Revised AP history standards will push 'American exceptionalism'
Source: The Guardian
The board that oversees advanced placement courses for US high school students has revised its US history standards to include a section on “American exceptionalism” after significant backlash from culture conservatives who said the exam wasn’t patriotic enough.
The advanced placement (AP) history framework, revised in 2014, triggered a nationwide debate over how American high schoolers should learn about their nation’s history, pitting conservatives who found the curriculum “anti-American” against teachers and students who rejected the changes as “revisionism”.
In response, the new framework explicitly introduces the concept of “American exceptionalism”, and highlights achievements of US history through this lens. It also includes direct references to the names and roles of the nation’s founding fathers, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin – a flashpoint in the debate. It does, however, maintain roughly the same number of references to slavery as the 2o14 exam.
“Every statement in the 2015 edition has been examined with great care based on the historical record and the principled feedback the College Board received,” the College Board said in a statement posted on their website on Thursday. “The result is a clearer and more balanced approach to the teaching of American history that remains faithful to the requirements that colleges and universities set for academic credit.”
Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/jul/30/revised-ap-history-standards-push-american-exceptionalism
"Patriots" aren't patriotic. They're embarrassing.
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We won the Cold War, and now are the global peace-keepers.
Pax Americana!
The phrase "the empire on which the sun never sets" has been used with variations to describe certain global empires that were so extensive that there was always at least one part of their territory that was in daylight.
It was originally used for the Spanish Empire, mainly in the 16th and 17th centuries, and for the British Empire, mainly in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Especially in the 20th century, the phrase (usually without the word "Empire"
has been transferred to refer to American power.
Georg Büchmann traces the idea to a speech in Herodotus' Histories, made by Xerxes I of Persia before invading Greece.[1][2]
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