The College Board is revising a proposed ‘African American Studies’ Advance Placement (AP) course evaluated and rejected by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
DeSantis criticized the program for being too woke, embedding concepts like Critical Race Theory and other forms of progressive ideology, but his objections were not just about style. He suggested that the program could violate Florida law.
Guy Benson of Townhall wrote about this recently:
NEW: DeSantis Administration Defends Rejection of Proposed ‘African American Studies’ AP CurriculumIn response to our coverage on this issue yesterday, DeSantis administration officials reached out to Townhall to further defend Florida’s decision to reject the College Board’s proposed ‘African American Studies’ Advance Placement (AP) course. The new curriculum is being tested in a pilot program underway in several dozen unidentified high schools across the country, though its contents have been kept out of public view — even as states are being asked to approve it for wider introduction. Having reviewed it in depth, Florida informed the College Board that the course would not be permitted in Florida schools, barring significant changes…”In the future, should College Board be willing to come back to the table with lawful, historically accurate content, FDOE will always be willing to reopen the discussion,” the letter concludes. When the state threw down a similar gauntlet to textbook publishers over content deemed inappropriate or politically charged last year, alterations were made and the texts were ultimately approved.
In the same way, they did with the dishonest ‘don’t say gay’ campaign, Democrats and the media have repeatedly and dishonestly framed this story as DeSantis trying to prevent the teaching of African American history in schools.
But now the College Board has come around and is revising the program.
Florida’s Voice reports:
College Board to revise AP African American Studies course rejected by DeSantis administrationThe College Board announced it would update the AP African American Studies course after the Florida Department of Education rejected the initial version due to lack of “educational value” and “historical accuracy.”The College Board said it would release the course’s “official framework,” which has been in the works since March 2022 to replace the preliminary pilot course framework. The revised program framework is expected to be released Feb. 1, which is the first day of Black History Month.“Before a new AP course is made broadly available, it is piloted in a small number of high schools to gather feedback from high schools and colleges. The official course framework incorporates this feedback and defines what students will encounter on the AP Exam for college credit and placement,” the College Board said. “We are grateful for the contributions of experts, teachers, and students and look forward to sharing the framework broadly.”A spokesperson for the Florida Department of Education, Alex Lanfranconi, said the department is glad the College Board recognized that the originally submitted course curriculum is “problematic” and was encouraged by the Board’s willingness to amend.
DeSantis is not trying to ‘ban’ the study of anything. He wants the program to be based on history and education rather than indoctrination.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY