(ReclaimingAmerica.net) – The College Board, the nonprofit administering college entrance tests and school curricula, has attacked Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis after he stopped an African-American Studies course infused with Marxism and “critical race theory.”
The controversy over the College Board’s proposed curriculum for a pilot Advanced Placement African-American Studies (APAAS) course for high schools erupted last year.
In July 2022, Florida’s Department of Education declared that the course contains Marxist “critical race theory,” which would violate the state’s anti-woke laws on how race could be taught in schools.
In December, the College Board completed revisions of the course, which is supposed to be offered nationwide starting in the 2024-2025 school year.
The revisions made public in early February eliminated lessons on Black queer studies and Black Lives Matter.
DeSantis and his administration celebrated the removal of 19 “discriminatory and historically fictional topics” from the proposed curriculum.
However, this “almost immediately sparked outrage from Democratic governors who accused the nonprofit of catering to DeSantis,” Politico reported.
Reacting to the backlash, the College Board went on the offensive against DeSantis and Florida’s Education Department in a new statement released over the weekend.
“We are proud of this course. But we have made mistakes in the rollout that are being exploited. We need to clear the air and set the record straight,” the College Board said.
“We deeply regret not immediately denouncing the Florida Department of Education’s slander, magnified by the DeSantis administration’s subsequent comments, that African American Studies ‘lacks educational value.’ Our failure to raise our voice betrayed Black scholars everywhere and those who have long toiled to build this remarkable field,” the nonprofit elaborated.
It called “a false and politically motivated charge” the perception that Florida’s Department of Education had influenced its curriculum.
“We believe the course is not in violation of Florida laws,” the College Board said.
A commentary by The National Review insists that the educational nonprofit has been “playing dumb” as it tried to get through an APAAS curriculum “thick with advocacy for CRT and radical Marxism.”
“This radicalism was buried by the initial curriculum, which mentioned authors without listing specific assignments or concepts,” author Stanley Kurtz writes.
“The College Board’s real problem was its failed attempts at secrecy and deception. Only when it realized that Florida wouldn’t be fooled by a vague and confusing curriculum framework did the College Board modify APAAS,” he elaborated.
Kurtz adds the new College Board statement is reversing its February retreat as its curriculum would make the previously dropped topics available on the course’s digital platform.
“In other words, all the Marxism and CRT is back. On top of making unpersuasive and downright insulting attacks on FDOE and the governor, the College Board is promising to include as many radical and CRT-based readings in the AP Classroom portal as possible,” the author points out.
He emphasizes that the big question is whether other red states would follow Florida’s example and counter the woke course. If they don’t, “we can expect a wave of ethnic and gender AP “studies” courses that mimic the politicization of their college counterparts.”
