Republican representative Dan Fisher recently proposed House Bill 1380 in the state legislature to abolish the Advanced Placement, or AP history program and test from Oklahoma classrooms. Fisher’s primary complaint was that the course emphasizes “what is bad about America and omits the concept of American exceptionalism,” or the sense of American superiority.

Recently, Fisher faced a large amount of backlash regarding the bill and rightly so. Many teachers and administrators sent droves of complaints in the form of social media and phone calls directed toward Fisher, and rightly so.

After facing serious backlash, Fisher’s bill is being rewritten.

“We’re trying to fix the bill,” Fisher said. “It was very poorly worded and was incredibly ambiguous, and we didn’t realize that, so it’s been misinterpreted,” Fisher said in the Thursday, February 19, edition of The Oklahoman. “We’re going to clear it up so folks will know exactly what we’re trying to accomplish, and it’s not to hurt AP. We’re very supportive of AP,” Fisher added.

That there was uproar to this bill is justified. It is simply a bad choice that could harm the Oklahoma curriculum and would be a waste of resources and time.

Fisher believes that the course only teaches the bad about the United States. Where that may be true at times, it is equally important that we learn the faults of our nation so students want to improve and learn from our forefathers’ mistakes.

If lawmakers eliminate AP history class, there is no telling how much information will be changed or lost altogether. Changing the program would bring nothing but harm toward high school students who wish to expand their knowledge and prepare for their futures in college.

Lawmakers changing the program into something that is ignorant towards our nation’s past follies would be a detriment to students and teachers who have taught the original curriculum.

The idea that the program should be changed entirely based on the fact that it ignores “American exceptionalism,” is hardly credible and lawmakers should abandon the attempt to do so.

Cole Cloyd

MHS exPRESS writer