R E S O L U T I O N
WHEREAS
the purpose of College and Career Readiness Standards (CCRS) and advanced high school courses is to prepare students to understand a variety of views and opinions from across the political spectrum, and to be able to discuss and debate those ideas free from bias and outside influence; and
WHEREAS
the systematic or deliberate discouragement of certain points of view within the scope of any curriculum framework undermines the basic tenets of our society and education system; and
WHEREAS
the Texas Education Code (TEC) Section 28.002(h) states:
“
The State Board of Education and each school district shall foster the continuation of the tradition of teaching United States and Texas history and the free enterprise system in regular subject matter and in reading courses and in the adoption of instructional materials. A primary purpose of the public school curriculum is to prepare thoughtful, active citizens who understand the importance of patriotism and can function productively in a free enterprise society with appreciation for the basic democratic values of our state and national heritage
.”
; and
WHEREAS
almost 500,000 U.S. students, approximately 46,000 of whom are from Texas, take the College
Board’s Advanced Placement U.S. Hi
story (APUSH) course each year; and
WHEREAS
the APUSH course may be the final U.S. History class for what many believe are the brightest and best of our high school students; and
WHEREAS
the APUSH course has traditionally been designed to present a balanced view of American history and to prepare students for college-level history courses; and
WHEREAS
the College Board, a private, non-elected organization unaccountable to the public, has recently released a new 98-page Framework that mandates a highly politicized approach to teaching the APUSH course; and
WHEREAS
the new APUSH Framework reflects a radically revisionist view of American history that is
critical of American exceptionalism and emphasizes negative aspects of our nation’s history while omitti
ng or minimizing positive aspects; and
WHEREAS
the anti-
American, revisionist history of Howard Zinn and his textbook “The People’s Guide to U.S. History” is a recommended textbook in each of the four syllabi originally presented at the Summer 2014
training of APUSH educators; and
WHEREAS
the APUSH Framework includes little or no discussion of the Founding Fathers, the principles of
the Declaration of Independence, the religious influences on our nation’s history, and many other critical
topics that have always been part of the APUSH course; and
WHEREAS
the Framework excludes discussion of the U.S. military (no battles, commanders, or heroes) and
omits many significant individuals and events that greatly shaped our nation’s history (for example, James
Madison, Thomas Jefferson, Albert Einstein, Jonas Salk, George Washington Carver, Rosa Parks, Cesar Chavez, Dr. Martin Luther King, Tuskegee Airmen, Navajo Code Talkers, the Battle of Gettysburg, the Holocaust, D-Day, liberation of the Nazi concentration camps, and the election of our first African-American President); and
WHEREAS
the Framework presents a clearly biased and inaccurate view of many important events in American history, including the motivations and actions of 17
th
- through 19
th
-century settlers, American involvement in World War II, the free-enterprise economic explosion in the 1940s through 1960s, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the development of Cold War tensions and ultimate fall of the Iron Curtain, and the successful landing of a man on the moon; and
WHEREAS
the Framework describes its detailed outline as the “required knowledge” for APUSH students, and admits that the APUSH examination will not test information outside this “required knowledge”; and
WHEREAS
because the Framework differs radically from the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) so that APUSH teachers will have to ignore the TEKS standards to prepare students for the AP examination; and
WHEREAS
the released APUSH sample examination questions continue, via behavioral testing techniques, to promote a negative, anti-American bias toward U.S. History; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED,
That the elected Texas State Board of Education strongly admonishes the College Board for failing to listen to the numerous complaints of parents, educators and concerned citizens; and be it further
RESOLVED,
That the Texas State Board of Education recommends that a committee be convened to draft an
APUSH Framework that is consistent both with the APUSH course’s traditional mission and with the sh
ared purpose of the CCRS, the TEKS and the Texas Education Code, and with the desires of Texas parents and other citizens for students to learn the true history of their country; and be it further
RESOLVED,
That the Texas State Board of Education requests that Members of the Texas Legislature and the U.S. Congress investigate this matter; and be it further
RESOLVED,
That the Texas State Board of Education requests that the College Board rewrite the APUSH course and examination in a transparent manner to accurately reflect U.S. history without a political bias and to respect the sovereignty of Texas over its education curriculum; and be it finally
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