When news broke on Wednesday that the College Board had watered down its high school Advanced Placement curriculum for its African American Studies course, I was reminded of the words of one of the important voices it had removed, Ta-Nehisi Coates.
This is such fascist bullshit. As a professor, can confirm that this kind of censorship is diluting the coursework and not living up to college equivalency. Universities and colleges should push back on accepting this. I'm doing my part... refocused our Intro to Literature class this semester on banned books and we just finished reading Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, one of the most banned books in America. Thanks for this piece.
Emily Taylor, thanks for pushing back for truth as a professor-it’s a gift to your students and our country. I’m guessing it takes real courage to do this-thank you.
Thankfully I'm at a private college so I have some cover (and support from admin and the board). It's not the case for my colleagues in the public system.
You're too generous. I'd say they're aiming for 3/50ths. And there is a degree of dilution (which they've already passed) which renders the class damn close to useless. The students will neither learn what they should nor be prepared for the challenges of college level courses. Such a waste.
It would have been a far better move by the College Board to keep all the components of the course and accept that Florida students won’t have access to it. As it is, I hope colleges and universities won’t accept the course for transfer credit.
That said and regardless of timeline, the College Board itself is not a benign entity. They make enormous sums of money from students paying to take the exams every year, and more courses = more exams = more money for CB. The cost of the exams is prohibitive for students without means and ... oh, look, that seems like a systemic inequity / injustice.
Judd Legum’s piece, cited in mine, discusses the pay of the CEO of this ‘non-profit’ and what kinds of pressures they are under now that a lot of their revenue from the standardized tests no longer is flowing.
Judd said, College Board CEO earned about $1 + million in 2019 and $2.5+ million in 2020. I always find the CEO pay a fascinating topic, and in this context of a not-for-profit with declining revenue on top of that, how on earth does the Board justify this obscene pay?
I grew up in an extremely small town. My graduating class was 42 students, none of whom were minorities. Until my second year of college, I had no idea just how whitewashed my education had been. As I began learning about America’s true history, I found myself infuriated by the fact that I had been cheated out of learning about the plight of so many of my fellow Americans. It was like a spirit had been awakened inside of me and I began learning everything I could about the subjects that had been willfully omitted from my education thus far. I changed my major to history and became a teacher. True history must be taught!
Florida announces that all Advanced Placement classes will be replaced. The new classes will be written by a committee approved by Gov. DeSantis. They will be called "Advanced Ignorance" courses, "AI" for short."
Perhaps College Board should be changed to "College Bored" while we're at it.
The NewsHour interview yesterday with College Board CEO David Coleman was in itself revealing. He spoke defending CB decisions with an almost silent African American Brandi Waters next to him. Says a lot in itself. Took courses at Rutgers while studying for my doctorate with several employees at ETS that administers exams for College Board. We referred to ETS/CB as the dark kingdom. This is a modern day example of the influence Texas has had with reference to the content in US History texts because they place a statewide order for only “approved” texts. Thus publishers court their approval.
This and other actions of Ron DeSantis related to education are devaluing the education experience in Florida. I am so glad my sons are done with Florida schools.
My 8 year old biracial grandson attends a private school that is well diversified. My daughter took him out of the public school system so that he would have the freedom to learn and be educated!
I don't suppose teachers can sneak in "intersectionality" by renaming it? It is a rather clunky example of 1980s Theory jargon. "Interplay of social roles"?
This is a weaselly sort of response. But it is weaselly sort of ban. What is important is that the students learn to engage with and discuss the pros and cons of the idea.
I'm really getting tired of saying this- I can't believe we are dealing with this crap in 2023. I can't believe the backward momentum we have going in this country. Land of the free- unless some "religious" (and I use that term loosely), white, Republican male doesn't agree then it's "land of whatever that white male decides".
Furthermore, how scary is it that one of the top contenders for the GOP presidential nomination doesn't think that systematic racism exists in this country? I don't know what's scarier- the thought of this man or tRump as president.
The College Board is more interested in profit than anything else. It is good to see colleges moving away from SAT requirements, which is a significant source of profit but is also a poor predictor for success in college. AP courses are much the same, although there is the possibility of shortening college to save tuition if enough of them are accepted.
