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A couple of weeks ago, in the week of Jan 16 thread, there was a discussion of the kerfuffle re Florida refusing to offer the pilot of AP African American Studies. There were a couple of minor developments last week. First, the course description is available here
Second, Florida specified its objections here
Now, I am not a fan of most "studies" courses, because, in my limited experience, they tend to lack rigor and often push a political viewpoint, which is both a disservice to students and, to the extent that students are required to parrot that viewpoint, a First Amendment violation when the course is taught in public schools (and in private schools as well, in California). I have not looked closely at the course description for the AP class, so I don't know if it has those flaws. That being said, this decision by Florida seems to be more a part of the DeSantis for President campaign than a principled objection. That is because the course description is not a curriculum, and the course description, like all AP course descriptions, says:
I have attended several AP trainings in my day, and can attest that they make a big deal about individual teachers being given autonomy, as long as their syllabus addresses the content and skills set forth in the course description. So, none of the readings complained about are required, and teachers are free, as required by Florida's "Stop WOKE Act" to assign readings on all sides of the issues in question.
And, btw, the claims on the other side that Florida does not want to teach African American history is also nonsense, because teaching of African American history is mandated in FL schools
Edit: PS: There is a very odd complaint in the Florida DOE's list: It objects to a reading by one author in part because, "Kelley's first book was a study of Black communists in Alabama." Not, 'an adulatory study," but merely a "study." It is like objecting to a reading by Donald Horowitz because he wrote a study of ethnic riots.
On page 68 of the Course Framework document, we find that one of the "research takeaways" that "helped define the essential course topics" is that "Students should understand core concepts, including diaspora, Black feminism and intersectionality, the language of race and racism (e.g., structural racism, racial formation, racial capitalism) and be introduced to important approaches (e.g., Pan-Africanism, Afrofuturism)."
These "core concepts" are mostly from CRT or the cluster of ideologies to which it belongs. Presumably all variants of a course must teach its "core concepts." We can assume students will need to be familiar with these concepts to pass the AP exam and that the College Board will decline to approve syllabi that don't teach these concepts.
Why would anyone who believes this ideology to be harmful ever agree to allow this course to be taught? You might equally well argue it would be unreasonable to object to the introduction of an "AP White Studies" course in which the "core concepts" are tenets of white nationalism, on the grounds that as long as you make sure students are conversant on the Great Replacement (which will definitely be on the test), there's no rule saying you can't include other perspectives too.
As I have said several times, if Florida does not want to offer the course, that is their right. And as I also said, right up front, I tend to be skeptical of "studies" courses in general. The point is that being familiar with the concepts does not mean accepting them as true, and the College Board explicitly requires teachers to "design[] their own curriculum . . . [and] modify and adapt [it] to their local priorities and preferences."
And, your AP White Studies hypothetical is a perfect example: Yes, it absolutely would be unreasonable to object to the introduction of a course that includes the study of the tenets of white nationalism; that is an important ideology. Just as it would be unreasonable to object to the introduction of a course on Important Ideas of the 20th Century because it includes the study of the tenets of National Socialism, or Stalinism. And, just as it would be unreasonable to object to a African American Studies course because it includes discussion of ideas that were important to African Americans in 1920, such as Garveyism, it is unreasonable to object to that course because it includes discussion of ideas that are important to African Americans today. What IS objectionable is a course which advocates any of those ideas, be it white nationalism or Garveyism or Stalinism or "anti-racism." And, yes, I am sure that some teachers will teach the AP course precisely that way, but that does not mean that doing so is required, nor that the State of Florida can't teach it in, as the Stop WOKE Act says, "an objective manner without endorsement of the concepts."
This is sophistry; they will be taught from materials which assume and assert these concepts are true, and they will be required to use these concepts, as the first two bullets of "Learning Outcomes" make clear
Certainly one could remain an atheist while taking a course on Catholicism from the Bible and other Catholic theological material in which you are required to recite prayers and apply Catholic theological perspectives on the test. But such a course would still be way over the line for a public school.
Once again, Florida teachers are free to have students read materials on both sides of the issues.
In education speak, "evaluate" means "presenting and defending opinions by making judgments about information, the validity of ideas, or quality of work based on a set of criteria."
