Catherine Shieh
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Here's my blog.
​I talk a lot about education, race, and ethnic studies... right here.
​Down below.

i have doubts that "this moment" is one for the history books.

6/4/2020

1 Comment

 
Picturefor the record, i don't think this is going to happen.
 I took the liberty of looking at the 2019 AP US History exam. Here are the time periods I recorded that students had to write about in this exam:
  • 1607-1754
  • 1754-1776
  • 1765-1800
  • 1830-1865
  • 1883
  • 1890-1910
  • 1902
  • 1909
  • 1911
  • 1913
  • 1917
  • 1918
  • 1940s
  • 1940-1970
  • Notice a time period that's missing? Like the entirety of the past 50 years?
Spoiler alert: the tests don't change that drastically from year to year. 
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For the skeptics, why don't we break this down. note the percentages in black. 1980s-present is 4-6% of the curriculum. 

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I REMEMBER SPENDING A MINIMUM 4 MONTHS STUDYING THE ERAS FROM 1491 (ALSO WEIRD YEAR TO FLEX, COLUMBUS NEVER SET FOOT ON "AMERICAN SOIL") TO 1848. 2 MONTHS IN SUMMER, 2 MONTHS IN THE SCHOOL YEAR. THAT IS 1/5TH OF THE SCHOOL YEAR.

regular US history teachers aren't better. usually teachers have to teach more than 1 class - so the US history teacher and the AP US History teacher are the same person. as a coping mechanism (because the job is pretty much an impossible job), that teachers will teach regular US history similarly to APUSH, not the other way around. You have your reputation on the line, after all (shoutout to pass rates). One additional thing: There's also a recurring feedback loop - the easiest units to teach are the ones with more resources, the units with more resources are the Revolution, Civil War, WW2, aka anything pre-1970s, and the cycle continues.


This is all to say that I think this idea that "we will teach this in history and we will be appalled" is still wishful thinking. Demand that the tests change. Reallocate those percentages. Demand that the curriculum and standards change. Demand that course offerings change.
1 Comment
Winston
6/4/2020 08:11:03 pm

Catherine,

This is excellent stuff!!

I am going to miss you in Southern California!!

Reply



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  • Home
  • About
    • Official Bio
    • Blog, aka Ramblings
  • Services
  • Portfolio
    • Projects
    • Class Observations
  • Let's Talk