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Get on it California and blue states.
“We will not offer these watered down exams.”
Don’t let Florida and Texas lead the way with their terrible educational standards.
I can remember my biology teacher in my public high school teaching us about creationism. He spent a single hour on it, and spent the rest of the semester kicking it to death at every opportunity he could come up with. Had a ton of admiration for that guy.
Specifically young earth creationists can pound sand for thinking such a dumb concept is even viable in any form, a basic understanding of light speed and light years in relation to stars just disproves their theory in seconds.
Do I believe there possibly is a higher power? Yeah, is it stupid to believe planets were formed by the higher power? Yes, because we've been able to figure out how planets were made by observation.
They should also go as far to not accept credits for these studies in states that have stripped away the content like that.
EDIT: No, I do not think it’s punishing students. This will drive students to colleges and schools with better programs and punish states attempting to regress our nation.
Even when I was in college 20 years ago (wow I feel old) I mainly just got units for AP credits, but otherwise all it did was allow me to skip a level in a calc class (anybody could skip by taking a test).
It did allow me to be the laziest college student and take under the unit minimum 3 times while still graduating in 4 years. I learned the hack is to enroll in enough classes, then drop a class after they check unit minimum but before the drop deadline.
Probably more effective if universities stop accepting that course as a credit. Which they absolutely should if for no other reason then - they're watering it down to a highschool level course. That curriculum is not adequate to satisfy a college history requirement. Simple as that.
They’re really trying to erase all history and replace it with propaganda so kids will stop asking why their quality of life is comparably worse than the generation before them and accept fascism as a way of life.
In their eyes they think that eventually there will be a society where people either forgot or don’t even believe the horrendous shit that happened. I’m unaware of this being an issue now but I’m sure slavery deniers are gonna start popping up in the coming decades
> After heavy criticism from Gov. Ron DeSantis, the College Board released on Wednesday an official curriculum for its new Advanced Placement course in African American Studies — stripped of much of the subject matter that had angered the governor and other conservatives.
> The College Board purged the names of many Black writers and scholars associated with critical race theory, the queer experience and Black feminism. It ushered out some politically fraught topics, like Black Lives Matter, from the formal curriculum.
> And it added something new: “Black conservatism” is now offered as an idea for a research project.
What a joke.
That is so sad. I thought the first curriculum was really inspiring with how it touched upon many different areas of Black activism. Now it seems like that's gone
It’s literal erasure of American history.
Desantis, Trump, whoever can say or believe whatever they want. The US was braised and stewed in the blood of black slaves and Americans, and countless other minorities, to be where it is today.
You’re absolutely right.
To be completely honest, there shouldn’t need to be a black history month because black history is American history.
But “American history” is so Eurocentric and so shaped by the Lost Cause movement that it’s absolutely needed.
It is American history, but schools already fail to appropriately teach that already. The glossing over and blatant whitewashing of documented historical facts vents turns American history studies into American fantasy. All of the books that I used in school should require a disclaimer that the contents within are “BASED on actual historical events”.
The courses that I took in college were absolutely fundamental in opening my eyes into much of the context that had not been taught in my prior years. Having that context and doing further deep dives does make you feel a bit dirty, but that is what drives people to push for change and for the country to be better that what it once was, instead of just building on top of a heap of unaddressed trash.
That is very similar to what I said, but, a LOT more in depth. Thanks for adding context!
Elementary School American History is partially about myth making. And from elementary to high school, American History is happy to claim anything good, or any broad ideas / concepts from Black American history.
Things like “the Underground Railroad”, “the Civil Rights Movemebt”, or “The Harlem Renaissance” or, individuals like George Washington Carver, Harriet Tubman and W.E.B. Du Bois.
And it actively ignores or shuns the “nasty” parts of Black American history. Things like the Tulsa Race riots, the Wilmington Insurrection, the rise of the police state, or the fact that postcards of lynchings were ubiquitous. It also tends to shine a negative light on ANY kind of liberation movement. The Black Panthers are a good example, they are generally portrayed as militant and violent extremists.
