Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) has drawn criticism for his administration’s rejection of an “Advanced Placement African American Studies course” being taught in schools.
The rejection of the course is DeSantis’ latest curriculum-related move to earn fierce backlash.
The move to reject the Advanced Placement African American Studies came earlier in the month when the DeSantis administration sent a letter to College Board Florida Partnership.
In the letter, the administration explains that the course’s content “is inexplicably contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational value.”
However, the letter doesn’t specify the law the course violates, and Florida’s Department of Education hasn’t clarified.
The move has drawn severe backlash from across the board, with LGBTQ activists and Democrats comparing it to DeSantis’s crusade against sexual orientation or gender identity being taught in the state’s schools, with officials arguing the subjects are inappropriate for children.
Florida’s first openly gay Senator, Shevrin Jones (D), lambasted the move, calling it a “whitewashing of history.”
Jones also claimed banning books was DeSantis’ “latest assault on American history and our First Amendment rights.”
Jones also believed “vulnerable and underrepresented students… will suffer the most” from DeSantis’s move.
A Quinnipiac study released in February 2022 found only 27 percent of Americans believed U.S. history taught in schools was an accurate representation of the role African Americans played in the nation’s history.
The course DeSantis’s administration rejected is currently being piloted in 60 schools across the country and has been taught for over a decade, according to the College Board.
