AP History in the Small and Rural School

In recent months, this column has devoted considerable space to articles that have evaluated the methods and grow­ing significance of Advanced Placement (AP) history. Little attention, however, has been given to what could properly be called an AP explosion and its subse­quent impact on the curriculum of the secondary school. The emergence of so many diverse courses has put significant pressure upon secondary schools, par­ticularly smaller institutions.

As AP courses capture the attention of curriculum committees throughout the country, teachers in the various aca­demic disciplines find themselves com­peting for many of the same students. With the promise of AP examinations in government and economics, teachers in the social sciences hope to attract more students to their courses while not threatening existing enrollments in AP US and European history. Smaller schools are thus presented with an op­portunity to offer AP classes that are considerably reduced in size. While aca­demically desirable, this is usually unwelcome by budget-conscious adminis­trators and boards of education.

Acquiring school board approval and maintaining departmental support are preliminary hurdles in developing a meaningful AP program. To sustain district interest and continue attracting students to our program in Garden City, Kansas (population 21,000), we have been forced to be creative in our approach. The creative approaches em­ployed in our AP history program have been the envy of other departments and assure us parental involvement and sup­port. These approaches are to some degree facilitated by the size of our community, but, we believe, are applica­ble to all schools offering AP courses in history or government.

Accent Local History

Smaller communities are often mes­merized by their own local history. Many of our citizens may not be able to tell you the significance of the Alien and Sedition Acts, but they can tell you about the great buffalo drive initiated by Buffalo Jones in 1888 to replenish the buffalo population of the Central High Plains, or of the Opera House that once made Garden City the cultural center of Eastern Colorado and Western Kansas. Because of an excellent area studies course offered at our junior high schools, students arrive at the high school already aware of many of these local events. The AP course, utilizing documents provided by the County His­torical Society, analyzes local historical events in light of their national setting. This provides students an opportunity to analyze primary sources and apply those sources to a specific writing project. I have also found it excellent prep­aration for the Document Based Question (DBQ) (see Perspectives, Feb. ’86, p. 14). Students have annually made presenta­tions to service clubs and churches in the community on local history projects. This is rewarding to students and meaningful for the whole community. Often their results have been compiled and catalogued in the city library and the archives of the county museum. Stu­dents have been attracted to the AP course because of the diversity of these projects. It gives them community expo­sure and provides a service to our local historical society.

University Alliance

In recent years, AP conferences have stressed the alliances that should exist between the AP programs in our schools and the history departments of our universities. Many small schools in rural settings suffer the geographical disad­vantage of not being close to major universities. But this should not discour­age AP teachers or schools that are considering establishing an AP pro­ gram. We have established three pro­grams that have worked to enhance the alliance and attract students to our courses.

Research Day: Every fall we board an activity bus (i.e., an old commercial bus used for long trips and necessary in rural school districts) and travel to Wichita State University (four hours away) where our students descend on the history collection in the university library; the cost of this trip is budgeted and paid for with district funds. The library staff at Wichita State provides a tour and briefs students on how to use their facility. The staff of the library are prepared to answer research questions and assist in acquiring material and equipment. Our students are permitted to examine and even check out primary and secondary sources, and they are also exposed to a wide variety of avail­able scholarly journals. This trip strengthens their research skills and as­sists in the research paper that is required the first semester.

Further, this opportunity exposes stu­dents to the collection of a major univer­sity library, an experience that many undergraduates do not have until their junior or senior year in college. Many of our graduates have remarked that this experience made entering their respec­tive university libraries less intimidating. In addition, we attempt to schedule these trips at a time when the history or political science departments have scheduled a special speaker. This pro­vides our students an opportunity to hear and see a major historian whose work they may have read. These experi­ences have done more to convince a potential history major of the excite­ment of our profession than almost any other single event.

University Weekend: The University of Kansas History Department has a director of undergraduate develop­ment, Lloyd Sponholtz, who can assist potential history majors in secondary schools. Lloyd has been receptive to our AP classes coming to the university once a year for the purpose of visiting with the members of the history department and exploring the vast resources of its museums and archives. Students visit history classes and are afforded the op­portunity to interview the director of the honors program. Part of the experi­ence includes a panel discussion with historians from various fields who ex­plain their current   research projects. Students are permitted to ask questions and inquire about the nature of the profession and the research process. Special tours are arranged, and oppor­tunities are given to AP students for visits with undergraduate majors; this has been useful for both the university and our students. From one experience at KU, five of the eleven students who made the seven-hour drive chose KU as their university. KU has realized the significance of this program for their recruitment, and they pay for the lodg­ing and meals for the two days the students are at KU; the school district pays for the transportation. These experiences have made the AP history course at Garden City High School much more appealing.

