Final signature count: 4,438

4,438 signatures toward our 20,000 goal

In 2012, the College Board, a nonprofit that runs the SAT and Advanced Placement programs, revised their Advanced Placement U.S. History (APUSH) course. This class, which allows high school students to gain college credit, would focus more on critical thinking and less on memorization. Historians created the framework, and most high school teachers have approved it.

Starting in the summer of 2014, however, it sent several states into an uproar. Their grievance? It portrays the United States in too negative a light and fails to promote “American exceptionalism.” Conservative lawmakers also condemned the course material as liberally biased due to its “emphasis on race, gender, class, ethnicity, grievance and American-bashing” (qtd. in The Hechinger Report). Because of this, Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Georgia, and other states have attempted to revise, replace, and cut funding for APUSH.

The groups that deserve the most say in this issue, like scholars, students, teachers, and the College Board, have fought back, arguing the coursework is neither unpatriotic nor biased. It encourages students to examine our nation’s complex history in context, think critically, and form personal opinions about various events. This kind of thinking is necessary, not only for a college-level course, but also for our country’s future. If we want to raise an intelligent, well-informed generation, students need to learn history, not nationalistic propaganda.

Politicians argue the APUSH curriculum will indoctrinate students with a liberal agenda. In reality, they are trying to force their “America the Great” views onto students.

Show your support for the College Board and tell the Department of Education that states should not defund, revise, or replace an optional course on the grounds of patriotism. Our children should learn how to think, not what to think.