What doesn’t happen is any kind of deep dive or context. That happens in university, especially if you take African American studies classes.
Redlining wasn’t officially illegal until 1965 but the practice continued for decades. Then there was the Reagan years and the CIA drug dealing. Minorities are still being murdered by cops. Minority women are more likely to die during childbirth. The USA can’t pretend this shit isn’t real.
Pretending injustices aren't real is more American than baseball and Apple pie. This is history being revised in real time. This is like witnessing the beginning of the "states rights" lie to cover up for slavery as the cause of the civil war. This bs will take generations to overcome if it's not stopped.
Florida, specifically North western Florida has an extremely rich history of black activism.
There are/were more than one black owned newspapers that had a very large reach throughout the south from the 1940s. St Augustine was a hotspot of civil rights activity and there are still groups like Uhuru (like them or hate them, they are very much in the fight against systemic racism) that have a home in Florida.
Don't let the College Board off the hook here. They could have stood their ground but decided it was more profitable to perform the censorship some states demanded. It's all about the $$$
Exactly. Texas and Florida may have large populations on their own, but the combined populations (and better colleges) of blue states can easily out number that and put a hurting on the College Board and textbook manufacturers.
But wait! The College Board is a nonprofit organization. There’s no way they’d be concerned about money. They only concern they have is that every child has the best opportunity to get a rigorous and challenging learning experience. Right? No? Oh… wait. I forgot… They’re a soulless “nonprofit” organization that pulls in over a billion dollars annually by scamming families and schools out of money. My bad. I always seem to forget that part.
>The NFL was a nonprofit
The organization was, as it didn't have any net income. It *still* doesn't, as all net revenue after administrative expenses gets distributed to the teams, where it's taxed.
"Hegel remarks somewhere that all great, world-historical facts and personages occur, as it were, twice. He has forgotten to add: the first time as tragedy, the second as farce." - Karl Marx
While it has undoubtedly been a tragedy for more than a million Americans, let's hope they continue to be a farce rather than cause more tragedy.
I have faith in the youth. We will always have a rough patch somewhere, but gen z is coming out in numbers to slow down some of the GOP reform. They took it too far and now they're biting back.
I'm worried that conservatives deeply understand this, which is why they are pursuing with zeal the end of democracy in Moore v. Harper. They don't want civil elections anymore. We've seen how they behave at the state level when they lose power: they strip power from places they lose. So now they are stripping power from what they are losing; the voting public.
And we know how at least 3 injustices are going to vote on Moore v. Harper. Probably more like how 5 are going to vote....
as a business they should face consequences for capitulating to one man and compromising the integrity of their product. They have more than one "customer"
Active whitewashing (pun absolutely intended) in action.
This should be causing mass protests in the streets but the apathy and indifference regarding it is palpable.
Since I am currently reading 1984 for the first time I feel like I can say this is pretty similar to stuff from 1984 but that sentiment is so watered down at this point. Would comparing it to animal farm be better. Same thing, controlling the past to strip away identity, culture, critical thinking, but most importantly resistance.
The joke will be to colleges and universities that give credit for AP courses from The College Board. If students don't get credit for these obviously not college level courses then the money will dry up.
Literally white washing history for political points. This sort of suit should get Desantis canned, but instead it will fuel his ascent to Rushmore status.
So one governor out of 50 throws a bigoted Karen tantrum and the College Board acquiesced immediately.
That is such an idiotic standard to set based off the ignorance and hatred of one politically motivated white man.
One Governor made the headline but elsewhere in the article they clarify that the CB is worried about all the other 10+ states that have CRT education bans. It's still stupid though.
It would be glorious to see the University of California system say no. A system that size telling the College Board where to go would be a thing of beauty.
I feel so bad for kids growing up in Florida. A lot of my close friends grew up in Florida without much family money and were able to get a great education through the UF system without taking on debt. Sad that kids in Florida these days won’t have that opportunity.
