Dive Brief:
- After hours of discussion, the Tennessee Board of Education decided not to adopt a resolution denouncing the new AP History curriculum.
- The board was tasked with reviewing the curriculum, which conservatives have argued is "radically revisionist."
- The exam isn't just ruffling feathers in Tennessee: In September, the Texas Board of Education voted (15-2) to change how Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate courses are taught after the College Board announced the new exam.
Dive Insight:
This exam has caused quite a stir. In Texas, the entire structure of AP courses was altered because conservatives believed the new exam perpetuated "anti-American" themes and that it lacked a sentiment of "American Exceptionalism." For example, Adolf Hitler and the Holocaust were not mentioned in a section on World II, but in that same section, students were asked to answer a question about Hiroshima and how dropping the atomic bomb raised questions about American values.
While Tennessee did not follow suit with Texas and change laws to avoid the curriculum, as we've seen in Colorado, the power does not lie solely with state legislators. Colorado's Jefferson County School Board responded to the new curriculum by creating a proposal that would narrow history instruction to themes centered around citizenship, patriotism, and respect for authority — a decision that resulted in mass student and teacher protests that lasted multiple days. Still, despite all the protests, they have not budged on their new decision.