Conservatives Looking To Rewrite History
The Republican National Committee officially condemned the framework in August, saying it had a “radically revisionist view of American history that emphasizes negative aspects of our nation’s history while omitting or minimizing positive aspects.”
Conservative school boards across the country have jumped on the bandwagon, accusing the College Board of adopting a course that contains anti-American Biases. The College Board has called the claim baseless.
Julie Williams, school board member from Jefferson County, CO, has been defending her position that the framework should be reviewed to ensure it “promotes citizenship, patriotism, essentials and benefits of the free-market system.”
Conservatives have a knack for making issues where there are none, and this is no different. Their assumption that the new APUSH framework is a liberal biased conspiracy to force our children to focus on the negative aspects of American history is the typical tinfoil hat material we’ve come to expect.
Do we want our children to think for themselves and draw off the experience of true history or do we want to teach them all the way to college that Thomas Jefferson was a great man who believed in free markets and the 2nd Amendment? America is a great nation that has made terrible mistakes. Our high schoolers need to learn from those mistakes. What makes us great is elementary and middle school material.
Conservatives live in a fantasy ABC existence where you’re born to a God-fearing family, go to school and pledge allegiance, go through college, get a degree and start a successful business or move into the job you had no problem finding, have a family of your own, rinse and repeat.
In the real world people have to deal with booms and recessions. They have to understand the state of affairs of the place they live and how it got that way. Our future depends on our children being able to decide when it’s a good idea to allow history to repeat itself and when to pump the brakes. Teaching them about all that is good so they can continue the tradition of Uncle Rudy’s Sunday Dinner rants isn’t ever going to be the answer to our problems.
Copyright 2014 Liberaland
33 responses to Conservatives Looking To Rewrite History
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uzza September 24th, 2014 at 23:36
Lemme check;
his·to·ry noun ˈhis-t(ə-)rē
: the study of past events
Nope, nothing in there about “promoting citizenship, patriotism, essentials and benefits of the free-market system.”
whatthe46 September 24th, 2014 at 23:44
exactly what the hell are they afraid of?
Hirightnow September 25th, 2014 at 00:40
Loss of authority.
They want the chillunz to grow up to be gawd-fearin’, flag-pledgin’ little consumers who accept things as they’re meant to be, not thinking citizens who can’t be controlled..
searambler September 25th, 2014 at 11:09
The truth, as usual…
uzza September 24th, 2014 at 23:36
Lemme check:
his·to·ry noun ˈhis-t(ə-)rē
: the study of past events
Nope, nothing in there about “promoting citizenship, patriotism, essentials and benefits of the free-market system.”
whatthe46 September 24th, 2014 at 23:44
exactly what the hell are they afraid of?
Hirightnow September 25th, 2014 at 00:40
Loss of authority.
They want the chillunz to grow up to be gawd-fearin’, flag-pledgin’ little consumers who accept things as they’re meant to be, not thinking citizens who can’t be controlled..
searambler September 25th, 2014 at 11:09
The truth, as usual…
tiredoftea September 24th, 2014 at 23:46
“…do we want to teach them all the way to college that Thomas Jefferson was a great man who believed in free markets and the 2nd Amendment?” This is so much easier to remember! And, he’s dead so its not like he can refute anything. And, nobody understands his writings or can decipher his penmanship, so we all can agree that he was a great man who believed in free markets and the 2nd Amendment! See how easy that was?
Dwendt44 September 25th, 2014 at 00:35
Their hypocrites mega style. If anything conservatives are working to re-write history. They’ve tried to convert ALL of our founding fathers to christianity, claim, falsely, that this country was founded on the bible or on christianity, that the Bill of Rights was fashioned after the Ten Commandments, and other bold face lies.
You’d think they’d love the idea of promoting ‘patriotism’ but they prefer THEIR form of patriotism.
tiredoftea September 24th, 2014 at 23:46
“…do we want to teach them all the way to college that Thomas Jefferson was a great man who believed in free markets and the 2nd Amendment?” This is so much easier to remember! And, he’s dead so its not like he can refute anything. And, nobody understands his writings or can decipher his penmanship, so we all can agree that he was a great man who believed in free markets and the 2nd Amendment! See how easy that was?
Dwendt44 September 25th, 2014 at 00:35
Their hypocrites mega style. If anything conservatives are working to re-write history. They’ve tried to convert ALL of our founding fathers to christianity, claim, falsely, that this country was founded on the bible or on christianity, that the Bill of Rights was fashioned after the Ten Commandments, and other bold face lies.
You’d think they’d love the idea of promoting ‘patriotism’ but they prefer THEIR form of patriotism.
