By: Kenzie Kesselring

A suburban Denver school board recently proposed a change to the AP U.S. history curriculum that is causing a lot of controversy between teachers, students and school board members.

The new curriculum would “promote citizenship, patriotism, essentials and benefits of the free enterprise system, respect for authority, and respect for individual rights to a higher degree,” as written by board member Julie Williams.

“Material should not encourage or condone civil disorder, social strife or disregard the law,” Williams’ proposal reads. This is the portion of the proposal that ironically enough has students protesting outside of their high school.

The Jefferson County high school juniors and seniors involved in the protests are concerned about their AP test scores meaning less than they should, and rightfully so. This is a probability if this proposal is set into place.

It is outlandish and unfair for this school district to believe they can cut out vital parts of American history from their curriculum because they are unpleasant. If this proposal were to pass it would be doing a great disservice to these students and harming the future of their education.

These students will be greatly disadvantaged when they enter college because they will be unexposed to all parts of history, unlike their counterparts from other school districts. This would rob the students of their fundamental right to an equal and fair education.

Many fundamental parts of American history came out of civil disorder and people striving for a higher social standing in society. Prohibiting students from learning about these events would be un-American in itself.

We are a nation that learns from its mistakes and strives to be better every day. If we choose to ignore the darker parts of our history, we are doomed to repeat the past.

Every piece of American history is significant. It got our country to where it is today, and if citizens begin to allow the censorship of history, the direction we are headed in is much darker than anywhere we’ve been in the past.