Hello, I teach AP US government as well as AP Economics. I do this because I want to teach the best students in the school and I do.
I am pretty bummed with the new APUSH, and college board has over the past year surveyed AP gov teachers about a rebuild of the content. My replies were do this anything like APUSH and I'm done teaching the course. Econ will be a few more years but Micro is pretty straight forward.
The job is fun, I really enjoy challenging the young minds to think for themselves while memorizing the standard questions that are asked. I've only taught for 5 years now and I have a few more left to teach, and I sure hope to keep fighting the good fight against the leviathan.

Have fun!
iSank

Hello NMA,
They omit much of the good and include all the bad. "America bad. History bad. Progressives good..." I think I just vomited a little bit in my mouth. I wish I could have omitted that!
Yes the destruction of our heritage... of our exceptional-ism, is well under way.
We must be the vanguards and see to it that the truth is retained and disseminated like the people that memorized the books in F.451.
Regards,
O.A.

I was pleasantly surprised to see Professor Hanssen as the face of this issue. I'm glad it's gaining some attention. We see, again, that there is an issue with an exam. Although not every student takes the AP exam, the course is still taught to the entire student body in some variation. Students are encouraged to take these tests (and pay for them) for a chance of college credit. It may sound like a sweet deal to a 17-year-old because they are routinely told, "If you take this, you could start college with X hours already done," but it has reinforced the power of the College Board to tout the validity and importance of what is ultimately just another product to purchase from them. I am as annoyed with these kinds of exams as I am with the SAT and other state-administered standardized exams. How do these people get together and agree on what kinds of questions will be on the test? Who are they? I don't have a doubt in my mind that there are off-the-book (or on) influences into the topics these exams cover. These exams also influence what the textbook makers include because they want to be marketable to the people teaching these courses. Professor Hanssen sees the students that have already taken all of these exams, so she can clearly see what kind of information the kids come equipped with. She can then choose her own textbook (or not) and teach history how she prefers, covering the topics she and UD have said are important. As a private university, they have freedoms. She has the chance to fix the issue in her own classroom. However, the high schools where these tests are administered have less or none of that freedom. At least in most public schools, the class is taught using the textbook that has been voted in by the school district. Choosing the textbook is a completely other issue, but an important one. Not many voters take the time to read the books and see in what light our country has been cast. The main guideline in choosing a book is seeing how clearly and well it presents information that will be on the state or AP exam. In Texas, students begin with Texas history in the 4th grade, and then move on to U.S. history in the 5th. Dallas has just adopted new history textbooks for the kids, and the voting process for them was VERY interesting. Professor Hanssen and these other individuals are talking about the issue being the AP exam, but it starts in elementary school. Also, we are talking about history today, but AP covers just about every subject in school--from history to Spanish literature to physics. Their influence is big.

As long as people say that these tests are a valid form of measurement of our students' knowledge, then it will be easy to sway the curricula and what our kids learn. This is just another reason I oppose this kind of examination. It takes power away from parents and educators, and it makes free, independent thinking unnecessary.

My daughter just took the AP History exam and expressed the same concern as the 55 history professors. Maybe they should pull a Hugh Akston.