Under Governor Ron DeSantis’ “Stop WOKE” Act, Florida has decided to block the College Board from testing a pilot of the AP African American Studies program in the state.
According to reports, in a January letter sent to the College Board, the organization that oversees AP coursework, Florida’s Department of Education’s Office of Articulation said the curriculum “is inexplicably contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational value.”
The College Board’s advanced curriculum would include a study of the African diaspora in the United States thanks to the pilot course, which has been tested at 60 schools.
However, the program conflicts with DeSantis’ ban on teaching K-12 students “critical race theory.”
The concept of CRT is a method of analyzing how racism has influenced American law and institutions. In recent years, right-wing reactionaries have coopted the idea of harnessing fear against all discussions of race.
In essence, education on race relations or diversity that implies a person’s “status as either privileged or oppressed is necessarily determined by his or her race, color, national origin, or sex” is prohibited by the “Stop Woke” act, which DeSantis signed into law last year.
The “Stop Woke” act bans both schools and workplaces from “subjecting any student or employee to training or instruction that espouses, promotes, advances inculcates, or compels such individuals to believe specified concepts constitutes discrimination based on race, color, sex, or national origin.”
