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What Were We Thinking?
Imagine my surprise when I learned that the College Board, the organization that produces many Advanced Placement courses and the SAT for colleges around the country, agreed to meet the curricula expectations of Florida’s Department of Education. Unfortunately, someone “woke up” to the impact of that decision—caving in to the powers-that-be, Gov. DeSantis, in particular—and when the new draft content was presented, the Leftist protests began:
David Johns, executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition, a civil rights organization that advocates for Black LGBT people, asked the College Board to ‘consider pulling all AP classes from the State of Florida if Governor DeSantis continues to try to inject his political agenda into our classrooms.’
‘We urge the College Board to reconsider censoring its curriculum and the education of our young people to meet the demands of a Governor with a radical political agenda and stand firm in the belief that Black history in its beautiful diversity is American History,’ Johns said in a statement on Wednesday.
When the College Board realized how many woke Black Americans they had offended with the changes, they had this response:
‘We deeply regret not immediately denouncing the Florida Department of Education’s slander, magnified by the DeSantis administration’s subsequent comments,’ the College Board statement said. ‘Our failure to raise our voice betrayed Black scholars everywhere and those who have long toiled to build this remarkable field.’
What did they remove?
Though the nonprofit maintains it did not ‘purge’ the curriculum of key lessons concerning ‘Black feminism’ and ‘gay Black Americans,’ it also acknowledged a reduction in the ‘breadth’ of the new framework.
Of the units that appeared in the pilot course, those about intersectionality and activism, Black feminist literary thought, and Black Queer Studies are not in the final curriculum.
The framework also drops its exploration of the origins, mission and global influence of the Movement for Black Lives. Instead, Black Lives Matter is listed alongside Black conservatism as a sample course project, labeled ‘Illustrative Only.’
With these revisions, works by scholars including Roderick Ferguson, a professor of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Yale University, are now removed from the curriculum entirely.
Actually, I would have had them remove even more.
Gov. DeSantis reminded College Board that they had no power or influence in the matter of curricula approval:
‘So this College Board, nobody elected them to anything. They’re just kind of there and provide this service, and you can utilize those services or not,’ DeSantis said when asked to comment on the College Board’s statement over the weekend that the Florida Department of Education had slandered it. ‘They provided these AP courses for a long time but there are probably some other vendors able to do their job as good and maybe a lot better.’
Oops.
Students take AP courses because they think they give them an advantage in college admissions. The state also pays students’ exam fees and provides bonuses to teachers whose students pass those tests.
It’s unclear if other organizations offer AP classes, but I expect they will be established quickly, since Florida will likely not be the only state to reject the College Board courses (and there are 38, plus the SAT). And College Board doesn’t have a monopoly on AP curricula.
I expect a few heads might roll.
Published in Education
Sunshine State, indeed!
The more exposure the woke education bureaucrats and ersatz scholars get, the better. DeSantis continues to impress me.
But he should have said “…do their job as well and maybe a lot better.” I mean, given that the topic is education. ;)
One can only hope other states will jump on board.
I winced when I saw his word choice–I knew someone would catch it! Yeah, I agree . . . ;-) Thanks, Hank.
This is where one very important front is being fought against the Left.
For the life of me, I cannot understand why every GOP Governor isn’t joining in these types of reforms. Especially those “Red States” where the GOP controls the governor, state senates and assemblies.
Attacking these types of Leftist dominated entities is attacking the Leftist foundations and safe harbors.
I don’t get it either. Why is it only DeSantis? (Or why does it seem it’s only DeSantis? If other governors are doing the same, why are we not hearing the squeals of the woke about it?)
Thanks for the post, Susan.
My thought, in response, is that there is no neutral ground. I think that this is apparent from this quote from the OP (quoting David Johns, whoever he is):
This, apparently, from an advocate of Wokeist policies advancing Black Privilege and the perversion of homosexuality and transsexualism. Which, I hope that you all have noticed, is a political agenda that has been injected into our classrooms, relentlessly, for at least 30 years.
I think that this problem has reached the present point because of those who took a neutral view, for a long time. Education is inherently political, and ideological, and even theological. There is no way to avoid this. I think that a great many people have kept their heads in the sand, for decades, and allowed this nonsense. Because it needed to be fought, and most people didn’t want to fight.