History Teaching Alliance: Growing out of the above program is our partici­pation in the History Teaching Alliance sponsored by the American Historical Association, the Organization of Ameri­can Historians, and the National Coun­cil for Social Studies. We recently re­ceived a grant that will enable our facul­ty to study at the University of Kansas for two weeks in the summer of 1986. Their topic will be the Constitution and will be followed by four in-service pro­grams that benefit area social science faculty and students; we anticipate full departmental cooperation and partici­pation.

Many of our citizens may not be able to tell you the significance of the Alien and Sedition Acts, but they can tell you about the great buffalo drive initiated by Buffalo Jones in 1888 . . .

Continuing education of the AP teacher is essential to solid AP history courses, and neither our geographical disadvantages nor the size of our school has inhibited our commitment to strengthen these courses.

Essential to the continuing education of our faculty is their participation in professional organizations. Currently, the AHA reports a membership of approximately 12,000. Of that number, only 521 are secondary school teachers. If the AP program is to continue having credibility with universities, we must take steps that will convince them we are serious about developing our profes­sional skills.

While professional memberships are not the only solution, they are an indication of our willingness to stay current in our fields. The History Teaching Alliance is to be commended for its efforts to strengthen the programs of the schools by allying secondary school teachers with history faculty at universi­ties. These steps, it is hoped, will strengthen the bond that should exist between the secondary school teacher and the university professor.

Washington Seminar

A third and final program that works exceptionally well in smaller communi­ties is participation in programs such as “The Washington Workshops: A Congressional Seminar.” Every year we take our AP US history class to Washington DC to participate in this one-week seminar. With the emergence of AP government, these programs will take on even greater significance. Beyond seeing and observing the work of the three branches of government, students work in the Library of Congress, tour the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of American History and, of course, tour the National Archives. The week transforms the historical abstractions of the distant past into realities that stu­dents can actually experience.

Financing the program is difficult but accessible in smaller communities. Our city has embraced this program by pro­viding special scholarships. Local civic clubs and patrons of the district take pride in sending their students to Wash­ington. Students get involved in a num­ber of fund-raising projects that enable them to pay for transportation. These community-based projects are more eas­ily accomplished in smaller towns where whole communities can become in­volved. Our students are not lost in the myriad events and programs that larger cities and school districts must face. A trip to Washington provides an invalu­able review of American history, and their incessant questions and excitement make the experience meaningful.

These are only several ideas that have been employed to attract students to the AP history program and the world of the professional historian. And, not insignificantly, they have enhanced the main objective of the course. The teach­ing of history requires the utilization of diverse methods and an openness to experimentation when applying materi­al. There is nothing more pathetic at the secondary school level than an AP teacher who lives with the fear of students’ low test scores. Such fear leads, I expect, to a sterile form of presentation and generally produces mediocre scores. While this is a difficult statement to validate, it has been my observation that when teaching to the test, the test becomes the most meaningful part of the course. The discipline of history will suffer greatly if secondary school teach­ ers see high test scores as their primary objective.

A major objective of teaching history, regardless of the level, should be the translation of historical data into sym­bols and language that are understand­ able in the contemporary setting. When the data are internalized into the life and experience of students, we have accomplished a major goal. Students will face the test with the necessary commitment to do well, but will also leave the course with greater curiosity and a more intense desire to apply what they have learned.

Smaller schools, and those specifically in a rural setting, should be encouraged to develop an AP curriculum. There are many advantages to be found in the smaller school. While resources may be limited, teachers can utilize devices not easily employed in larger schools. These devices, if creatively conceived and implemented, will attract curious and bright students.

My experience in the rural and small school has convinced me that there is greater opportunity for departmental cooperation and dialogue in developing curriculum and courses. For example, essays written in AP US history have often been accepted in junior English courses that emphasize American litera­ture. This eliminates pressure from stu­dents who are already burdened with excessive amounts of homework. Team­ing on these assignments has been to the advantage of everyone concerned. English faculty give attention to style and research methodology, while the history faculty evaluate sources, logic, and historiography. This project is time con­suming and requires considerable skill. The team approach allows for several reactions and evaluations of a paper that might normally be graded by one instructor.

Teaching AP in a small school with limited resources forced us to be cre­ative. We are certain others may be doing the same or more. What we have not been able to accomplish, however, is the establishment of a regional forum that will facilitate the sharing of con­cerns and information. Such forums, where history is the substance of the discussion, are necessary if the content of our AP course is to remain consistent with university expectations. It is the opinion of this AP teacher that the AP history courses we offer will be stronger because of such experiences.

With these considerations, small and rural schools should embrace the AP program in order to properly prepare their students for the rigors of college instruction. While issues related to staff­ing and student-teacher ratios will re­ main, smaller schools must seek creative approaches to address these issues. The AP concept and its related goals will be more fully realized if we encourage and assist all schools to participate in the AP program.