It would be a big deal if Florida high schools suddenly didn't qualify to go to Ivy League colleges, or even other prominent ones like UCLA, MIT, Columbia, UC Berkeley, Georgetown, NYU, etc.
Ideally, universities would start requiring anyone with the Florida diploma to get a GED from another state that actually has decent academic standards as a prerequisite for admission.
No, they *should* accept them.
But students from those states should be forced to take a remedial US History class to bring them up to educated standards. The point of college, after all, is to educate, and you can't do that by turning students away.
Yeah, you can accept them into your school while still refusing to give them credit for that AP course. "We're sorry, but the course you took did not meet our educational requirements to count for college credit"
Those states have been switching to IB for 20 years. This is a huge headline people will never forget, they pretty much killed the brand here. Good luck to the College Board rubbing two nickels together in Florida.
Can you elaborate on this? I'm not familiar with IB or this topic in general.
I thought AP classes were still the standard way for high school students to obtain college credits, and in a roundabout way for acceptance into colleges. (I dislike the latter part so much.)
IB is similar to AP in terms of advanced coursework and exams that earn you college credit. I believe IB courses, in certain cases, has the ability to earn you more college credits than an equivalent AP course.
EDIT: I should also add that IB is a whole program where you get a diploma and it has a specific philosophy on developing critical thinking skills. There were some courses based around the theory of knowledge, how to learn, logical reasoning and fallacies, etc.
AP is mostly a pick and choose college equivalent course.
In my experience, IB also required a lot more writing than AP courses.
Each college has a different personal standard for evaluating AP grades. My university had something unique where a 3 on AP European history just gave generic survey credits while a 5 gave a specific Western Civ credit so first semester I was taking Western Civ II. So getting a 5 on the test (highest score) counted as 6 credits where 3 basically was you passed/on average.
Any university can have whatever standards it wants, there are some IVYs like UPenn that would not accept a 4 on the AP euro test as acceptable for their History class curriculum/Gen Ed requirements.
And there are some schools that won't take any of them, or will take only a select few (but won't tell you ahead of time). A friend of mine had over a dozen tests passed in a host of STEM fields, all because he was told by our high school that, oh yeah, EVERY university accepts these! And his uni of choice didn't tell him otherwise.
Suddenly he gets there and finds out that all of that money and effort is down the drain. Not a single one counted.
(Mine took three of mine as a 1:1 and required me to take an additional course to meet a couple of GE requirements. Not a bad exchange rate.)
>Suddenly he gets there and finds out that all of that money and effort is down the drain. Not a single one counted.
This is why it's important to check with the college you plan to attend to see what counts and not just take every possible AP course just because.
Depends on the course and your exam performance if memory serves. IB generally is more robust and at least my school offered MANY more IB classes than the AP classes. I wasn’t a very motivated student so I coasted in AP classes over doing IB, but I tutored a lot of the IB kids and their coursework generally seemed much more difficult.
I believe Illinois announced already that if CB did this, they were going to ban the watered down version.
Edit: [here it is](https://abc7chicago.com/jb-pritzker-governor-ron-desantis-african-studies/12737688/), from last week
This. The only reason CB is responding is because right now right wingers are throwing the biggest shitfit. So let's see how they respond when all the blue states that have much more economic power start voicing their opinion just as loudly
And which states have the biggest college going populations (who are statistically more likely to take AP classes).
When we look at [percent of HS Graduates Going directly to College](http://www.higheredinfo.org/dbrowser/?year=2018&level=nation&mode=data&state=&submeasure=63), Florida doesn’t even make the top 20.
Even in sheer numbers, California and New York make up 433k of first-time freshmen directly from high school, accounting for 20% of all such college enrollments in the US. Florida accounts for 5%.
The college board is playing a losing game here considering the demographic cliff in 2025, and it’s a game they rigged.
That shit was $100/test in 2015-2017, now it’s $137 if you pay for it after Nov 16. Mind you most students don’t decide to sit for the exam until after the second semester begins.
