Oklahoma Along With Kansas and Other RED States Are Becoming Dumbed Down

AP (Advanced Placement/pre-college courses) - there are many others

Oklahoma as officially gone insane alongside Kansas ... So, WTF is it with GOP-Conservatives, really?

An Oklahoma legislative committee overwhelmingly voted to ban Advanced Placement U.S. History class, persuaded by the argument that it only teaches students “what is bad about America.” Other lawmakers are seeking a court ruling that would effectively prohibit the teaching of all AP courses in public schools.

Insert – FYI: What are AP courses? The AP curriculum, administered by The College Board, consists of standardized high school courses that are roughly equivalent to undergraduate college courses. After completing an AP class, students typically take the AP exam in that subject, which can earn them credits and accelerated placement in college.

Oklahoma Rep. Dan Fisher (R) has introduced “emergency” legislation “prohibiting the expenditure of funds on the Advanced Placement United States History course.” Fisher is part of a group called the “Black Robe Regiment” which argues “the church and God himself has been under assault, marginalized, and diminished by the progressives and secularists.” The group attacks the “false wall of separation of church and state.”

The Black Robe Regiment claims that a “growing tide of special interest groups indoctrinating our youth at the exclusion of the Christian perspective.”

Fisher said the Advanced Placement history class fails to teach “American exceptionalism.” The bill passed the Oklahoma House Education committee on Monday on a vote of 11-4. An actual course description for the course here.

For other lawmakers, however, Fisher is thinking too small. Oklahoma Rep. Sally Kern (R) claims that all “AP courses violate the legislation approved last year that repealed Common Core.” She has asked the Oklahoma Attorney General to issue a ruling. Kern argues that “AP courses are similar to Common Core, in that they could be construed as an attempt to impose a national curriculum on American schools.”

Advanced Placement (AP) courses are actually developed by a private group, the College Board, and are not required of any student or high school. They are the primary way that student can earn college credit in high school. 

Taking advanced placement course can save students money and are generally seen as a prerequisite to admission to elite colleges. A representative from the College Board called the claims by Fisher and others “mythology and not true.”

For the record and related: My two kids, both college grads and higher, took a lot of high school AP courses. They did quite well, and that enabled them to get a head start in college by not having to take classes on campus, and that in essence saved us money and saved them time to focus on their major and even finish 4 years in 3 and head off to grad school early.  

Apparently GOPer kids can’t hack it, or so it seems. Or maybe they just have dumb-ass parents in elected office who are just paranoid about anything public. So why are they in public office? I’m inclined to think a little bit of all those traits. That and they want to “make America just the way they want it – fat, dumb, and content and of course “conservative” what the hell that means is anyone’s guess.