Florida Rejects African American Studies Program, Says It ‘Lacks Educational Value’

A brand new Superior Placement course on African American studies for highschool college students is being blocked by the administration of the Republican governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis.

In a letter to the Faculty Board, the nonprofit group that administers the SAT and oversees AP coursework, the Florida Division of Schooling’s Workplace of Articulation mentioned the course is “inexplicably opposite to Florida legislation and considerably lacks academic worth,” CNN experiences.

The letter didn’t embody an in depth rationalization of what the company discovered objectionable.

“Sooner or later, ought to Faculty Board be prepared to come back again to the desk with lawful, traditionally correct content material, FDOE will all the time be prepared to reopen the dialogue,” the letter said. 

In keeping with CNN, The Faculty Board declined to deal with the choice in Florida immediately however mentioned, “We stay up for bringing this wealthy and provoking exploration of African-American historical past and tradition to college students throughout the nation.”

The denial of an AP African American Research course comes within the wake of DeSantis’ makes an attempt to vary Florida’s academic program and limit the educating of important racial idea. The idea, which examines the origins of systemic racism in america and its ongoing results, was banned by state legislation in 2021.

The legislation additionally prohibited The New York Instances’ 1619 Mission, a Pulitzer Prize-winning initiative to reframe American historical past across the arrival of slave ships on American shores. In 2022, DeSantis additionally signed laws proscribing how colleges can talk about race with college students.

Black Democratic state senator Shevrin Jones famous that Florida gives different cultural AP programs, similar to AP European Historical past and AP Italian Language, in a tweet on Wednesday.

“This political extremism and its assault of Black Historical past and Black folks goes to create a complete era of Black kids who received’t have the ability to see themselves mirrored in any respect inside their very own schooling or in their very own state,” Jones said.

Final 12 months, the Faculty Board introduced plans to supply an African American research course for the primary time. In the course of the 2022-23 college 12 months, the course will likely be provided as a pilot in 60 colleges throughout the nation, with the aim of creating it obtainable to all colleges within the 2024-25 college 12 months. In keeping with the College Board website, the primary AP African American Research examination will likely be administered within the spring of 2025.

In keeping with the Faculty Board, the Superior Placement Program has been collaborating with establishments of upper studying to create an African American Studies program for the previous decade.