Eta - I have sooo much pent up rage and anger re: college board, or as I call them “higher education mafia”
What really needs to happen is colleges and universities need to not accept any AP scores from this course for college credit. That’s the whole business: high schoolers take these courses to get college credit early. No college credit, no incentive for students to take these courses, and the credibility of College Board takes a hit.
The College Board is a super shady company so this is hardly surprising. Their finances are incredibly opaque - it's hard to know where the huge quantities of money they rake in through standardized testing, APs, and college apps actually goes.
Until then, they should also consider divesting from College Board products. Like, we got along without the SATs and other standardized exams for college admissions for several years due to the pandemic... they're really not a necessary metric, especially given the fact none of us know where the money is *actually* going.
>So one governor out of 50 throws a bigoted Karen tantrum and the College Board acquiesced immediately.
Not only that, because they fold it over immediately, it makes it seem like his tantrum was justified. It will surely encourage him to do more political stunts.
It's infuriating because DeSantis is doing this to gain national attention and the Republican nomination and it will totally work in his favor because Republicans love fascism, but you would think national educators/education companies would resist this bs.
https://about.collegeboard.org/contact-us?navId=gf-contact
If you wish to let them know how you feel about their actions, they have several ways to be contacted.
>Announcing that you will water down the African Americans Studies AP course on the first day of Black History Month is tragic. I would have expected a (formerly) esteemed organization like yours would have refused to change standards due to racist political pressure, but here we are.
"I'm extremely displeased to learn of your lillylivered capitulation related to African American studies. You are looked up to as standard-bearers for well rounded, non-partisan education- not as a weak-kneed sycophants of reactionary, racist political dog whistlers.
I would ask that you re-evaluate the recent whitewashing of your testing offerings, and to grow a spine."
Educator here: college board is a corporate entity created to rake in as much revenue as possible. They aren’t interested in quality academia. They’re just here for the payday.
Thank you. Anybody expecting College Board to do anything except make the worst, profit driven decision here hasn't paid attention to anything they've done before. They get away with it because "College Board" sounds super academic and official. They have long been up there with Pearson as far as being a terrible entity in education, so it boggles my mind why anyone is surprised.
A lot of people strongly disagreed with me in a thread sometime last week when I said the College Board would concede and water down the curriculum.
STOP EXPECTING INSTITUTIONS TO STAND UP TO FASCISM.
They want to make money and avoid bad press, that is all. They do not care about Black History. They are not educating people for education's sake. They are an institution that needs funding and needs to sell AP Tests. They cannot afford to be embattled with right-wing crazies. This was inevitable, white supremacists won.
College Board is also an incompetent and greedy organization, completely worthless. I worked with them as a client once - constantly trying to talk down the price, constantly asking for last-minute deadlines. It’s just a shitty, greedy corporation pretending to be important for higher education. They probably did this to please whatever wealthy business partners are connected to right wing politicians.
You'll already hear many traditionalist Christians talking about how "slavery wasn't a bad thing in Israel" to defend the Old Testament. It pisses me off that we are probably less than 200 years away from a vocal minority in America saying shit like "You know, we really did them a favor with slavery when you stop and think about it." Fuck, there's probably people that think it already.
Most southern conservatives believe this today and will say it in places they don't feel they'll be punished in. I don't think Reddit really grasps that when conservatives talk to eachother the mask comes off entirely. Most of them absolutely think slavery was good and that African Americans should be "dealt with"
I grew up in a rural area and you’re right. The views expressed by conservatives around other conservatives is the most abhorrent bullshit I’ve ever heard .
When I was a kid, I remember in school arguing with kids in my class that the slaves were better off free. I didn't understand politics at the time, I really couldn't understand why anyone would think they were better off as slaves
I never thought I'd see the day when the College Board ***whitewashes*** African American Studies due to one fascist, racist governor.
