Florida Rejects College Board's New Course in African American Studies

Source: Earlham College

Yesterday Florida’s Board of Education rejected the College Board’s new AP African American Studies class—the same day that the state marks the birthday of Confederate general Robert E. Lee. The class is still in its pilot stage and will continue to be revised before it is made available to all schools in 2024-25.

This sort of move has become routine for Governor Ron DeSantis’s administration as he stokes fear among his constituents as a way to position himself for the 2024 presidential race.

Cassie Palelis, spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Education, said in a statement: “In its current form, the College Board’s AP African American Studies course lacks educational value and is contrary to Florida law. If the course comes into compliance and incorporates historically accurate content, the Department will reopen the discussion.”

Let’s be clear here. The state Board of Education just rejected an entire course of study.

I have no doubt that the curriculum was never sufficiently reviewed because this decision has nothing to do with education. The Board failed to offer a single violation of its “Stop WOKE Act,” which was passed last year or offer a single recommendation for how the curriculum can be approved.

Anyone who has experience teaching an AP history course will immediately see through this ruse. The College Board is far from a radical organization bent on teaching white students to hate themselves and the United States or radicalizing Black students. First and foremost, the College Board is a business.

The last thing it wants to do is rock the boat and I supect that this concern has been front and center in the development of this new course.

As someone who spent years teaching the AP course in United States history, I can say with full confidence that its curriculum falls right down the middle. There is nothing partisan about it. In fact, anyone interested in steering the course in a more liberal or conservative direction will have to go out of their way to do so.

This is by design precisely because the College Board is worried about the Ron DeSantis’s of the world.

I have not read the curriculum for the African American studies course, but I have little doubt that the same holds true.

It speaks volumes that among all the history and broader humanities courses offered by the College Board, only one focused on African American history has been singled out.

Ultimately, the rejection of this course by Governor DeSantis is part of a broader attempt to rally people, who are driven primarily by fear—in this case fear of African Americans and history. Ironically, these are the very same people who would benefit the most from taking this course.

As already mentioned, this course will continue to be revised, but in the event that the DeSantis administration chooses to reject it, the College Board should take a stand with the ultimatum that if you don’t offer this course for students to take, you can’t offer any AP courses. Of course, the College Board won’t do it, in part, for the reasons already mentioned, but it would be so nice to see someone stand up to this bigot and rank political opportunist.