I’m glad that there’s some fighting going on now, but it sure has taken a long time. I’m not optimistic about the prospects, either. As far as I can tell, even at a supposedly right-leaning site like Ricochet, the only insane idea of the Wokeists that actually leads to a consensus in opposition is the surgical and chemical mutilation of so-called trans children. There does not seem to be a consensus to oppose any other part of the Wokeist agenda.
Unfortunately DeSantis has other “credentials” that many of us celebrate and others denigrate. COVID, vaccines. Let’s not forget the teachers’ unions. I think at some point the governors will join in. Certainly we’ve seen movement with AGs.
It has taken a long time. And I’m as guilty as anyone, wishing it would all go away. The squeaky wheel getting the oil may not be enough. We really need a TNT-like blast! So in a way, I hope this stays in the news with new groups replacing College Boards successfully!
And because APs can give them college credit, and a leg up in life. Which makes APs a taste of what is to come in their education. It is a case of truth in advertising, I am afraid.
They can offer all the “advanced” placement classes for Aggrieved Group Studies as they like. The state has no need of utilizing that swill.
Red states have a lot of ideological Democrats who run as Republicans because getting elected is easier that way. The Governor of Utah is an outstanding example. And red state legislatures are full of such stealth Democrats. They aren’t advancing a De Santis agenda because they ideologically Democrats.
Strange but you never see the reverse phenomenon; conservatives running as Democrats in blue states.
This is very helpful, VTK. I expect it would explain a lot if we broke it down.
I’d put this down to most conservatives’ inability not to guffaw or to show a shocked face when, hanging with Democrats, they hear their loony beliefs, instantly outing said conservatives and leading to their being
cast into the outer darknesspurged.Because they fear DeSantis is stronger than Trump in the polls and are trying to take him out before the primary or at least smear him in case he wins so they can use the race card against him.
Indeed, DeSantis misspoke just a bit. I caught that as well. Ha!
I think that you’re correct in this observation.
Why do you think that this is the case?
Those of us who were well-taught can’t possibly ignore it!
I am not sure about your last paragraph, but I definitely agree with the rest. I chortled when i read Susan’s quote from Mr. whoever he is about injecting political agendas. Just another of millions of examples of the lest accusing conservatives of doing exactly what the left is doing. I believe it is called “projecting”.
I think that I disagree, if I understand you correctly.
I’m saying that the right should be injecting political agendas into education, just as the left has done. I’m not sure whether or not you agree with this, cdor. I suspect that you do not, based on your use of the word “projecting,” but I don’t know. What do you think?
OK, enough!
Leftists very often try to disguise their agenda by claiming that their dastardly deeds are actually being performed, not by them, but by conservatives. So in some ways, we do disagree. But you are stating that the left has already succeeded in changing reality and therefore conservatives must now behave as leftists did over the past 30 years or so. In this I agree.
OK, but why? Why do what cdor calls “ideological Democrats” find success in running as Republicans in “red states”?
I think (?) because we on the Right were more focused on “The R” than on actual results. As both end of the political spectrum polarize more, both sides are demanding more fealty to professed stances.
The days of the “Squish” are numbered, moreso in Red States where base voters want to see tangible results.
Also, there’s no qualification test for party registration among voters OR candidates. Candidates can run for office as Republican just by marking the “Republican” box on the forms. It’s up to the voters to determine if they’re actually qualified.
I am confused as to how the AP classes could be pulled.
No one owns any of the curriculum necessary for teaching students any subject on an advanced level.
The Florida legislature seems solidly behind the governor, as far as I can tell.
But even if they aren’t, school district admins could see to it that AP classes will continue to be taught.
It seems that College Board (Inc.?) does provide Advanced Placement curricula and testing materials that schools can use, which presumably means they own it and can block schools from using it if they want to. But they aren’t the only source.
Many/most schools could deal with College Board because it’s easier, maybe College Board was first to go nationwide or something, and they have The Name now…
Yes that is true. I wasn’t denying that the College Board might not be a player. But in a lot of private schools, they develop their own material for teaching on an advanced level.
A great many teachers, public and private, have done that as well.