Obewon September 25th, 2014 at 00:47
Conservatives are afraid of the truth exposing today’s repubs as universal failures at everything. There is absolutely nothing conservative about today’s GOP: “We went from a $5.6 trillion (continuing CBO forecast) surplus that George Bush inherited to over … $11-plus trillion debt when George Bush left office.”-True! http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2011/jun/02/steny-hoyer/steny-hoyer-says-george-w-bush-inherited-56-trilli/
Obewon September 25th, 2014 at 00:47
Conservatives are afraid of the truth exposing today’s repubs as universal failures at everything. There is absolutely nothing conservative about today’s GOP: “We went from a $5.6 trillion (continuing CBO forecast) surplus that George Bush inherited to over … $11-plus trillion debt when George Bush left office.”-True! http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2011/jun/02/steny-hoyer/steny-hoyer-says-george-w-bush-inherited-56-trilli/ ‘Surprise! Obama likely to leave office with another Dem budget surplus’-Conservative AEI! Proven by Net Federal Outlays graph. http://www.aei-ideas.org/2014/04/surprise-obama-might-just-leave-office-with-budget-surplus/
fahvel September 25th, 2014 at 03:09
these mindless uneducated fools should click their heels and go the hell.. The f’n market global BS economy concept is what is killing the structural fiber of homo sapiens and will end with the l’il hungry folks tearing down the castle walls and devouring the 1% but to no avail. Keep supporting profit and growth if one wants but apologize to the grandkids in advance.
Suzanne McFly September 25th, 2014 at 09:06
As a history teacher, this makes my blood boil. This shows how stupid this school board thinks their local populace is. To believe that anyone would be a less productive citizen because their country has made mistakes is sickening. A true patriot loves their country despite the faults, and to deny existence of mistakes will simply result in an idiot society. I hate the fact my country has a history of slavery or the bombings in Nagasaki and Hiroshima, but to simply act as if this situations never occurred is a sure way to make sure they do happen again.
m2old4bs September 25th, 2014 at 15:37
i agree with you completely. Do note though that most of these fundamentalist religious conservatives have been molded by likes of Limbaugh and Beck, the latter who has over the years and continues to actively promote the works of David Barton, the non-historian. It is the Christian Agenda that spurs their utter contempt for actual history. Ultimately, it comes down to the persecution meme so favored by modern day fundamentalist Christians.
Suzanne McFly September 25th, 2014 at 09:06
As a history teacher, this makes my blood boil. This shows how stupid this school board thinks their local populace is. To believe that anyone would be a less productive citizen because their country has made mistakes is sickening. A true patriot loves their country despite the faults, and to deny existence of mistakes will simply result in an idiot society. I hate the fact my country has a history of slavery or the bombings in Nagasaki and Hiroshima, but to simply act as if this situations never occurred is a sure way to make sure they do happen again.
m2old4bs September 25th, 2014 at 15:37
i agree with you completely. Do note though that most of these fundamentalist religious conservatives have been molded by likes of Limbaugh and Beck, the latter who has over the years and continues to actively promote the works of David Barton, the non-historian. It is the Christian Agenda that spurs their utter contempt for actual history. Ultimately, it comes down to the persecution meme so favored by modern day fundamentalist Christians.
searambler September 25th, 2014 at 11:08
“Conservatives have a knack for making issues where there are none…”
First place, Understatement of the Year Award.
searambler September 25th, 2014 at 11:08
“Conservatives have a knack for making issues where there are none…”
First place, Understatement of the Year Award.
Robert M. Snyder September 25th, 2014 at 11:29
This article provides no specific examples of what conservatives are objecting to in the AP US History course. A quick Google search turned up this article, which provides 29 specific examples of things they find objectionable.
http://news.heartland.org/newspaper-article/2014/08/19/29-biased-statements-ap-us-history-redesign
I am not here to defend their criticisms. I just thought this info might be worth considering.
Robert M. Snyder September 25th, 2014 at 11:29
This article provides no specific examples of what conservatives are objecting to in the AP US History course. A quick Google search turned up this article, which provides 29 specific examples of things they find objectionable.
http://news.heartland.org/newspaper-article/2014/08/19/29-biased-statements-ap-us-history-redesign
I am not here to defend their criticisms. I just thought this info might be worth considering.
Spirit of America September 25th, 2014 at 12:21
Not sure if anyone thought of this angle, but the ‘what to teach in American History’ will only become more difficult AND emotional due to one simple fact: amount of years the US has been around. It will become more difficult to decide what to include as the decades go by and important individuals and events continue to shape America. There are only so many days of school to teach history.
Ahhhh, how the days of teaching American history in 1789 were so much easier… 6 pages and it was done…. :)
Spirit of America September 25th, 2014 at 12:21
Not sure if anyone thought of this angle, but the ‘what to teach in American History’ will only become more difficult AND emotional due to one simple fact: amount of years the US has been around. It will become more difficult to decide what to include as the decades go by and important individuals and events continue to shape America. There are only so many days of school to teach history.
Ahhhh, how the days of teaching American history in 1789 were so much easier… 6 pages and it was done…. :)
rg9rts September 25th, 2014 at 14:25
Historian…a broadgage gossip…A Bierce
m2old4bs September 25th, 2014 at 15:32
Exactly what do you mean by “broadgage”?
rg9rts September 25th, 2014 at 18:33
Look it up in The Devil’s Dictionary Ambrose Bierce You’ll get an education
rg9rts September 25th, 2014 at 18:43
Further clue the opposite of narrow gage a railroad term
rg9rts September 25th, 2014 at 14:25
Historian…a broadgage gossip…A Bierce
m2old4bs September 25th, 2014 at 15:32
Exactly what do you mean by “broadgage”?
rg9rts September 25th, 2014 at 18:33
Look it up in The Devil’s Dictionary Ambrose Bierce You’ll get an education
rg9rts September 25th, 2014 at 18:43
Further clue the opposite of narrow gage a railroad term