NC state standards call for applying critical lenses to history and considering traditionally marginalized groups’ perspectives. However, there is a substantial gap between popular perceptions of history, and much of critical revisionist history. Applying a revisionist narrative that takes modern scholarship into perspective causes distrust from a public accustomed to traditional historical narratives and does not empower students to practice history. The issue is that history is taught as narrative, not a practice, and so long as that remains the case, the mission of popular history education and historical pedagogy will lead to conflict and confusion.