House Bill 1380
I’ve read that about every twenty years or so, out language turns over. Meaning, words and phrases that carry meaning for one generation, die out when the next generation comes along.
Well, I’ve lived through a few of those turnovers. For example, “A picture fell off the wall and we knew somebody was going to die.” And what about, “It was raining and the sun was shining. The devil was whipping his wife.” Did you ever hear your Grandmother say, “Don’t shake the floor… there’s a cake in the oven.” Probably not. And chances are, you never heard anybody say, “It’s a two or three dog night.” If you did chances are you didn’t understand the meaning. No, our language has lost a lot of color over the years. In fact, I’d be willing to bet I could say something that would leave the twitter crowd scratching their heads. For example, “Drop me a dime and maybe we can cruise ground zero.” If you were a teenager in 1948 you would understand that I just said, “Call me, lets do lunch.” Or how about, “She’s a Holly Golightly.” Major insult. Holly Golightly symbolizes an attractive woman of little substance. That came from the Motion picture, Breakfast at Tiffany’s in 1961. One more and then I’ll get back to business. Ever heard the phrase “Sweep it under the rug”? It refers to hiding a problem rather than solving it, which brings me to House Bill 1380, by Rep. Dan Fisher. This bill is an example of why state lawmakers shouldn’t try to write school curriculum. Here’s what happened. Last year, there was a sad move by lawmakers to reject Common Core standards for Oklahoma schools. That little party included a requirement that the state had sole control over school curriculum, including all AP classes. AP or Advance Placement courses allow a high school student to take courses taught at a college level. The result is, when they do enter college, they don’t have to take those courses and can move on to other required college courses. It’s a money and time saver and just makes sense to better prepare student achievers for the work they’ll be facing.
Then along comes Rep. Dan Fisher, an ordained minister who wrote House Bill 1380. His bill would bar the use of state money to pay for Advance Placement U.S. History courses. His reasoning behind the bill,… well, he says AP History should be kicked out of Oklahoma schools, because it emphasizes “what is bad about America” and omits what he calls,
“American Exceptionalism”. What? The committee of which he is a member recently approved it. The backlash came quickly and with a roar. It also got a lot of national attention. All of it bad. Oh goody,… just what Oklahoma needs more of. It’s evidence that Oklahoma voters have put another fox, in the hen house.
There is, however, good news and bad news to this story. The bad news is Rep. Fisher says because of the reaction and criticism of his bill, he’s going to re-write it. Which means, it ain’t over folks cause he’s still involved. The good news is State School Superintendent Joy Hofmeister says she is “partnering” with Rep. Fisher to revise the bill.
Hopefully, there won’t be an effort to re-write history, rather the result will be a measure that stays true to actual history and not to some wild eyed idea of what history should be. Let me repeat myself here… HB 1380 goes far beyond the term ‘bad legislation’ and proves that members of the Oklahoma Legislature should not try to write school curriculum. This is also the perfect opportunity for our new State School Superintendent to demonstrate, that voter confidence in her was deserved. A chance to prove leadership.
As it stands, HB 1380 reminds me of another old phrase you don’t hear anymore but certainly seems appropriate: “You can put lipstick on a pig… but it’s still a pig.”
I’m Sam Jones and that’s my perspective.
Perspectives season 9, episode 12
