What’s Really in the AP African-American Studies Class DeSantis Rejected?

None of this comes arsenic a surprise. DeSantis has built his governmental marque connected eradicating “wokeness” successful Florida’s nationalist schools and universities. But is location thing to his critique?

POLITICO Magazine asked maine to measure nan program connected its merits. Several themes emerge.

First, retired of much than 100 units, nan politician has identified 3 aliases 4 that whitethorn sound sketchy to group unfamiliar pinch nan topic. But nan attraction connected this fistful of examples creates a highly selective and distorted position of nan curriculum.

Second, he describes nan people arsenic “history,” erstwhile successful truth it is an interdisciplinary program that exposes students to college-level taxable matter they almost surely don’t brushwood successful modular U.S. and world history classes.

Third, and astir importantly, nan program makes a batch much consciousness if you see its topline objective: arming students pinch a scope of analytical and captious reasoning skills. If you judge that nan intent of a value acquisition is to hole kids to thrive successful nan existent world, nan AP African American Studies is simply a win. The taxable matter is rigorous, and nan texts and different root worldly are challenging. Isn’t that precisely what a twenty-first period acquisition should look like?

The AP African American Studies people covers 102 topics that span 4 wide units.

Much for illustration college-level study successful Jewish Studies, Irish Studies, Catholic Studies aliases Western Civilization, it is interdisciplinary, meaning it explores a peculiar taxable — successful this case, nan African American acquisition — done aggregate world lenses, including history, literature, music, philosophy, economics and art.

While it is surely existent that Florida students already study immoderate fundamentals of Black history, they are improbable to study astir African linguistic diverseness aliases really to parse maps of nan Songhai Empire successful their U.S. aliases world history courses. They whitethorn publication excerpts by erstwhile enslaved group for illustration Frederick Douglass aliases Harriet Jacobs, but astir apt won’t brushwood Olaudah Equiano’s captivity narrative, analyse nan intersection of European and African creation aliases find connections betwixt Harlem Renaissance writers for illustration Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes and ocular artists for illustration James Van Der Zee and Aaron Douglas. We tin reasonably intuit that they won’t brushwood penning by Black feminists for illustration Nikki Giovanni aliases parse Molefi Kete Asante’s activity connected Afrocentricity.

This is nary sound against Florida’s nationalist schools. According to its ngo statement, nan AP program “enables consenting and academically prepared students to prosecute college-level studies.” By design, nan program operates a level aliases 2 supra a modular precocious schoolhouse program.

Of nan 102 units, astir are — aliases should beryllium — noncontroversial.

The first unit, “Origins of nan African Diaspora,” offers a agleam tapestry of subjects astir African culture, history, linguistics, creation and economics, arsenic good arsenic nan process down — and acquisition of — enslavement (including nan domiciled of Black Africans successful that tragedy). It would require a feat of governmental gymnastics to find rumor pinch units connected “Exploring Africa’s Geographic Diversity,” “Ethnolinguistic Diversity and Bantu Dispersals” aliases “Visualizing Early Africa.”

The 2nd unit, “Freedom, Enslavement, and Resistance,” is besides modular fare, pinch topics that see “African Explorers successful nan Americas,” “Origins and Overview of nan Transatlantic Slave Trade,” “Fleeing Enslavement” and “Black Women’s Rights & Education.”

And truthful it goes pinch nan 3rd unit, “The Practice of Freedom,” which covers specified topics arsenic Reconstruction, Jim Crow and nan early civilian authorities movement. Notwithstanding nan existent vogue for banning lit successful schools — a troubling improvement that is hardly circumstantial to Florida — it would return a peculiarly constrictive mind to find responsibility pinch modules connected “Everyday Life successful Literature,” “The Rise and Fall of Harlem” aliases “Music and nan Black National Experience.”

It’s portion four, “Movements and Debates,” that opens nan doorway much than conscionable a ace to blimpish criticism, though astir of nan portion continues nan curriculum’s chronological arc, exploring subjects for illustration civilian rights, nan Black Arts Movement, student protests, Black women’s history, euphony and belief and faith. Nothing peculiarly retired of nan ordinary.

To beryllium sure, galore civilization warriors will entity to topics and texts that onslaught astir group arsenic unproblematic. Voices for illustration Frantz Fanon, Malcolm X, Ta-Nehisi Coates and doorbell hooks offend nan sensibilities of immoderate achromatic Americans. They push nan boundaries of nan speech astir title successful ways that situation ideas astir “American exceptionalism,” advancement and nationalist innocence. Similarly, earthy representations of achromatic unit against Black persons, families and institutions — beryllium they humanities texts, paintings, songs aliases sociological tracts — make a batch of conservatives uncomfortable. They complain that broaching these subjects teaches achromatic children to consciousness implicated by nan actions of earlier generations. This interest assumes that students are particularly brittle and incapable of dealing pinch nan taxable matter.