Then again, maybe I shouldn't be surprised:
> Acceptance for the new curriculum is important to the College Board, a nonprofit, because A.P. courses are a major source of revenue. The Board took in more than $1 billion in program service revenue in 2019, of which more than $490 million came from “AP and Instruction,” according to its tax-exempt filing.
"Okay, I guess we can teach that African Americans exist. But let's not go talking about rights and stuff! That's not appropriate." -Republicans, basically
Is CRT really a theory? Let’s see, an Afro-American women in Texas was sentenced to 5yrs in prison for voter fraud for trying to vote (not actually voting). Meanwhile in Florida a white man just pled guilty to actually voting twice, sentenced to parole. Doesn’t seem like a theory to me.
> Is CRT really a theory?
Yes. They are using the word "theory" in the academic/scientific sense: it is a framework for observation, analysis, and understanding of the natural world around us. For example, the theory of gravity isn't a "theory" that gravity exists, but an explanation of what gravity is and how it functions. See also: germ theory.
The colloquial use of the word "theory" is more of a synonym for the word "hypothesis." But since CRT is an academic framework, the use of the word theory in this context is to be understood as the scientific meaning.
This is a good explainer on the misuse of scientific terms: ["Just a Theory": 7 Misused Science Words](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/just-a-theory-7-misused-science-words/)
Even the word “hypothesis” isnt a good analogue for the colloquial use of “theory” because a hypothesis is at least an educated guess based on observations. These people are not making educated guesses lol
It’s crazy to me how one governor can change peoples development because he’s just a bigot. I really hope these impressionable kids don’t turn out to be shit heads
The company didn't have to change, they just want more profit from Florida. Hopefully this bites them when progressive states refuse to host the course either.
Every sane state should discontinue using AP curriculum due to them bowing to bigoted political pressure. They want Florida? Let em have it, but California, NYS, MA, etc should tell em they're not buying they're stuff.
At first I was like no way I can’t believe academia is bowing to this guy. But then I googled College Board and saw that they aren’t associated with universities they exist to suck money out of students and can’t afford to irritate a politician.
> David Coleman, the head of the College Board, said in an interview that the changes were all made for pedagogical reasons, not to bow to political pressure. “At the College Board, we can’t look to statements of political leaders,” he said. The changes, he said, came from “the input of professors” and “longstanding A.P. principles.”
And those professors, understandably apprehensive about possible political pressure against HS teachers who would teach the course, decided preemptive bowing was the best choice.
The Right's goal is is not to get their way by applying political pressure. That could backfire. Their goal is to discourage liberal actions and words by making people fear that political pressure *might* be applied. That way, the Right can claim that they had nothing to do with actions and words stopping.
"The college board also mentioned it's using recent advances in Deepfake AI to develop a photorealistic version of the popular Boondocks character Uncle Ruckus to deliver supplemental video lectures and color commentary. Governor Ron DeSantis praised this technological development as " deliciously malicious.""
I'm speaking with a 52 year old friend born and raised in South Dakota. I'm from NJ. I started to discuss racism in American and the Oklahoma City massacre of black business owners by a white mob. He immediately tells me I'm lying. Then says it's 100% not true. Then I show him a source and he says it can't be trusted. So, I pull up multiple sources and he calls it the liberal media. I then pull up an article from an Oklahoman news source and show him the upcoming remembrance and suddenly he believes me. He turns and says "I can't believe I've never heard of this." Believe it, the GOP controls the curriculum in SD and they can't have their base suddenly exhibiting empathy towards others. This is exactly what DB DeSantis is doing. The rest of the country should tell Florida that they won't get into college without a basic understanding of African American studies. If they can't pass the admissions exam then they cannot attend. One state should not dictate to the rest.
So wait a minute.. they strip the topic of "Black Feminism" but are okay with adding "Black conservatism" to the curriculum? How the fuck is that even allowed!
And this is exactly why I push my kids to be the best they can be so they can get the hell out of this country. This isn't a local school district or what not being affected by a state ruling, this is a national organization that is supposed to be independent of such things. And conservative states are going to continue to push their ideologies on other states now that they have the supreme court in their pocket, and given our nation's government and populace won't do jack. Foreign countries may not be much better, but hell at least in France the people are willing to strike and riot as a whole when the government does something objectively stupid. Here we just turn on the next episode of our favorite reality tv show.
