Leaving plenty of time to get to googling and bone up on the accomplishments of notable africanamericans. Like Garrett Morgan the son of formerly enslaved parents, who was the first person to apply for and receive a u. S. Patent for a traffic signal. Ida b. Wells, a journalist and activist who led a tireless crusade against lynching in the 1890s. Dr. Daniel Hale Williams the first physician to perform and successfully complete open heart surgery on a patient in the United States. Or Marian Anderson whose soaring voice earned her the distinction of being both the first africanamerican to perform with the new York Metropolitan Opera and the first to perform at the invitation of franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt at the white house. And the list goes on. But of course africanAmerican History, which is to say American History, is much more than a listing of little known names and facts. Any honest interrogation of that history means not just gathering a collection of trivia about individual americans but also engaging with the historical moments in which these people lived. Which in the case of africanamericans could mean grappling with the fact that many succeeded in spite of not because of the conditions of their lives in this country. Or in the case of for example, one of our nations most beloved Founding Fathers learning that American History lessons are often complicated and conflicting. We know that yes, George Washington was the champion of freedom and liberty who led our nation through the war for independence against great britain. But a closer examination of history also akwantscquaints of the with George Washington, who on the eve of the American Revolution owned a plantation and 150 human persons as slaves. Who, when one of those people escaped to freedom, spent nearly the rest of his life using his considerable resources to find and try to reenslave her. These are indisputable facts of American History. But what is in dispute is how we deploy these facts in our telling of the american story. As we saw this week in oklahoma where American History became the target of lawmakers who didnt like the way that story is being told in classrooms throughout the state. On monday an Oklahoma HouseCommittee Approved a bill to stop the state from funding advanced placement history courses, which would have in effect banned a. P. History from being taught in the state of oklahoma. The a. P. Program, which is owned by the College Board, offers High School Students an Optional University level course of study and the opportunity to earn College Credit or advanced placement in college bypassing a final exam. In 2012 the College Board revived the curriculum framework for a. P. History and the oklahoma lawmaker who proposed the ban said the revision emphasizes what is bad about america. But the collection of historians and instructors who wrote the framework say they were guided by input from teachers who felt that the old version of the test prevented them and their students from exploring in any depth the main events and documents of u. S. History. That it caused them to rush their students in a quick march through a list of historical events with too few opportunities to understand the why of u. S. History. Or to make its deeper meanings come alive to students. In other words they made the changes to avoid the kind of teach to the test learning that can leave students knowing a lot about how to take an American History exam but very little about American History. On wednesday after two days of National Attention and chris sichl criticism the lawmaker behind the bill said he would rewrite it and said he was very supportive of the a. P. Program. Similar claims about the inefficient patriotism of a. P. History have been made in colorado, georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and texas, which means that for now at least the classroom will continue to remain the site of political battles over the american story. Joining me now from los angeles is pedro nogera, a professor of sociology at New York University an executive director of the center for urban education. And moyne nadine from oklahoma whose petition is asking lawmakers not to ban a. P. Classes and it gathered more than 10,000 signatures in 24 hours. Let me start with you, professor. This big question. Why is teaching American History so fraught . Whats at stake in this battle . Well good morning, melissa. Many things are at stake. American history has been contested for a long time. Which version do we tell the parts that you just started with about americas experience with slavery, our treatment of native americans, do we focus only on the wars that weve won or on the activities of great president s. The real challenge is how do you tell the complex story of america in all its richness and provide students with a critical understanding of its history. So teaching history itself is a challenge. But this particular legislation is about prescribing a version of history that is politicized and, i think, dangerous to students. Weve seen this as you pointed out, happening in other places as well. In texas where they try to ban the teaching of revolution in jefferson, colorado Jefferson County where they try to meddle with the curriculum. So its something weve seen in many places. Moyne, i want to come to you on skype. I thought it was fascinating that you took to Political Action here to actually address the question of what was being taught in a. P. History. Why take that tact . Why did you make that decision . I originally had seen stuff and my school tweeting about it. My original reaction was this cant be allowed to happen. I didnt think it would happen. Then i realized that it was an 114 vote by the House Education Committee and stuff was already in motion so i decided to do something about it. The easiest way to do that was create a petition. Do you feel like youve had a bit of a victory with the decision on the part of a main lawmaker to pull back . You call it a small victory. It is a victory but they are still considering rewriting the course and still performing action against the course. Stick with us. Professor, let me come back to you a second because it does seem that part of this is about history and the teaching of history. Part of it also feels like a bigger question of pedagogy. Given that part of these revisions were about wanting to push students to engage with American History rather than learn the list learn the names and the dates, have we moved in this kind of test as the one marker of whether or not you know something, have you moved to a place where we actually dont want students to learn ideas, we really just want them to learn facts . Well i think that is also a concern here thats been raised. That is that you want to use history, the teaching of history to motivate people to learn more about their country. And to engage the students intellectually in the learning of history. I would say too often weve done it as a collection of facts and students are bored and disengaged and thats one of the reasons why Many Americans know very little about history, they know very little about geography, were engaged with the islamic world. Most americans know very little about islam or that part of the world so theres a real problem in the way we teach history and the way we have approached this subject. At the same time the danger were