ABFFE Among Groups Opposing American History Curriculum Review Proposal

Eight national and local organizations, including the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado, and the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) have written to Colorado’s Jefferson County School Board to oppose a proposed review of the curriculum for Advanced Placement U.S. History.

Board members have stated that the goal of the review is to ensure the curriculum does not only “promote citizenship, patriotism, essentials and benefits of the free enterprise system, respect for authority and respect for individual rights,” but also does “not encourage or condone civil disorder, social strife or disregard of the law.” The proposal calls for the formation of a committee to review instructional materials to see that they “present positive aspects of the United States and its heritage” and to identify materials that “may reasonably be deemed” to be “objectionable.”

The groups, which support academic freedom and oppose censorship in education, called aspects of the proposal “deeply problematic.”

In a letter to the school board on October 1, the groups noted that “it would be nearly impossible to teach U.S. history without reference to ‘civil disorder,’ which is appropriately discussed in connection with the American revolution, the labor movement, civil rights and gay rights activism, U.S. entry into World War I, voting rights protests, and public demonstrations against the war in Vietnam, abortion rights, government surveillance, and countless other significant events in U.S. history.”

ABFFE President Chris Finan said, “Does telling kids the story of Rosa Parks ‘encourage or condone civil disorder, social strife or disregard of the law?’ You cannot teach American history without discussing the important role of civil disobedience. Good teaching is giving students the facts and letting them think for themselves.”

And Joan Bertin, executive director of NCAC, which spearheaded the group’s response, noted that “it is well established that public school officials are not constitutionally permitted to suppress information and ideas on the ground that it is ‘unpatriotic’ or ‘objectionable’.  Students are in school to gain knowledge and learn to analyze facts and think for themselves, not to be indoctrinated into a particular view of patriotism.”

Other signers of the letter include National Council for the Social Studies, National Council of Teachers of English, PEN American Center, the Comic Book Legal Defense and Education Fund, and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.

The Jefferson County School Board curriculum review proposal, which has been met with protests across the district by students, parents, and teachers, is scheduled for consideration at a public meeting on Thursday, October 2.