Anyway, one should not be surprised at CB's capitulation.
It is time for an aggressive defense period. Whether the stated topic is an AP black studies course, gay marriage, reproductive rights, there ia no room, no quarter for the intercalation of prejudicial, limited, impoverished, wantonly ignorant policies and mandates into any arena, much less those areas about which the would-be despots know nothing, about which they care only to the extent that they care to see these topics vanquished, subdued, deformed in order to fit their ill-conceived narratives that are simply and solely about power, control and domination
Freedom of information. Critical thinking. That is why I read this column every day. Today was especially interesting and thought provoking. It helps me relate to this column by comparing to what women have gone through and where they are now. We have had missteps in America, we should all be knowledgeable and continue to connect, but, I think we continue to self reflect as a nation. If you want an ultra conservative Republican elected in 2024, put reparations in the Democratic platform. Please, no.
Thank you...I read the column, but kept thinking how we women are still treated as second class citizens OR we speak up and are considered a 'bitch' by many men. Yes, we have it better than non-white folks! But still a lot to be done for this to be the "Land of the Free". And there is much to be learned from history.
... This backwards trend in our whole Society/Culture has had me despairing about how we are constantly 'De-volving' (what used to be called "Dumbing Down") & what our future may look like when even College (let alone High School) Graduates don't have the "Critical Thinking" skills that were required to be demonstrated before you could be granted Admission to Colleges & Universities in my Era ( I'm a 73-year old white woman who graduated in 1971 with a Liberal Arts Bachelor's Degree in International Relations) - & I'm appalled by what the College Board is now doing ... my East Coast ('Land-Grant' University, at that time consisted of a Student Body of approximately 30,000 & a very small ( maybe a couple dozen Black students ?) ... There was no African American Studies programs in existence back then. And I, mistakenly thought we'd "Evolved"since then. But it seems we are steadily losing ground on so many fronts ... I'm finding it more difficult than ever before in my lifetime to feel any real Hope or Optimism while watching so many things we'd struggled to achieve over many decades (& lifetimes) being "disappeared".
Well--this will move the process closer to actual race war; a movement that has been heralded by the extreme right for a very long time. The gun toter fascists who enjoy sticking their guns in people's faces (the sexual implication is purposeful) as a method of enforcing their position in the caste system are salivating at the opportunities to renew hangings and expand general terrorist acts--a process (witness the considerable number of mass killings just this year) that we are in the midst of. Be not of faint heart, we are in the middle of a violent upsurge of white males terrorizing the non white population in an effort to regain their dominant position. This is not going to be pretty. It already is not pretty. It's terrible. Stay tuned. We need to discuss how we are going to deal with this violence.
Unfortunately not everyone has the option to choose private schools, and not just for financial reasons. Private schools can and do refuse to accept students with IEPs.
I saw a report on PBS NewsHour last night with David Coleman, the CEO of College Boards. He stated that the course revisions were completed by the end of December, before the feedback from the right. Video link here: https://www.pbs.org/video/teaching-black-history-1675291621/
Read Judd Legum to understand the accurate timeline for the AP course changes (Popular Information on Substack). It appears that far-right groups were pushing for these very changes in early Fall. DeSantis just pushed this retro-dinosaur bolder over the cliff. He's feeding red meat to his red base.
Yes, it’s a valuable piece. I didn’t cite or quote from it heavily as he had covered this question rather thoroughly, but it’s clear that more fact checking needs to be done of the College Board and its claimed timeline.
I saw the same coverage/explanation by David Coleman ... but there's still no logical reason why the College Board felt it necessary to do this tragic "Watering down" ... is it possible that Slimy DeSantis is just trying to create the appearance that the CB 'caved' to his disgusting claims that African American Studies/subjects "have No Educational Value" in order to promote himself ? ... Hmmmm ...
This is such fascist bullshit. As a professor, can confirm that this kind of censorship is diluting the coursework and not living up to college equivalency. Universities and colleges should push back on accepting this. I'm doing my part... refocused our Intro to Literature class this semester on banned books and we just finished reading Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, one of the most banned books in America. Thanks for this piece.
Emily Taylor, thanks for pushing back for truth as a professor-it’s a gift to your students and our country. I’m guessing it takes real courage to do this-thank you.