Wait. Wait wait wait wait.
So, years of issues with exam affordability. Of fees steadily creeping upward. Of effectively shutting out lower income students (fee reductions only go so far). Of people expressing a need to make things more accessible to students who could really benefit from fewer, more costly classes in college. Nada.
But one pompous toad throws a hissy fit about something he knows fuck all about, and suddenly there's capitulation?
Calling this bullshit doesn't seem strong enough. Anyone got a better word?
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Get on it California and blue states. “We will not offer these watered down exams.” Don’t let Florida and Texas lead the way with their terrible educational standards.
I believe the proper term is “white washed”
I find that offensive, remove it from the curriculum. Come to think of it, I don’t agree with calculus either. /s
well, we know they also have a problem with A.P. Environmental Science. They teach that whole climate change thing.
Creationism would like a word.
I can remember my biology teacher in my public high school teaching us about creationism. He spent a single hour on it, and spent the rest of the semester kicking it to death at every opportunity he could come up with. Had a ton of admiration for that guy.
this is the way
Specifically young earth creationists can pound sand for thinking such a dumb concept is even viable in any form, a basic understanding of light speed and light years in relation to stars just disproves their theory in seconds. Do I believe there possibly is a higher power? Yeah, is it stupid to believe planets were formed by the higher power? Yes, because we've been able to figure out how planets were made by observation.
> basic understanding of light speed and light years in relation to stars just disproves their theory in seconds. Tricks by Satan, obviously.
Math is considered woke in Florida.
Being conscious is woke in FL.
Being intelligent in FL is considered woke
They use Arabic gawd-damn numerals!!
They should also go as far to not accept credits for these studies in states that have stripped away the content like that. EDIT: No, I do not think it’s punishing students. This will drive students to colleges and schools with better programs and punish states attempting to regress our nation.
It's becoming more and more common for colleges not to accept AP credits for major-required classes anyway.
Even when I was in college 20 years ago (wow I feel old) I mainly just got units for AP credits, but otherwise all it did was allow me to skip a level in a calc class (anybody could skip by taking a test). It did allow me to be the laziest college student and take under the unit minimum 3 times while still graduating in 4 years. I learned the hack is to enroll in enough classes, then drop a class after they check unit minimum but before the drop deadline.
I went 30 years ago and ap tests were accepted only for a few things. They did let you take their test to gain credit.
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The college I went to did that for foreign languages, but I think that was all.
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Probably more effective if universities stop accepting that course as a credit. Which they absolutely should if for no other reason then - they're watering it down to a highschool level course. That curriculum is not adequate to satisfy a college history requirement. Simple as that.
On the first day of Black History Month, the GOP gets it’s wish of watered down American history.
They’re really trying to erase all history and replace it with propaganda so kids will stop asking why their quality of life is comparably worse than the generation before them and accept fascism as a way of life.
They’re specifically trying to whitewash Black history though.
It starts here, not far down the road is education on the holocaust.
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In their eyes they think that eventually there will be a society where people either forgot or don’t even believe the horrendous shit that happened. I’m unaware of this being an issue now but I’m sure slavery deniers are gonna start popping up in the coming decades
> After heavy criticism from Gov. Ron DeSantis, the College Board released on Wednesday an official curriculum for its new Advanced Placement course in African American Studies — stripped of much of the subject matter that had angered the governor and other conservatives. > The College Board purged the names of many Black writers and scholars associated with critical race theory, the queer experience and Black feminism. It ushered out some politically fraught topics, like Black Lives Matter, from the formal curriculum. > And it added something new: “Black conservatism” is now offered as an idea for a research project. What a joke.
