{"id":468,"date":"2014-10-17T19:17:30","date_gmt":"2014-10-17T19:17:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/?p=468"},"modified":"2015-10-13T19:02:58","modified_gmt":"2015-10-13T19:02:58","slug":"tactical-textbooks-the-politics-of-teaching-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/2014\/10\/17\/tactical-textbooks-the-politics-of-teaching-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Tactical Textbooks: The Politics of Teaching History"},"content":{"rendered":"

The past few weeks have seen furious debate about the College Board\u2019s new framework<\/span><\/a> for AP U.S. History. At issue is the framework\u2019s emphasis on topics like racial conflict and social inequality. To the Board and its advocates, like James R. Grossman, executive director of the American Historical Association<\/span><\/a>, these topics encourage \u201clearning how to ask historical questions, interpret documents and reflect both appreciatively and critically on history.\u201d To the new framework\u2019s detractors, however, this curriculum\u00a0neglects core American values and demonizes the U.S. from a global perspective.\u00a0<\/span>This debate about education and curriculum became a political flashpoint in August, when the Republican National Committee passed a resolution condemning the new framework as \u201cradically revisionist.” What kind of history does the College Board want students to learn, and what kind of history are Republicans accusing the Board of revising?\u00a0The debate over AP U.S. History is more than a skirmish over education policy\u2014it reflects an ongoing struggle over cultural authority.<\/p>\n

Sociologist James Loewen, in a now classic book published in 1995, argued that most standard U.S. history textbooks supplied \u201cirrelevant and even erroneous details, while omitting pivotal questions \u2026 textbooks rarely present the various sides of historical controversies and almost never reveal to students the evidence on which each side bases its position.\u201d<\/h5>\n