African American History is taught in Florida
2023.01.24 02:30
African American History is taught in Florida
By Ray Johnson
Budrigannews.com – On Friday, the head of education in Florida defended the state’s decision to reject a proposed African American Studies Advanced Placement course by pointing out that public schools already teach about racism and slavery and calling it “woke indoctrination.”
The administration of conservative Republican Governor Ron DeSantis has taken a number of actions that have hit a nerve in the nation’s culture wars. These actions have included outlawing some educational efforts regarding racism, slavery, and LGBTQ rights.
The course’s rejection was the latest in a series of such actions. It is common knowledge that DeSantis will attempt to win the party’s nomination for president in 2024.
“We gladly require the instructing of African American history,” Florida Magistrate of Schooling Manny Diaz, Jr. posted on Twitter. ” We reject education-misrepresentative woke indoctrination.
The program, which is currently in its pilot phase, was developed by the College Board, a non-profit organization that oversees the Advanced Placement exams that aid high school students in earning college credits.
According to the NAACP, Florida is one of several states that has banned “Critical Race Theory” from being taught in public schools. This academic framework teaches that racism goes beyond individual biases and “is embedded in laws, policies, and institutions that uphold and reproduce racial inequalities.”
Florida wrote a letter to the College Board on January 12, claiming that the AP course was illegal and had no educational value.
Karine Jean-Pierre, a spokesperson for the White House, called the decision to reject the course “incomprehensible” on Friday. She said that Florida was not banning AP courses on European history and that the move was similar to DeSantis’s previous actions, which included banning teaching LGBTQ issues to young children.
Diaz released a chart illustrating the state’s opposition to the course and called the remarks made by the White House “lies.”
Readings on intersectionality, the idea that discrimination can affect a person in multiple ways if they belong to more than one marginalized group, a section on Black Queer Studies, a discussion of Black feminism, and a topic called Movements for Black Lives were among the topics that were cited as causes for concern.
According to the chart, there are no arguments against paying reparations to descendants of slaves in a section on the topic. It calls Angela Davis, a radical from the 1960s, a “self-avowed” communist, whose reading it rejects.
Bryan Griffin, DeSantis’s spokesman, stated in a statement to Reuters, “As submitted, the course is a vehicle for a political agenda and leaves large, ambiguous gaps that can be filled with additional ideological material.” Our classrooms will not be used for indoctrination, as Governor DeSantis has stated.”
According to Griffin and Diaz, the state will reconsider if the course is modified to comply with Florida’s regulations and standards.
On Friday, Reuters inquired about the matter and received no immediate response from the College Board. However, in a statement to Reuters on Thursday, it stated that the course’s objective is “to explore the vital contributions and experiences of African Americans.” The statement stated that because it is a humanities course, it does not teach theory.
