Advanced Placement Gets It Right

 Recently, the College Board, which sponsors Advanced Placement courses, took a stand on the issue of American history and CRT. Well kinda. They did not mention CRT in their statement but rather, what AP is and how it is taught. They do a masterful job. 

Conservative writer Rick Hess lays it out. 

As readers well know, AP has a massive reach. Each year, more than a million students take AP’s 34 courses in everything from calculus to Spanish to U.S. Government. Its visibility and status mean that AP’s actions can play an outsized role, as happened when an overhaul of its U.S. History framework ignited a searing debate back in 2015.

And the statement is altogether admirable, offering a principled, practical place to land amid debates over CRT, “anti-racism,” curricular transparency, and curricular restrictions.  

 

In all of this, there’s a need to stand forthrightly against those who would stymie free thought. The statement flatly declares, “AP opposes censorship.” Citing the program’s “deep respect for the intellectual freedom of teachers and students,” it notes that “if a school bans required topics from their AP courses, the AP Program removes the AP designation from that course.”

And, for anyone who wants to argue with AP, well, it's a private company so it's their rules.  

The AP's stances with notable quotes:

• AP stands for clarity and transparency.

The Advanced Placement Program makes public its course frameworks and sample assessments.

• AP is an unflinching encounter with evidence. 

AP courses enable students to develop as independent thinkers and to draw their own conclusions. Evidence and the scientific method are the starting place for conversations in AP courses.

• AP opposes censorship

If a school bans required topics from their AP courses, the AP Program removes the AP designation from that course and its inclusion in the AP Course Ledger provided to colleges and universities.

• AP opposes indoctrination. 

AP students are expected to analyze different perspectives from their own, and no points on an AP Exam are awarded for agreement with a viewpoint. AP students are not required to feel certain ways about themselves or the course content.

• AP courses foster an open-minded approach to the histories and cultures of different peoples.

AP courses ground such studies in primary sources so that students can evaluate experiences and evidence for themselves.

• Every AP student who engages with evidence is listened to and respected.

The perspectives and contributions of the full range of AP students are sought and considered. Respectful debate of ideas is cultivated and protected; personal attacks have no place in AP.

• AP is a choice for parents and students.

Parents and students freely choose to enroll in AP courses. Course descriptions are available online for parents and students to inform their choice. Parents do not define which college-level topics are suitable within AP courses; AP course and exam materials are crafted by committees of professors and other expert educators in each field.

(Editor's note: I try to read about public education across the spectrum of thought. Rick Hess is one of the few conservatives who consistently stays on point and offers real ideas and solutions. Also, several readers have asked about a post on the uber-progressive stance on public education and how it isn't working and how it does hurt the discussion. Coming soon.)