TULSA, Okla., Feb. 18 (UPI) -- Oklahoma lawmakers overwhelmingly voted to ban Advanced Placement classes in U.S. history, saying the curriculum emphasizes "what is bad about America" and doesn't teach "American exceptionalism."
In January, state Rep. Dan Fisher, R-Yukon, introduced the bill which would remove state funding for the program unless the College Board revises the curriculum.
Fisher argued the AP program bared too much of a resemblance to Common Core education in its requirement for a national standard. The Common Core was repealed in Oklahoma last year.
The Advanced Placement program was designed by the College Board, a private non-profit entity that is also responsible for the writing of the SAT -- the most popular test used for college admissions.
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Students take the AP classes to operate at a level that would be found in college and then take an exam at the end of the year for college credit.
AP courses are not required, but offer students the chance to earn college credit if they get a high enough score on an end-of-course test.
Fisher is not targeting all AP courses -- just AP U.S. History. He believes the course framework stresses "what is bad about America."
Fisher, who belongs to the church-and-state group The Black Robe Society, proposed alterations to the curriculum that would require the study of several expected documents such as the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Gettysburg Address.
However, the proposed curriculum also has a religious and conservative leaning, including the study of the Ten Commandments and two Christian sermons. It excludes speeches from every Democratic president since Lyndon B. Johnson, but does include three speeches from President Reagan and one from President George W. Bush.
A student's petition protesting the bill has garnered more than 8,200 signatures since the bill passed Tuesday.
Other states have passed similar resolutions. The discontent with the curriculum began with retired New Jersey high-school history teacher Larry S. Krieger, who was angered by the revised course.
Krieger told Newsweek the course suggested Manifest Destiny was "built on a belief in white racial superiority and a sense of American cultural superiority" rather than "the belief that America had a mission to spread democracy and new technology across the continent."
John Williamson, representing the College Board in Oklahoma, said these accusations were "mythology and not true."
He said they provide the framework, but it's up to teachers on how they approach the thematic objectives.