Thankfully I'm at a private college so I have some cover (and support from admin and the board). It's not the case for my colleagues in the public system.
You are guiding minds who will hopefully lead us to more decent, honest, better. I’m grateful to you. What you are doing matters.
Thanks! :)
Look at the leadership of the College Board. This has been a long-term issue https://about.collegeboard.org/leadership
Here's the newsletter this week where I write back to some of the local SC bullshit: https://emilytaylor.substack.com/p/how-do-republicans-propose-to-help?sd=pf
Clearly the board understands that 3/5ths of a education is all that’s needed.
snarky of you that is :)
You're too generous. I'd say they're aiming for 3/50ths. And there is a degree of dilution (which they've already passed) which renders the class damn close to useless. The students will neither learn what they should nor be prepared for the challenges of college level courses. Such a waste.
It would have been a far better move by the College Board to keep all the components of the course and accept that Florida students won’t have access to it. As it is, I hope colleges and universities won’t accept the course for transfer credit.
That said and regardless of timeline, the College Board itself is not a benign entity. They make enormous sums of money from students paying to take the exams every year, and more courses = more exams = more money for CB. The cost of the exams is prohibitive for students without means and ... oh, look, that seems like a systemic inequity / injustice.
Judd Legum’s piece, cited in mine, discusses the pay of the CEO of this ‘non-profit’ and what kinds of pressures they are under now that a lot of their revenue from the standardized tests no longer is flowing.
Judd said, College Board CEO earned about $1 + million in 2019 and $2.5+ million in 2020. I always find the CEO pay a fascinating topic, and in this context of a not-for-profit with declining revenue on top of that, how on earth does the Board justify this obscene pay?
I grew up in an extremely small town. My graduating class was 42 students, none of whom were minorities. Until my second year of college, I had no idea just how whitewashed my education had been. As I began learning about America’s true history, I found myself infuriated by the fact that I had been cheated out of learning about the plight of so many of my fellow Americans. It was like a spirit had been awakened inside of me and I began learning everything I could about the subjects that had been willfully omitted from my education thus far. I changed my major to history and became a teacher. True history must be taught!
I posted this earlier today on Mastodon:
"Just kidding:
Florida announces that all Advanced Placement classes will be replaced. The new classes will be written by a committee approved by Gov. DeSantis. They will be called "Advanced Ignorance" courses, "AI" for short."
Perhaps College Board should be changed to "College Bored" while we're at it.
Thank you, Jay.
The NewsHour interview yesterday with College Board CEO David Coleman was in itself revealing. He spoke defending CB decisions with an almost silent African American Brandi Waters next to him. Says a lot in itself. Took courses at Rutgers while studying for my doctorate with several employees at ETS that administers exams for College Board. We referred to ETS/CB as the dark kingdom. This is a modern day example of the influence Texas has had with reference to the content in US History texts because they place a statewide order for only “approved” texts. Thus publishers court their approval.
This and other actions of Ron DeSantis related to education are devaluing the education experience in Florida. I am so glad my sons are done with Florida schools.
My 8 year old biracial grandson attends a private school that is well diversified. My daughter took him out of the public school system so that he would have the freedom to learn and be educated!
I don't suppose teachers can sneak in "intersectionality" by renaming it? It is a rather clunky example of 1980s Theory jargon. "Interplay of social roles"?
This is a weaselly sort of response. But it is weaselly sort of ban. What is important is that the students learn to engage with and discuss the pros and cons of the idea.
I'm really getting tired of saying this- I can't believe we are dealing with this crap in 2023. I can't believe the backward momentum we have going in this country. Land of the free- unless some "religious" (and I use that term loosely), white, Republican male doesn't agree then it's "land of whatever that white male decides".
Furthermore, how scary is it that one of the top contenders for the GOP presidential nomination doesn't think that systematic racism exists in this country? I don't know what's scarier- the thought of this man or tRump as president.
It’s a choice between two horribles, for sure.
The College Board is more interested in profit than anything else. It is good to see colleges moving away from SAT requirements, which is a significant source of profit but is also a poor predictor for success in college. AP courses are much the same, although there is the possibility of shortening college to save tuition if enough of them are accepted.
Anyway, one should not be surprised at CB's capitulation.
