Rep. Sally Kern (R) said that the courses were a violation of a piece of legislation that previously passed, repealing Common Core standards because they “impose a national curriculum,” even though the classes are not mandatory. You can see the actual curriculum here. The vote went down party lines, with Republicans in the majority …
Update: Fisher has issued a response to the criticism his bill is receiving. “We’re trying to fix the bill,” Fisher said. “It was very poorly worded and was incredibly ambiguous, and we didn’t realize that, so it’s been misinterpreted.