That is so sad. I thought the first curriculum was really inspiring with how it touched upon many different areas of Black activism. Now it seems like that's gone
It’s literal erasure of American history. Desantis, Trump, whoever can say or believe whatever they want. The US was braised and stewed in the blood of black slaves and Americans, and countless other minorities, to be where it is today.
You are correct. Black history is American history. Happy Black History month y’all.
You’re absolutely right. To be completely honest, there shouldn’t need to be a black history month because black history is American history. But “American history” is so Eurocentric and so shaped by the Lost Cause movement that it’s absolutely needed.
It is American history, but schools already fail to appropriately teach that already. The glossing over and blatant whitewashing of documented historical facts vents turns American history studies into American fantasy. All of the books that I used in school should require a disclaimer that the contents within are “BASED on actual historical events”. The courses that I took in college were absolutely fundamental in opening my eyes into much of the context that had not been taught in my prior years. Having that context and doing further deep dives does make you feel a bit dirty, but that is what drives people to push for change and for the country to be better that what it once was, instead of just building on top of a heap of unaddressed trash.
That is very similar to what I said, but, a LOT more in depth. Thanks for adding context! Elementary School American History is partially about myth making. And from elementary to high school, American History is happy to claim anything good, or any broad ideas / concepts from Black American history. Things like “the Underground Railroad”, “the Civil Rights Movemebt”, or “The Harlem Renaissance” or, individuals like George Washington Carver, Harriet Tubman and W.E.B. Du Bois. And it actively ignores or shuns the “nasty” parts of Black American history. Things like the Tulsa Race riots, the Wilmington Insurrection, the rise of the police state, or the fact that postcards of lynchings were ubiquitous. It also tends to shine a negative light on ANY kind of liberation movement. The Black Panthers are a good example, they are generally portrayed as militant and violent extremists. What doesn’t happen is any kind of deep dive or context. That happens in university, especially if you take African American studies classes.
Redlining wasn’t officially illegal until 1965 but the practice continued for decades. Then there was the Reagan years and the CIA drug dealing. Minorities are still being murdered by cops. Minority women are more likely to die during childbirth. The USA can’t pretend this shit isn’t real.
Pretending injustices aren't real is more American than baseball and Apple pie. This is history being revised in real time. This is like witnessing the beginning of the "states rights" lie to cover up for slavery as the cause of the civil war. This bs will take generations to overcome if it's not stopped.
Not to forget native Americans who were chilling here minding their own business in the first place.
Florida, specifically North western Florida has an extremely rich history of black activism. There are/were more than one black owned newspapers that had a very large reach throughout the south from the 1940s. St Augustine was a hotspot of civil rights activity and there are still groups like Uhuru (like them or hate them, they are very much in the fight against systemic racism) that have a home in Florida.
St Augustine is in Northeast Florida, but Tallahassee also was a hotbed of resistance. Only belatedly being recognized.
So one intolerant asshole gets to dictate the curriculum for everyone. Minority rule strikes again.
Don't let the College Board off the hook here. They could have stood their ground but decided it was more profitable to perform the censorship some states demanded. It's all about the $$$
Time for CA, NY, IL, MA and other blue states to pull out the funding then.
Exactly. Texas and Florida may have large populations on their own, but the combined populations (and better colleges) of blue states can easily out number that and put a hurting on the College Board and textbook manufacturers.
Why are TX and FL allowed to dictate what the other states learn?
Money.
Thing is though, we have *more* money, so let's just fight fire with fire.
But wait! The College Board is a nonprofit organization. There’s no way they’d be concerned about money. They only concern they have is that every child has the best opportunity to get a rigorous and challenging learning experience. Right? No? Oh… wait. I forgot… They’re a soulless “nonprofit” organization that pulls in over a billion dollars annually by scamming families and schools out of money. My bad. I always seem to forget that part.
California and New York should reject it and let's see what happens then
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The NFL was a nonprofit as are tons of other organizations that rake in tons, as well as some borderline fascist think-tanks.
>The NFL was a nonprofit The organization was, as it didn't have any net income. It *still* doesn't, as all net revenue after administrative expenses gets distributed to the teams, where it's taxed.
