If you attend a school or live in the state of Florida, there is no doubt you have heard about the Florida Department of Education’s (DOE) rejection of the Advanced Placement (AP) African American Studies course. The AP course is being piloted in 60 high schools across the country including one in Florida. On Jan. 12, Florida’s education department sent a letter to the College Board notifying that Florida schools “proudly require the teaching of African American History,” and that they would not accept “woke indoctrination masquerading as education.” College Board has released a statement saying the course was still being drafted and that the framework was likely to change significantly.
While there were many criticisms of the course, the Florida DOE’s comment about how the course is “inexplicably contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational value” has sparked contention about what qualifies as valuable. The course includes contributions from some of the most highly regarded academics in the field such as Henry Louis Gates Jr., Robin D.G. Kelly, Kerry Haynie and the late Gloria Jean Watkins, better known by the pen name Bell Hooks. All are experts in their fields, and many are currently educators at top universities.
The subjects covered in the course also line up with Florida’s education standards for African American history. The transatlantic slave trade, the roots of the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the Civil Rights Movement are all covered in U.S. history, a course required to graduate high school in the state of Florida. College Board released a revised version of the course with changes to the content on the Black Lives Matter movement and Critical Race Theory (CRT), which had been heavily opposed by DeSantis. The Florida Department of Education continues to rebuke the curriculum while College Board faces backlash for removing topics on intersectionality, reparations, Black queer history and Black feminist literature.
Many Civil Rights groups have come forward to comment on the DOE’s rejection of the course, saying politics too often interfere with education and demanding a “complete and honest education for all Florida Students.” The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) renounced Florida’s decision and many educators have expressed disappointment in the attempt to curb educational opportunities. Regardless of what policymakers believe the intrinsic value of this course is, no one can deny that rejection of a course teaching another side of American history is in poor taste.
Withholding specific areas of study from the students of the state of Florida because you do not believe the history of a minority group is ‘valuable’ is the advancement of a political agenda. Much of the subject matter is considered controversial simply because it makes people uncomfortable. Censorship does nothing to prevent these uncomfortable truths from existing, it only prevents people from learning about them. People have the right to a well-rounded education; African American history is part of American history and should be taught accurately. Restricting certain areas of our nation’s history perpetuates incomplete education and furthers the misunderstanding of current ideas on diversity and inclusion.
Offering this curriculum provides students with the opportunity to learn history that is ongoing and current. Studies from Stanford University indicate that ethnic studies courses have positive effects on students, increasing classroom engagement, graduation rates, and the likelihood of enrolling in college. Bill Sanderson, assistant superintendent of high schools to the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD), claims this phenomenon occurs because students “get to approach an academic course from the perspective of their own experience.” I know from my experience that when the content is interesting or relatable, students are more likely to pay attention and engage in class.
Developing a new curriculum is difficult; there is so much debate about what students should learn and when. Rejecting a new curriculum on the basis of “lack of value” when the course’s content is already a major part of American history is obviously an “imposition of ideology or the advancement of a political agenda.” Progressing as a nation requires that we know our past and there is never a better time to learn it than right now.
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