Saturday, August 06, 2022

Roe v. Wade and the AP Test

I guess this explanation is reasonable enough:

Questions about Roe v. Wade won’t be included on next year’s Advanced Placement U.S. Government and Politics exam, following the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of the ruling in June.

The College Board, the organization that runs the AP program, announced the decision in a message to AP U.S. Government and Politics teachers in July. Roe has been a required case in the course framework since the 2018-19 school year.

In the message, the College Board explained that the choice to remove questions about Roe has to do with how the AP tests are created. The exams are written years in advance, so questions about Roe as a legal precedent slated for the 2023 test “are at risk of becoming inaccurate and confusing to students,” the message reads.

The College Board plans to evaluate whether and how Roe will be included in future exams and provide an update to teachers in the fall.

I like this view from an AP teacher: 

Importantly, she wants students to come away from these discussions with the understanding that they can agree or disagree with Supreme Court decisions and that they can advocate for changes they want to see in the process or the outcomes—“that they are active players in this democratic republic,” Cohen said.

“The Supreme Court doesn’t provide the ‘right’ answer to a particular question. It produces finality—a final answer, or a final-for-now answer,” she said. “Students have this default ... respect for authority. And it’s kind of an opportunity to say, ‘No, no, no, maybe your arguments are better.’”

I wonder if she was this open-minded about Roe itself.  My gut tells me probably not.  I'll go further and suggest that she'd probably challenge a student who held this view:

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