The popular national history class, AP U.S History, also known as “APUSH”, is at the center of debate in American education and history. Advanced Placement courses offered at high schools, also known as AP classes, are known for their prestige and rigorous material. In the fall of 2014 the College Board unveiled a new and revised curriculum for APUSH. This new syllabus supposedly stresses “chronological reasoning or a rigorous use of evidence” and “historical thinking skills” rather than the memorization of historical events, according to the AP College Board director Lawrence Charap.

This new outline of the course has rocked the nation and is the central conflict of the heated debate. In states such as Oklahoma, Colorado, and Georgia, education committees are cutting out APUSH as a whole because it “undermines our history” according to Republican Dan Fisher. Fisher passed a bill in Oklahoma that would cut funding to APUSH because of its liberal bias and pessimism of America’s upbringing. The protestors claim that the curriculum needs to be censored and accentuate America’s patriotism.  Arguers entitle that it mostly highlights the zeniths of American history such as slavery and the brutal treatment of the Native Americans at the hands of early colonial settlers.
The president of the College Board, David Coleman, issued a statement in response to these protests that are concurrently spreading across the nation. Coleman states “civil and social strife are at the patriotic heart of American history” and that “these events and ideas are essential within the study of a college-level, AP U.S History course.” If students aren’t established and stable enough to handle a little negativity, then they simply shouldn’t be enrolled in a college course. Blood and battle are at the roots of American history, and without the unpleasant spots, there would be no successful nation of America. This piece of America’s past can’t just be forgotten, because it’s important to know where this country came from.
Coleman remarks “if a school or district censors essential concepts from an Advanced Placement course, that course can no longer bear the ‘AP’ designation.” Coleman praises the students for their interest in American history, but should a school gloss over content, it won’t be considered an Advanced Placement course. Likewise, AP courses are cut out for diligent and mature pupils, not for students who can’t handle the truth of America’s hardship and the scar it left behind.
As an APUSH student myself, I have to agree that this whole dispute over America’s unfortunate past is foolish and indiscreet. This brewing storm is just imprudence that will eventually blow over. I think that America’s unjust and aggressive upbringings shaped the soil of this land of liberty. Without America’s perseverance, we would still be a subject of Britain and live under an undeserved monarchy. I can concur with the fact that it is hard to listen about the inhumane acts of early colonists, but those happenings are far in the dark past. America is now the land of the free and home of the brave all because of the determination of early Americans. The violent dark spots of America are a stain we won’t be able to remove, but it’s important to remember where our incredible country derived from and the sacrifices of those who were dedicated to a new and liberated country.