Anti-AP History GOPer Wanted To Teach Widely Disputed Document

'Golden hello' to teach mathematics. File photo dated 24/05/10 of A-level students sitting an A-level maths exam as millions of pounds is to be made available to encourage hundreds of graduates to consider teaching m... 'Golden hello' to teach mathematics. File photo dated 24/05/10 of A-level students sitting an A-level maths exam as millions of pounds is to be made available to encourage hundreds of graduates to consider teaching maths in further education colleges, the government has announced. Issue date: Wednesday February 5, 2014. A "golden hello" of £7,500 will be offered, increasing to £10,000 if graduates train to support learners with special educational needs, while colleges and training providers could get a bonus of £20,000 for recruiting a specialist graduate maths teacher. The measures are expected to result in the recruitment of 500 specialist maths teachers in England by September 2015. See PA story INDUSTRY Maths. Photo credit should read: Ben Birchall/PA Wire URN:18888102 MORE LESS
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When Oklahoma state Rep. Dan Fisher (R) first introduced his bill to eliminate funding for AP U.S. History in Oklahoma, he included the Mecklenburg Declaration among documents of “historical significance” that students must read in American History class.

The document is not listed in the version of the bill approved by the Oklahoma House Common Education Committee on Monday, perhaps because historians dispute the document’s origins.

According to some, Mecklenburg County, N.C., declared its independence from Great Britain in a document signed in May 1775, a year before the Declaration of Independence was signed. The text of the Mecklenburg Declaration includes phrases found in the document penned by Thomas Jefferson.

However, Jefferson disputed the existence of the Mecklenburg Declaration, and the document has never been found.

Most historians do not believe that the document exists and argue that there’s no proof that it was written before the Declaration of Independence.

According to Scott Syfert, founder of May 20th Society, which commemorates the Mecklenburg Declaration, “the consensus view in academic circles has been that the story is, to use Jefferson’s word, ‘spurious.'”

But Syfert, as well as a few historians and writers, believe “the consensus view that the story is a hoax has begun to crumble.”

TPM has reached out to Fisher for comment on the document’s removal from the legislation.

Without the controversial Mecklenburg Declaration, Fisher’s bill still includes a long list of documents and speeches students must read.

As CNN noted, the bill requires documents typically taught in American history classes like the Thomas Paine’s “Commons Sense” and “The Gettysburg Address.”

But the bill also requires students to read the Ten Commandments, three speeches by Ronald Reagan, and one speech by George W. Bush. The bill does not include speeches from any of the last three Democratic presidents— Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, or Jimmy Carter.

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  1. We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.

    Benjamin Franklin

  2. Avatar for enon enon says:

    what if a student chooses to read a speech by a democratic president… will they be sent to detention/suspended?

  3. Rarely is the question asked: is our children learning?

  4. Every time I read about the Tea Party mind control pedagogy, I keep thinking about how well this “non-critical” approach worked in the USSR.

  5. what if a student chooses to read a speech by a democratic president… will they be sent to detention/suspended?

    Expulsion. Zero tolerance for ‘treason’.

    And that’s “democrat president”. All lower case.

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