seeing here in oklahoma is the politicization. I would hope all parents, educators would see the danger of this. When you start to see attempts from politicians to impose a particular ideology on our children and our schools, this is really i think, a very ominous 69 that we all should be wary of. Moin would you agree that we dont know enough about history, that the way that its being taught might make it hold up professor. Let me get moin in real quick. Im sorry. Definitely. I feel like ive done both the old test and the new test. The new test is just a conceptual based test where theyll ask you more about what happened, less about what happened but more about just line analyzing parts of the stuff that happened. And i think its making you think critically which is a great skill to have and less of just regurgitating facts. Whenever i take the old test its easier because i can memorize facts right before the test and get an a but its not better for me and the new test is educating us more about curriculum. Professor, obviously a big issue this week was the comments of former mayor giuliani about our president saying that he doesnt love america, that he was taught not to love it. Seems to me to some of that is happening in this pushback against the a. P. Curriculum. The idea that somehow this test will teach students to hate america rather than love it. Why are we afraid to critique our nation even as we learn about it . Again, it comes from a very narrow sense of what patriotism is. You know Brian Stevenson just did a study on lynching across america and showed over 4,000 cases of lynchings in the country. Should we omit that from our history . I dont think so. I think we should teach our history in a way that allows us to look closely at whats been wrong, at the same time at what needs to be done to create a more equal and just society. So i think that the challenge is going to be to ensure that our kids get exposed to a range of ideas, that they learn how to continue to study themselves how to continue to search for answers to some of the problems facing our country. When you look at someone like Rudolph Giulianis comments, you really get a sense that theres another group out there that wants to try to drive a very narrow agenda. They had similar reaction to when president obama spoke at the Prayer Breakfast about the about the importance of acknowledging christianitys role in perpetrating terror both in the americas and abroad. So we have to not be afraid of looking at our history and asking what can we learn from this and what can we do differently in the future to ensure these kinds of atrocities dont occur again. To not know your history is to be doomed. Thank you to pedro noguer a m moin 98 deem. Next, my letter of the week. Well its only 100 calories, so youll be ready for that dress uhhuh. You dont love the dress . I love my sister. 40 flavors. 100 calories or less. I want my yoga pants to smell like i sweat money. I want to smell the way champagne tastes. I love champagne. Infuse your laundry with. Up to 12 weeks of luxurious longlasting scents. Unstopables in wash scent booster. Rning it twice. D cash back on purchases. Thats a win. But imagine earning it twice. Introducing the citi® double cash card. It lets you earn cash back twice, once when you buy and again as you pay. Its cash back. Then cash back again. And thats a cash back winwin. The citi double cash card. The only card that lets you earn cash back twice on every purchase with 1 when you buy and 1 as you pay. With two ways to earn, it makes a lot of other cards seem onesided. Potential 2016 president ial candidates gear up for what may very well be a campaign against a former u. S. Secretary of state, many gop hopefuls are looking to burnish their Foreign Policy krecredentials. For many would be candidates, that means taking a trip to london and inevitably making some embarrassing misstep on vaccines or imaginary nogo zones. But for one, Foreign Policy is more than just a weak tons shore up, its a veritable minefield to be navigated, which is why my letter of the week is to former Florida Governor jeb bush. Dear governor bush its me melissa. This week you, brother of george and son of other george finally told us where you stand on the one political issue most identified with the bush legacy. War. In the leadup to your big Foreign Policy speech to the Chicago Council on global affairs, you distanced yourself from the policies of your brother by saying quote, i am my own man. In that speech you even went so far as to acknowledge that when it came to the iraq war in particular, there were mistakes made. I did note the use of passive voice there. But admitting that there were mistakes in your brothers Foreign Policy sand promising a new direction is a hopeful sign for those who were worried you might just retread your brothers disastrous wars. But then we learned just who is helping you form your new, fresh, independent views. As the Washington Post illustrates in this handy venn diagram, a lot of people from early administrations. One name at the nexus of this graph sticks out like a sore thumb, Paul Wolfowitz. Now, governor im my own man bush i can see how you might think an adviser from the administrations of ronald reagan, your father and brother may have the type of history that would make them a strong Foreign Policy adviser for you. But if you want to talk about how mistakes were made during the iraq war, then look no further than Paul Wolfowitz. Here are just a few of the pieces of advice from deputy secretary of defense Paul Wolfowitz during your brothers presidency. Now, he advised on how u. S. Troops would be received in iraq. These are arabs 23 of the most educated people in the arab world who will welcome us as liberators. Then he advised on what the war would cost. Were not dealing with afghanistan thats a permanent war of an international community. Were dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction and relatively soon. Hmm. He then advised on necessary troop levels. Some of the higherend predictions that we have been hearing recently such as the notion that it will take several hundred thousand u. S. Troops to provide stability in postsaddam iraq are wildly off the mark. Talk about wildly off the mark, he also advised on what wed see in a postwar iraq. Theres been none of the record in iraq of ethnic militias fighting one another. We have no idea what kind of ethnic strife might appear in the future although it has not been the history of iraqs recent past. That governor bush is the man you picked wrong on iraqi reaction to u. S. Presence, wrong on the cost of war, wrong on the needs on the ground wrong on the ethnic relations in postwar iraq but apparently just the ride choice to be back in your inner circle. Governor if you want to convince us that you are your own man, you might want to start by getting your own advisers. Sincerely, melissa. Doug, we have the results, but first, we have a very special guest. Come on out, flo [house band playing] you have anything to say to flo . Nah, ill just let the results do the talking. [crowd booing] well, he can do that. We show our progressive direct rate and the rates of our competitors even if progressive isnt the lowest. It looks like progressive is not the lowest ohhhh when we return well find out whether doug is the father. Wait, what . 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