I’m sure you’ve heard that American history is messy. I’ll affirm that. Our nation has progressed through centuries of tragedy, oppression, segregation and hate. But that doesn’t mean its story shouldn’t be told in as complete a form as is available.

With new standards now in effect for Advanced Placement United States History, many are wondering whether students will be taught American history in its entirety. According to Stanley Kurtz of the National Review, past AP standards have been broad, acting more as topical outlines than as a strict curriculum. For the 2014-2015 school year, however, those standards have been expanded to a 98-page framework which extensively details what is to be taught in the course.

This change has occurred largely because the College Board recently got a new president (who, according to the Huffington Post, just happens to be the writer of the Common Core as well). On May 8, hundreds of thousands of high-school kids will be tested on the material covered therein.

However, this framework happens to skim over such important political figures as the very father of our nation, while his comrades, Benjamin Franklin and James Madison, aren’t even mentioned. The entire curriculum seems to be an attempt to instill guilt for our wrongdoings in young Americans; it essentially characterizes the Declaration of Independence as a document asserting our superiority over other peoples.

In addition to these glaring omissions and errors, the whole course smacks of liberal bias. I am a wholehearted believer in democracy. Everyone should be able to express their political opinions. But imposing doctrines that are distinctly biased in either direction on captive audiences of high school students nationwide is simply not appropriate. As a student in the class, I have certainly noticed the left-leaning stance of the curriculum, and there have been many areas I have not felt were adequately covered.

According to the Huffington Post, more than 460,000 students took the AP exam corresponding to this class in May 2014. An even greater number than that were enrolled in the course for the entire school year leading up to the exam. That adds up to about half a million of the best and brightest members of America’s rising generation who are now learning about their own nation’s history and politics in an atmosphere of brazen bias. These kids are the ones who take an interest in their education, in social sciences, and probably politics, too. And as the course is most often taught to juniors in high school, they’re also the ones who will be eligible to vote in under a year.

Many conservative states have balked at this liberal indoctrination of their youth. Members of the Oklahoma State Legislature have proposed a bill that would replace the AP U.S. History class with their own version of the course unless the College Board agrees to change the current curriculum, effectively banning the course. North Carolina and Georgia are also experiencing a backlash over the recent updates.

But every state should be concerned about providing up-and-coming voters with a version of America’s history that omits and misrepresents so many critical figures and events.

I think the AP United States History curriculum should be redesigned again, with a happy medium in mind. The framework should acknowledge that America hasn’t always taken the high road, while still endowing students with an appreciation for their country. Strides should also be taken to make sure all important and relevant information is present in the material; a balance between specific events and broad course goals needs to be found to make sure students are properly equipped.

United States history should not be a class designed to imbue teenagers with loyalty to one political party or another. Instead, it should be a place where both pride and humility are taught, an atmosphere that will help us simultaneously learn from past mistakes and respect the leaders who have brought us to the forefront of global relations and commerce. Ultimately, it should be an environs where we Americans can learn about ourselves.

Elle Gossner is a junior at Weber High School. She enjoys musical theater and reading. Contact her at gnorkyone@gmail.com.