themburg but it's the people who live and work here who will benefit and you would like to this that would be reason enough for change nick clark, al jazeera, gothamburg sweden. reading to be done on our website, the address is al jazeera.com. weekend i'm ray suarez, every kid that picks up a high school diploma in june will have taken some version of american history, the gathering debate over a demanding class shows that we are not sure what we wanted to do for students that take a class. do we teach american history to transmit an ideal version, create young patriots or teach a story, warts and all. we'll have that debate with jim

grossman from the historical association, and ian from the national review, and take you inside with an educator that helped to write the history framework. it's "inside story". advance placement quarters are much sought after by students, schoolboards offering a serious curriculum. calculus, chemistry - no chemistry. hard sciences are light on terms, and heavy on the notion that there's one right answer. advance placement american history, that's a political punching bag. the recent reformulation of curriculum and standards has legislators and school boards

gunning for new standard. the complaint, that it is too heavily weighted against the u.s. the portrait emerging is a racist society, rather than one that is a beacon of liberty to the world. the oklahoma legislator was moving to get rid of history. it was said: late this week - short of cutting a.p. history, but looking for ways to require new

readings in the curriculum to balance critical voices. other states debated the new a.p. standards. schoolboard and educators want emphasis on exceptionalism to balance slavery with the religious struggle to end it. in a statement it was said: an enormous state and influence on textbooks and curricula asked the college boards, which administers a.p. tests, to rewrite the curriculum. about a century ago the writer and historian van white brooks talked about a useable history

for america, not just a long list of events and dates, but a way to look at the country that helped to make sense of it. it's another fight about

>> there is a different function here. if we work with that question, which is the right one, what is history, form, it's informed citizenry. there are important things that we are doing when teachings history. one of the matters on the table is how to do it. do we do it and have student memorise stuff and forget it? do we try to set ways of thinking historically. to help students with issues that they confront. >> what do you think of this? the product representative - like a product oklahoma would

have us believe. >> there are points to be made on both sides. one matter to address my counterparts point is that the points about previous learnings with students, facts and figures - that they look at at the end of semesters. rather than establish there are, in fact, certain matters that every american should know, i agree, that there are other key

components of the courses. it's to provide

you you . >> providing the student the prepares that they need to pass the exam, the framework. they have to know answers to questions about brown versus board of education in the exam. the way it works is simple - you

google your favourite fact u your favourite name, james matheson, for example, and what you'll find is information, and you'll see the teachers are using this framework to teach the courses they are describing. there'll be plenty of fact and scaffolding that you need. but the teachers, who are professional are able to do it. what do you think oklahoma went on a full-frontal assault? >> full frontal may be a little

overzealous. the question that comes out of it, it's a debate and it's that what is taut. it's important for others that come to this, that they say, as jim did, that the teachers have full licence to teach the framework as - but when it comes to legislators. when it comes to texas and oklahoma, and other place, they ask the board to look at what is

actually provided for and value whether that is the best for our students. that's unfair to localities for the college boards we'll be back with more "inside story" after this short break. american hist - the end of a school year, should an american takenager know more about what happens before, when, why, or come away with a bigger idea of people from all over the world. stay with us. it's "inside story".

welcome back to "inside story" on al jazeera america. i'm ray suarez. now, if you need to you can knit stories together from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. stories that may not be

inspiring. we are looking at college bound schoolers, and the new curriculum for a.p. history. will the board look at a national framework, and come up with different matters to get the job done. joining me is two guests. jim, before the break you talked about low flexibility. over the course of the year, very different versions are carolina. >> it's possible. teachers teach in a different way. the point of the framework is for them to be emphasised

. yes, they might teach in different ways depending upon culture, ways in which they see the needs of their students. we have to trust the expertise. we ought to show more professional development. and provide professional development teachers. it doesn't tell mechanics how to work. the state doesn't tell them how to do heart surgery. teachers are qualified to teach american history. let's teach it. >> the kids are closing up books in june. do we want a kid that loves

the morals or a way of understanding america that they didn't have before. >> i think it's that ground level knowledge - that it is important. we see a lot of anecdotal evidence. personally, i don't think it matters - that slants towards encouraging a sense of pride. if you want those that are going to be informed, knowing a

narrative that is not going to encourage that. that doesn't mean that we need a curriculum that simply glosses over or lies about the dark periods, and i don't think it is offering that type of tutelage in the classroom. you can twist this you can give a student rational content-rich reads, to be proud of their country, and provide them with the habits of mind to be - to necessarily take it at face value, and know when descent might be appropriate. >> in the case of oklahoma, they may want readings which might

not use the word glorify, but show it in a positive light, particularly towards the country and its story. is that worth doing? >> i think it's worth doing. it can be clear from the beginning that it was about slavery, and many thousands died as soldiers in the united states army to eradicate slavery. when we talk about the war on slavery, that kind of pride is something we are proud of. i'm proud of the over 3 million who found a way to find out what freedom would be, rather than having other people defip it for

them -- define if for them. ways, image, the ways it has endured as a nation, in spite of that. i can't be proud of ways in which they were able to recall things, despite that. a lot it being proud, and you might say about others, i'm ashamed about this. there's nothing wrong with that. if my great grandfather did something wrong, i ought to be able to say "we are ashamed, he shouldn't have done that." it's the same way with the nation. >> quickly, before we go. are there a couple of thumb nails on the to-do list to fix some of this, and maybe

criticisms coming from states about the new framework. >> exactly right. we need to have a careful look at the issue at hand with issues in education. i think that the cooperation that will be given to this question in a variety of ways, whether it's through others, that will be encouraged and promote citizenship and a strong base for the student. i don't doubt. >> thank you both for being with us. still ahead on "inside story" - inside instruction of the a.p. history framework, a teacher that helped to write it. it's "inside story".

here on al jazeera america, i'm ray suarez. let's hear from one of the people who helped to kick off the debate. the chair of the history det, and an educator who wrote the framework for teaching advance placement of american history. welcome to inside story. >> thank you. >> just before we go, the sweet spot between america and a glorified american, jim tried in our warts and all past to teach - do you think they understood what you are up against when you are on the stage, and there's 25 people for

you to deliver to? >> they do. they might get the students to learn differently themselves. it. >> why did you need to rework the framework for teaching the american mystery to schoolkids? >> it's a process that the a.p. history course is one of the oldest courses in programming. really since the late 1950s. we are hearing that the course had turned into a course that involved multiple choice questions asking anything about the course of american

you you. >> are all your students ready, or do you have to get them ready? teaching them what is great about america? >> i think they are ready, eager. the biggest goal is when we are done, for them to be thinking about it. they are ready. they are ready to role play debates about issues, where some defend slavery, and others replay the federation. they are eager for the

discussion. and they are interested in the united states, and the future of the country. us. >> thank you for having me. >> that's all for this discussion of "inside story". we want you to talk back to your television. visit our facebook page, and tweet us. we'll see you next time. from washington, i'm ray suarez. >> the peninsula, in arabic, is aljazeera. our logo represents courage. fiercely independent quality reporting.

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