The College Board on Friday expressed support for the Colorado high school students protesting proposed county school board changes to the AP U.S. History course curriculum.
“The College Board’s Advanced Placement Program® supports the actions taken by students in Jefferson County, Colorado to protest a school board member’s request to censor aspects of the AP U.S. History course,” the company said in a statement.
“These students recognize that the social order can – and sometimes must – be disrupted in the pursuit of liberty and justice. Civil disorder and social strife are at the patriotic heart of American history – from the Boston Tea Party to the American Revolution to the Civil Rights Movement. And these events and ideas are essential within the study of a college-level, AP U.S. History course.”
The Jefferson County school board has proposed forming a new committee that would ensure that the AP history course materials “promote patriotism” and don’t “condone civil disorder, social strife or disregard of the law.”
The board proposed the changes in response to the new course framework, which conservatives have denounced as a “radically revisionist view of American history that emphasizes negative aspects of our nation’s history while omitting or minimizing positive aspects.”
Students in Jefferson County staged protests last week, charging that the course changes will keep teachers from discussing civil disobedience.
And now, the College Board has thrown its support behind the students and said that if schools do not agree to the course standards set by College Board, then they cannot offer the Advanced Placement course.
“As vital context for the courageous voices of the students in Colorado, the AP community, our member institutions and the American people can rest assured: If a school or district censors essential concepts from an Advanced Placement course, that course can no longer bear the ‘AP’ designation,” College Board said in the statement.
H/t Huffington Post
