The move by the state Board of Education to prohibit the teaching of AP African American Studies has caused national anger.
By Aziah Siid
The Florida Department of Education has formally started its 2023 Black History Month Student and Educator Contests, with the subject of celebrating African American Floridians’ accomplishments.
They also denied the College Board’s AP African American education for secondary school pupils.
The administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis addressed a letter to College Board, the nonprofit organization that runs SAT tests and AP courses, on Jan. 19, saying that the course is “explicitly contrary” to state law and “lacks educational value.”
Despite having one of the biggest Black communities in the nation, Blacks are still regarded as unimportant in education.KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR
According to the College Board’s website, the interdisciplinary course, like any other AP course, investigates the important accomplishments and experiences of African Americans in literature, political science, geography, arts, humanities, and science.
The statement said, “FDOE will always be willing to reopen the discussion should College Board be willing to come back to the table with lawful, historically accurate content in the future.”
Former NBA star and current author and cultural critic Kareem Abdul-Jabbar addressed the administration’s ongoing disdain for African American history in the classroom.
I don’t understand how Florida, a state that is 46.7% non-White (53.3% Non-Hispanic White), permits the whitewashing of racial history and culture, the man wrote.
Florida has one of the highest percentages of Black people in the nation, but they are still underrepresented in the educational system. By citing successful Black individuals who have degrees in Black Studies, such as Michelle Obama, Mae Jemison, Angela Bassett, Aaron McGruder, and Gloria Naylor, Abdul-Jabbar responded to DeSantis’ assertion that the subject has no “educational value.”
“At the time, the majority of people didn’t consider it to be an acceptable path of study. In allusion to the educational system of the 1960s and 1970s, Abdul-Jabbar said, “To them, Black history and culture was just enslavement, pimps, and tap dancing. “After the first day, what else was there to say? That was the goal—to increase our kids’ understanding of and regard for a group of individuals who had received little attention in their history textbooks.
In reaction to the decision, the College Board released a statement stating that “AP African American Studies, like all new AP courses, is undergoing a rigorous, multi-year pilot phase, collecting feedback from teachers, students, scholars, and policymakers.” The process of testing and updating course frameworks is a regular component of any new AP course, and as a consequence, frameworks change considerably.”
The Advanced Placement program, which was created in collaboration with higher education institutions, is the College Board’s first African American course. For the 2022-2023 academic year, the course is presently given in 60 schools across the nation.
According to the College Board’s website, the aim is to have the subject available in all schools by 2024 and to give the first AP African American exam in Spring 2025. The curriculum’s rejection follows DeSantis’ attempts to restrict the teaching of what he considers critical race theory (CRT) in Florida schools.
The state approved legislation prohibiting the teaching of the idea, which analyses the history of systematic racism in the United States, in 2021. The Florida Department of Education rejected 54 math textbooks for the K-12 curriculum in April 2022, alleging the textbooks “indoctrinate” pupils with CRT.
Nine months later, students, lawmakers, and caretakers within the system have spoken out against the system’s ongoing effort to erase important past that all students, especially Black students, should be aware of.
“This political extremism and its attack on Black History and Black People will create an entire generation of Black children who will not be able to see themselves reflected in their own education or in their own state,” Democratic state Sen. Shevrin Jones said.
Ameisha Cross, a Sirius XM political expert, noticed the evident disdain for Black history in comparison to other cultural academics in a Twitter repost.
In Florida, under DeSantis’ leadership, “clearly every history except Black is seen as worthy of further development, exploration, and understanding,” Cross wrote. “American history is black history. Its removal from the classroom harms pupils greatly and makes America less strong as a result.