AP Am. Hist. . . and thoughts about teacher bias

[StephanieZ]

So, I am thinking of having my oldest do AP Am Hist next year. Initially, I thought of having her take it through PA Hs'ers or possibly some other as-yet-to-be-identified-similar outside source. . .

 

Meanwhile, I have been reading Team of Rivals (about A. Lincoln & his contemporaries) and realizing that the AP Am Hist class I had in high school was pretty biased. In fact, I was taught that slavery had little to do with the causes of the Civ. War, whereas, in fact, I am learning the opposite right now.

 

So, this got me to thinking that I want to be very careful on farming out history courses, esp. Am. Hist. There are so many opportunities to slant history courses, many of which you'd have no idea were occurring unless you were an expert in the materials and following closely along (in which case, of course, you'd not have farmed it out!)

 

Does anyone else worry about that? If you are concerned, how do you go about evaluating a course before committing?

 

Specifically, does anyone have much experience with PA hs'ers APUSH courses and/or have feedback on either or both of the teachers they offer WRT their biases and/or efforts to avoid bias?

 

How 'bout biases in various APUSH books? American Pageant seems like the standard. . . How is is biased?

 

FWIW, I am a liberal democrat, liberal Protestant Christian (liberal Episcopal). . .. . . strongly pro-civil rights (for gays as well as religious/ethnic/racial minorities), pro-religious freedom, pro-intellectualism, pro-freedom of thought, pro-individual freedoms/pursuits of knowledge & freedom. . . so, some of the biases I am most concerned about might be different from those of a conservative Christian / Republican / tea partier. However, I think this issue is important for *all* of us, and I would think it's be helpful for all of us to have some objective information about biases in texts as well as courses.

 

TIA!

[Julie in MN]

Stephanie,

Of course history is biased. You would do you child a disservice to teach anything else. If you teach that there is only one correct viewpoint, then they will be very skeptical of what you taught when they enter a college course that disagrees :)

 

And really there are few absolutes about big issues like the reasons behind a war or what the millions of people in the US then thought were the reasons behind the war.

 

Since you will never find an unbiased history book, the best you can do is to balance it with an education in "the other views" that aren't in the book, and a bonus would be discussing the details of why you agree or disagree with each view. My ds loves it when my dh and I both describe our viewpoints back when we were young, before we knew each other.

 

I like using multiple books, but by high school level American History, those texts can get bulky so you can't read everything. And sometimes I have chosen books for reasons such as how engaging they are or what support materials are available, rather than based on my agreeing with every single viewpoint -- partly because I already assume I will never agree 100%. As to what exact books would balance out the views in your history textbook, I guess I'd have to have read the text. Your best bet might just be to schedule good conversation into your weeks? I'm just not sure you will ever find what you seek, although it sounds like you would find yourself in agreement with most current secular public school textbooks, wouldn't you?

 

Julie

[Sebastian (a lady)]

DH has two degrees in history and uses historical analysis skills in his work. His favorite history teacher was one in high school who used a series of books that had several essays on a topic that were from different viewpoints. These books were popular texts in college at the time. There were a couple different publishers' versions.

European Problem Studies by Holt, Rinehart and Winston

Problems in Asian Civilizations by D. C. Heath & Company

Problems in American Civilization by Heath (There seems to still be a series under this title, but I've only seen the older editions.)

Problems in European Civilization

Turning Points in World History by Greenhaven Press

 

These are pricey new, but can be very inexpensive used. We have amassed a collection from used book sales, but they are also on Amazon.

 

What dh's teacher had them do is read one essay and outline it, then write a summary & response. When it was time to take the AP exam, not only had they already encountered many of the leading theories of US historiography but they'd also practiced writing about them.

 

Update: I wanted to add that there are also some great articles on historical topics in American Heritage. And the archive is available online. You could do worse than to pick a number of articles from past issues, especially the period from 1960-1980, which was the height of the magazine, to go along with whatever history spine you're using.

Edited September 26, 2010 by Sebastian (a lady)

[dirty ethel rackham]

My son is currently taking APUSH with PA Homeschoolers. We had similar concerns about content. So far, he is liking the class and it seems "balanced" as he told me. They do not use American Pageant and he is glad. He read Lies My Teacher Told Me and that book bashes American Pageant as being one of the worst offenders as far as misinformation is concerned. His class is using America: A Narrative History by Tindall and Shi, Barron's AP United States History and For the Record (compilation of source documents.)

 

BTW, there are two sections of APUSH at PA homeschoolers. My son has Daniel Burns.

[Luckymama]

Please can you tell me what is the bias in American Pageant? My dd's APUSH class is using it this year. Her teacher is little better than useless. I have all texts and practice DBQs/FRQs that ds used in his APUSH class two years ago. I'd hate dd to have to do all the American Pageant-based work and also have to work through the other texts/materials, but she really really really wants a 5 like her brother (sibling rivalry at its best ;) )

[elizabeth]

 

http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/Pageflows/TeachersResource/showResourceList.do This is a list of textbooks suggested by AP. I would not use one not on the list but then again I do not send dd out for classes thus I err on the side of caution by using materials that are suggested by AP to be in sync with the exams. We are currently preparing for US Government and Politics and it is a chore. Not challenging or interesting just tedium . It is worth doing for college credit and the knowledge that dd is not interested in following her parents footsteps by becoming an attorney. Best to know that prior to spending a fortune on an area of study that holds no interest for her.:lol: Spend time on AP central there is a wealth of resources available .

[dirty ethel rackham]

Please can you tell me what is the bias in American Pageant? My dd's APUSH class is using it this year. Her teacher is little better than useless. I have all texts and practice DBQs/FRQs that ds used in his APUSH class two years ago. I'd hate dd to have to do all the American Pageant-based work and also have to work through the other texts/materials, but she really really really wants a 5 like her brother (sibling rivalry at its best ;) )

 

I haven't read American Pageant, so I can't speak on it directly. I have only read parts of Lies my Teacher Told Me. One thing that James Loewan claims in LMTTM is that the 1991 edition of American Pageant perpetuates the myth that people thought the Earth was flat when Columbus set sail for the "new world." Loewan says that most people knew the Earth was round - sailors seeing things disappear over the horizon and the shape of a lunar eclipse. My son is working on some homework so I'll ask him later. Loewan's book was not just about bashing some textbooks but about a deeper problem with the way history is taught to kids in this country.