Gutting AP African-American studies sets dangerous precedent

Finnegan Courtney ’23, Executive TV Producer|February 14, 2023

The AP African-American Studies course has sparked Republican criticism and served as a lightning rod in the debate over parents’ influence in education.

For over a decade, the College Board has put in time and tireless work to create an AP course that covers a subject seriously lacking in traditional high school history courses: Black and African-American studies. And in less than a month, the College Board chose to cave to political pressure and gut the course of a majority of its intended content.

Among the things cut: reparations for slavery and critical race theory – two taboo subjects among Republicans if ever there were any. More contemporary subjects like the Black Lives Matter movement and modern concepts such as intersectional theory, which have been criticized by Republicans in the last few years? Both were either removed or made optional. Vital African-American authors and voices like Kimberlé Crenshaw, Alice Walker, Ta-Nehisi Coates? All mention of them were exterminated from the final released curriculum.

This all at the behest of, among others in the conservative establishment, Ron DeSantis – a man who will more than likely be a candidate for the Republican Presidential nomination this year. While some members of the College Board committee developing the course framework denied caving to political pressures, a recent New York Times article discovered that the College Board had repeated contact with Florida officials over African American Studies.

While AP African American Studies will not be in official rotation until Spring 2025, DeSantis and other far-right Republicans began haranguing the course.. DeSantis outright blocked the course in his gubernatorial state of Florida, citing that the drafted curriculum was “inexplicably contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational value.”

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Quite frankly, the College Board should do more to preserve telling the full story, telling the full history and should not bend to political whimsy from DeSantis and Republicans, or they will have opened a Pandora’s Box of prejudiced demands for burying truths that deserve to see the light of day.

— Finnegan Courtney

With that block, DeSantis and Republicans had the College Board over a metaphorical stove, as surely more Republican-led states could have followed with potential blocks. The choice was either to kowtow to the Republican establishment and allow them to interfere in students’ education.

It is not only Republican lawmakers who are trying to control curriculum, but also Republican parents.

An October 2022 Pew Research Center poll found that it was almost twice as likely– 44% to 23%–that Republican parents would say they don’t have enough influence in their children’s education and that the school board holds too much power. A FiveThirtyEight poll from August 2022 showed that 85% of Republicans believed high schools teach ‘liberal propaganda.’