"It’s easy to understand the instinct to keep the class objective. People who oppose having a separate African-American history course in the first place..."

"... will portray it as an ideological program or divisive propaganda. (This, of course, assumes that any other course in history—world history or European hstory [sic]—is not ideologically driven.) While no one has to fight to legitimize a course in, say, Algebra, proponents of ethnic studies are always put on the defensive. Darlene Clark Hine, the Northwestern professor who adapted a college textbook to create the one taught to Philly high-school students, argued that one of its strengths was that it lays out a history 'as tight and compelling as possible, without a lot of scholarly debate over interpretations.' The stated goal of the text, according to a 2005 Philadelphia Inquirer article, was to instruct students in chronological progression and cause and effect. But if the class can be vexing for students, it’s no less so for the people standing at the front of the room, who sometimes fear that introducing current events and encouraging interpretation and debate will lead to controversy or open conflict...."

From a New Republic article subtitled "Lessons from Philadelphia's mandatory African American History classes."