Students in Jefferson County, Colorado, have continued walking out in protest of the school board's proposal to
replace the AP history curriculum with conservative teachings that don't "encourage or condone civil disorder, social strife or disregard of the law." It seems that at least one of the conservative school board members pushing the plan is
as ignorant of history as she wants students to be:
"I'm not saying let's not teach history accurately," [school board member Julie] Williams told 9News in a phone interview. "What I'm saying is let's not encourage our children to disobey the law."
When we asked for examples of historical events she fears are misrepresented, Williams couldn't point to one.
"I'm not familiar enough with everything that is in AP history to make that judgment," she said.
But in a recent press release, Williams said several historical figures were left out of the curriculum.
"Let me give you some examples of who is omitted," she wrote. "Jefferson, Adams, Madison, Franklin with not even a mention of Martin Luther King, Jr."
Williams is incorrect that the founding fathers and King are left out of the AP curriculum she's trying to replace. They're not specifically named in a set of guidelines that is supposed to inform the more detailed curriculum, but they are taught in the classrooms. What Williams was providing there was basically a list of people who are so obviously going to be taught that it wasn't necessary to specifically name them.
But more to the point, how the hell do you teach about Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, or Martin Luther King Jr. without teaching that sometimes disobeying the law is the right thing? Every damn one of those people earned his place in history in part through law-breaking. Now conservatives want to turn them into lessons for knowing your place, being quiet, and respecting authority. Happily, what Jefferson County students seem to be learning is the value of fighting back.