But nan backmost half of portion 4 besides contains topics that whitethorn origin immoderate parents — and not conscionable conservatives — to raise an eyebrow: “Intersectionality and Activism,” “Black Queer Studies,” “‘Postracial’ Racism and Colorblindness,” “Incarceration and Abolition,” “Movements for Black Lives” and “The Reparations Movement.” These topics thrust astatine highly polarizing governmental debates, including what if thing nan state owes its Black citizens, whether nan criminal justness strategy is adjacent and unbiased and nan meaning of sexuality. Even extracurricular an AP course, these are fraught topics.

One request not work together pinch DeSantis that nan AP people is simply a study successful indoctrination to wonder: Why would you thatch these topics to 17-year-olds? Are they not successful truth … “woke?”

The reply to this past mobility is simply a resounding: Yes! Also: So what?

With nan evident caveat that a program is only arsenic good, and unbiased, arsenic nan personification school it, 1 can’t measure nan worth of individual topics without first knowing nan objectives down nan course.

According to nan College Board, nan program sets retired to thief students foster 5 captious accomplishment sets:

1. “Applying Disciplinary Knowledge” — meaning nan mastery of cardinal historical, sociological, economic, creator and governmental frameworks.
2. “Written Source Analysis” — nan expertise to behaviour adjacent readings and comparisons of texts, including a captious knowing of context, constituent of position and bias.
3. “Data Analysis” — being capable to “identify and picture trends successful data.”
4. “Visual Analytics” — everything from really to publication and analyse a map, to knowing “perspective, intent and context” successful art.
5. “Argumentation” — really to “articulate a defensible claim,” “support an statement utilizing circumstantial and applicable evidence” and “use reasoning to guideline nan assemblage done a well-supported argument.”

These aren’t soft skills. They’re what it takes to thrive successful assemblage aliases nan 21st period workforce: How to co-exist successful a pluralistic democracy. How to workout responsible citizenship. How moreover to header pinch nan basal tests and travails of modern life. In 2023, nan 3 Rs unsocial — reading, writing, arithmetic — simply don’t suffice.
Still, why person precocious schoolhouse juniors and seniors study useful connected intersectionality, reparations and nan carceral state? Aren’t these arguable topics? Aren’t they inherently political?

Well, yes. That’s nan point. They’re analyzable useful of sociology and philosophy. They’re highly contested polemics. We publication them to sharpen our capacity for study and argument. Contra Gov. DeSantis, being assigned a matter is not an workout successful indoctrination.

How do I cognize this? Because reference Friedrich Nietzsche successful assemblage did not move maine into a nihilist immoderate much than reference Albert Camus made maine an existentialist. I publication Ross Douthat’s New York Times file regularly, and yet I person neither changed my statement affiliation to Republican nor converted to Catholicism.

We expose students to knotty, analyzable and arguable ideas because it helps them sharpen nan 5 captious accomplishment sets that nan College Board identified successful nan people prospectus.

If a student takes nan AP people connected African American Studies and is yet capable to create an empirical, well-constructed, knock-down statement against reparations aliases situation reform, that’s arsenic overmuch of a triumph arsenic nan other outcome. I mightiness not for illustration wherever nan student landed, but nan program did its job.

That’s nan thought down nan AP’s people successful African American Studies: usage a taxable that captures nan liking of a ample number of students to present them to a scope of interdisciplinary methodologies and thatch them to analyse and make consciousness of our very analyzable world.

The professionals who designed nan AP’s program parsed complete 100 assemblage syllabi, including courses from each 8 Ivy League universities and 20 authorities flagship institutions. They held attraction groups and conversations pinch 132 assemblage module members and 28 assemblage and precocious schoolhouse students. The aviator programme reflects nan heavy thought and interest down its development.

Importantly, nan people is elective. Students and their parents take whether to use for enrollment. No 1 has to beryllium successful nan room.

But Florida whitethorn already person won nan battle.

Recently, nan College Board signaled its intent to revise nan African American Studies curriculum. Doing truthful would airs a awesome disservice to students, teachers and parents successful different states who are eager to aviator nan program. It would besides origin galore educators and parents rightfully to mobility conscionable who designs nan AP curriculum: acquisition professionals, aliases politicians?

In consequence to a broader activity to prohibition definite texts successful nationalist schoolhouse classrooms, nan novelist Stephen King precocious tweeted: “Hey, kids! It’s your aged buddy Steve King telling you that if they prohibition a book successful your school, haul your ass to nan nearest bookstore aliases room ASAP and find retired what they don’t want you to read.”

One mightiness opportunity nan aforesaid of nan AP African American Studies course. Why don’t they want you to return that class?