In practice how do you think this will turn out though? I have a hard time believing you are being honest with this act of “Who knows, all the teachers of AP Af Am Studies might just turn out to be David Duke, Chris Rufo and Charles Murray!”
You know damn well 99% of teachers for this course will either be true believers or willing to parrot the true believers in presenting this stuff as uncritically true
Please review my initial post, in which I said:
I have also repeatedly said that Florida is free to decide what to offer and what not to offer, and have noted that it actually requires coverage of African American history.
You seem to be trying to argue the merits of the course. But that was not my point. My point is not that the course is good or bad, or should be taught or shouldn't be taught. The point is that Florida is inaccurately claiming that the course **must **be taught that way. If the state thinks that it will be unable to ensure that its teachers follow the law when teaching this course, then they shouldn't offer it. But that is a completely different argument than the one that they made.
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Even if you had skeptical teachers, having them read materials on the other side of the issues -- that is, those which disparaged intersectionality and denigrated the various "lenses" -- would be a waste of time from the course perspective. It would not further the course's goals and it would actively harm the student's chances on the test. Basically it's saying that the course is forbidden by law but the violation can be cured by teaching the "anti-course" at the same time.
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Your hypothetical Important Ideas of the 20th Century course, and I think the way you're choosing to imagine the white nationalist course, aren't quite the same as what's happening here. You're ignoring the social and academic context in which this course is being introduced.
This isn't just the equivalent of a course having high school students learn the tenets of white nationalism — which most people would already find wildly objectionable, even if you don't — it's the equivalent of white nationalists themselves introducing such a course, in which students are not only taught about white nationalist beliefs but are presented with history interpreted through a white nationalist lens and taught how to perform such interpretation themselves. Also white nationalists get to write and grade the exam, can veto syllabi that deviate from their understanding of what the course should be, and know they can rely on most teachers interested in teaching the course either being white nationalists themselves or at least naively willing to accept white nationalist framing.
So, sure, in some extremely hypothetical sense a state where the consensus was against CRT could adapt this African American Studies course to "local priorities and preferences" by having students learn its CRT-derived "core concepts" via James Lindsey. Those students might even have a clearer picture of those concepts than they'd get from reading the often obfuscatory writings of their proponents! But in practice, no, you couldn't remotely do this. The College Board wouldn't approve your syllabus, on the contextually reasonable basis that it didn't represent African American Studies as taught in colleges. Your students wouldn't be able demonstrate "correct" (that is, politically correct) understanding on open-ended exam questions.
Almost certainly, the "local priorities and preferences" language just cashes out as "you can add some modules about local history," not "you can refocus the course on questioning the validity of the analytical framework that underpins the entire academic field it's situated within."
As mentioned previously, I have taken several AP trainings, and that is absolutely NOT what what that language means. They make a rather big deal about teacher autonomy.
Yes, they probably would, as I argued in another response.
That is conflating the TOPICS that are taught with HOW they are taught. The AP course audit looks at coverage, and at whether students are asked to use analytical skills, etc. It is of course possible that this course will be an exception, but a claim that it will be is based purely on the assumption that the course is intended to be indoctrination. As I said in my initial post, "studies" courses often are, in my very limited experience solely at the HS level. But that does not mean that they must be.
The bigger problem with a James Lindsey-based course is that it would fall afoul of Florida's Stop WOKE Act, because it would be teaching the subject in a non-objective manner. You have inadvertently set up a strawman, since my point all along has been simply that a course which assigned students both Kimberle Crenshaw and her critics would meet the criteria of both the College Board and FL law.
I feel like I've addressed this already. Reading Crenshaw and her critics might be a reasonable basis for a class, but not if Crenshaw supporters get to define the "core concepts" of the class, the syllabus has to be approved by Crenshaw supporters, and the exam will be written and graded by Crenshaw supporters. It is entirely unreasonable to ask people who disagree with Crenshaw to accept this.
Again, I think you are addressing an argument that I did not make. As I have said, if Florida doesn't want to offer the class, or any class, that discusses topic X, that is fine. So, I agree that there is nothing unreasonable about that. What is unreasonable is claiming that the College Board requires that the course be taught in a one-sided manner, which is what FL seems to be claiming.
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