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#SaveAPWorld
#SaveAPWorld
For more information:
From Politico: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/11/ap-world-history-gets-a-makeover-and-high-school-teachers-rebel-611307
From Learning For Justice Magazine: https://www.learningforjustice.org/magazine/ap-world-history-is-worth-saving
From Eric Beckman: http://ebeckman.org/2018/08/06/decolonizing-classroom-discussions-of-colonialism/
From Berkshire-Hathaway Publishing: https://www.berkshirepublishing.com/blog/we-need-all-of-human-history-join-the-campaign-saveapworld-✂🔭/
From Bram Hubbell: https://twitter.com/bramhubbell/status/1006173291781017601
From On Top of The World History Podcast: https://x.com/PodHistory?s=20
Our Main Twitter Page: https://x.com/SaveAPWorld1?s=20
And my favorite...From The Economist Magazine, because it was written by Dunbar Graduate and former WHAP student Idrees Kahloon:
Last but not least, here's my take on the situation from 2019, and I still agree:
Even though the AP test will begin at the year 1200 CE, I believe it is absolutely vital for students to understand the historical context prior to that period. Students need to know the whole story to understand world history, and this course is NOT just about the exam. Consequently, I played a large role in the protests against the changes (exam material used to start with farming). My viewpoint is shared by the entire World History Association, American History Association, every chief reader of every past AP World History exam, and MANY of the leading scholars in our field, such as textbook authors Dr. Robert Strayer, Dr. Ross Dunn, Dr. Laura Mitchell, Dr. Merry Weisner-Hanks, Dr. Howard Spodek, Dr. Patrick Manning, etc. These are the “founding fathers” of world history as a field of study and they all agree that starting at 1200 CE is a mistake. Many well-articulated explanations can be found in the “Letters to Trevor” (Trevor Packer, who leads the College Board) section of our website www.saveAPworld.org. Further explanations can be found in the “News” and “Blog” sections where you’ll see news coverage from NPR, CNN, the New York Times, Washington Post, Edweek, Politico, The Economist (written by Dunbar’s own Idress Kahloon who is now the Economist's Washington Bureau Chief), the BBC, Teaching Tolerance Magazine, Brietbart News and many, many others. Despite the protests of virtually the entire world history community (high school and college), the changes were still made, based on Trevor Packer’s unilateral decision, even though he has NO degree in history, so the exam material will begin at 1200 CE. However, one of the requirements for all of the essays is contextualization, which simply cannot be done unless students know what happened BEFORE 1200. Starting at 1200 is the equivalent of starting American history at the Civil War without ever mentioning slavery or the Constitution. Additionally, starting at 1200 leaves out the golden ages of sub-Saharan Africa, China, India, Greece, Rome, Persia as well as much of the Middle East. It makes it seem as if nothing was happening in those places until the Europeans arrived, which simply is NOT TRUE. In my opinion, this would be a Eurocentric (read: racist) interpretation and I find that completely unacceptable. Therefore, like the majority of the 4500 World History teachers who share the AP World Facebook group with me, we will be doing a “Unit 0” that covers (albeit briefly) the entire scope of world history, from the Agricultural Revolution and the first civilizations all the way up to the present. We will learn the GLOBAL story, the WHOLE story, in which everyone in our class gets to learn about their own heritage in a positive light, and not just as the victims of European imperialism. I believe the most important thing I can teach students in this class is to have respect for other cultures, as well as for their own, and we need the whole story to do that. That is far more critical to their success in our global society than their score on one measly exam.
Copyright © 2019 Michelle Peck Williams. All Rights Reserved.
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