It is time for an aggressive defense period. Whether the stated topic is an AP black studies course, gay marriage, reproductive rights, there ia no room, no quarter for the intercalation of prejudicial, limited, impoverished, wantonly ignorant policies and mandates into any arena, much less those areas about which the would-be despots know nothing, about which they care only to the extent that they care to see these topics vanquished, subdued, deformed in order to fit their ill-conceived narratives that are simply and solely about power, control and domination
Dang Mia, let us know how you really feel. Your response, to use a popular term, is fire! And extremely well-written.
🤗
Yes! May I quote you on FB (with your name or without as you prefer)?
Sure.
Either is fine.
Freedom of information. Critical thinking. That is why I read this column every day. Today was especially interesting and thought provoking. It helps me relate to this column by comparing to what women have gone through and where they are now. We have had missteps in America, we should all be knowledgeable and continue to connect, but, I think we continue to self reflect as a nation. If you want an ultra conservative Republican elected in 2024, put reparations in the Democratic platform. Please, no.
Thank you...I read the column, but kept thinking how we women are still treated as second class citizens OR we speak up and are considered a 'bitch' by many men. Yes, we have it better than non-white folks! But still a lot to be done for this to be the "Land of the Free". And there is much to be learned from history.
... This backwards trend in our whole Society/Culture has had me despairing about how we are constantly 'De-volving' (what used to be called "Dumbing Down") & what our future may look like when even College (let alone High School) Graduates don't have the "Critical Thinking" skills that were required to be demonstrated before you could be granted Admission to Colleges & Universities in my Era ( I'm a 73-year old white woman who graduated in 1971 with a Liberal Arts Bachelor's Degree in International Relations) - & I'm appalled by what the College Board is now doing ... my East Coast ('Land-Grant' University, at that time consisted of a Student Body of approximately 30,000 & a very small ( maybe a couple dozen Black students ?) ... There was no African American Studies programs in existence back then. And I, mistakenly thought we'd "Evolved"since then. But it seems we are steadily losing ground on so many fronts ... I'm finding it more difficult than ever before in my lifetime to feel any real Hope or Optimism while watching so many things we'd struggled to achieve over many decades (& lifetimes) being "disappeared".
Well--this will move the process closer to actual race war; a movement that has been heralded by the extreme right for a very long time. The gun toter fascists who enjoy sticking their guns in people's faces (the sexual implication is purposeful) as a method of enforcing their position in the caste system are salivating at the opportunities to renew hangings and expand general terrorist acts--a process (witness the considerable number of mass killings just this year) that we are in the midst of. Be not of faint heart, we are in the middle of a violent upsurge of white males terrorizing the non white population in an effort to regain their dominant position. This is not going to be pretty. It already is not pretty. It's terrible. Stay tuned. We need to discuss how we are going to deal with this violence.
Are white folks now a minority in Florida? Is that why DeSantis is so scared?
Unfortunately not everyone has the option to choose private schools, and not just for financial reasons. Private schools can and do refuse to accept students with IEPs.
I saw a report on PBS NewsHour last night with David Coleman, the CEO of College Boards. He stated that the course revisions were completed by the end of December, before the feedback from the right. Video link here: https://www.pbs.org/video/teaching-black-history-1675291621/
Read Judd Legum to understand the accurate timeline for the AP course changes (Popular Information on Substack). It appears that far-right groups were pushing for these very changes in early Fall. DeSantis just pushed this retro-dinosaur bolder over the cliff. He's feeding red meat to his red base.
Here's the link to the Judd Legum piece https://popular.info/p/why-the-college-board-watered-down It's a worthwhile read.
Yes, it’s a valuable piece. I didn’t cite or quote from it heavily as he had covered this question rather thoroughly, but it’s clear that more fact checking needs to be done of the College Board and its claimed timeline.
Totally agree!! Thanks, Jay.
Thanks for adding the link, Mary Lou!!
I saw the same coverage/explanation by David Coleman ... but there's still no logical reason why the College Board felt it necessary to do this tragic "Watering down" ... is it possible that Slimy DeSantis is just trying to create the appearance that the CB 'caved' to his disgusting claims that African American Studies/subjects "have No Educational Value" in order to promote himself ? ... Hmmmm ...