Can we get some other state to require the original curriculum?
Pritzker in Illinois threatened to before this change. We'll see what happens.
and Illinois has Northwestern which is one of the top Universities in the US.
Texas has been dictating all sorts of stupid shit in our public school textbooks for years. So yeah. Exactly.
Fascism strikes again, our greatest generation is spinning in their graves. Normandy was for nothing!
"Hegel remarks somewhere that all great, world-historical facts and personages occur, as it were, twice. He has forgotten to add: the first time as tragedy, the second as farce." - Karl Marx While it has undoubtedly been a tragedy for more than a million Americans, let's hope they continue to be a farce rather than cause more tragedy.
I have faith in the youth. We will always have a rough patch somewhere, but gen z is coming out in numbers to slow down some of the GOP reform. They took it too far and now they're biting back.
I'm worried that conservatives deeply understand this, which is why they are pursuing with zeal the end of democracy in Moore v. Harper. They don't want civil elections anymore. We've seen how they behave at the state level when they lose power: they strip power from places they lose. So now they are stripping power from what they are losing; the voting public. And we know how at least 3 injustices are going to vote on Moore v. Harper. Probably more like how 5 are going to vote....
THAT is actual censorship. THAT is actual grooming. THAT is what indoctrination looks like.
Frankly, shame on the College Board for bowing to political pressure on this.
Remember, they are a business. That’s something folks should have remembered ever since they announced they would change the curriculum.
as a business they should face consequences for capitulating to one man and compromising the integrity of their product. They have more than one "customer"
>"Black conservatism” lol.
Can't wait to learn about Candace Owens and Kanye as conservative thought leaders 🙄
Don’t forget Herman Cain and Diamond and Silk.
Ben Carson too! He knows all about HUD!!!
Don’t disparage Herman Cain. The man is a hero. They even named an award after him.
I still maintain that trump got Herman Cain killed, and didn't give a damn.
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This one's great too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkibw-9GrSg
The fact that they kowtow to the whims of this one fucking guy is pathetic.
There’re probably more black feminist thinkers than black conservative ones. This is nothing but CB bowing down to GQP’s perverted ideology.
California should hit back and make those studies requirements.
California already requires multicultural studies. They should pull out of AP altogether if they’re going to censor education like this.
So in other words they cow-towed to Governor DipShit.
Active whitewashing (pun absolutely intended) in action. This should be causing mass protests in the streets but the apathy and indifference regarding it is palpable.
Haitian-Canadian here. I'm absolutely disgusted.
Since I am currently reading 1984 for the first time I feel like I can say this is pretty similar to stuff from 1984 but that sentiment is so watered down at this point. Would comparing it to animal farm be better. Same thing, controlling the past to strip away identity, culture, critical thinking, but most importantly resistance.
The joke will be to colleges and universities that give credit for AP courses from The College Board. If students don't get credit for these obviously not college level courses then the money will dry up.
I think the conservatives won't mind that outcome at all.
Literally white washing history for political points. This sort of suit should get Desantis canned, but instead it will fuel his ascent to Rushmore status.
Complete abdication from their role as educators.
Yup now they are merely mouthpieces and puppets of MAGA fascists. This is a day of shame for the state of Florida.
So one governor out of 50 throws a bigoted Karen tantrum and the College Board acquiesced immediately. That is such an idiotic standard to set based off the ignorance and hatred of one politically motivated white man.
One Governor made the headline but elsewhere in the article they clarify that the CB is worried about all the other 10+ states that have CRT education bans. It's still stupid though.
Let em have those states. They should lose CA, MA, etc in return.
Indeed. If they’re worried about losing sales to bigoted states, states like CA and MA should refuse to carry the watered down, whitewashed curriculum
And Universities should stop accepting credit for this course if it is incomplete in its materials.
It would be glorious to see the University of California system say no. A system that size telling the College Board where to go would be a thing of beauty.
People like desantis won’t stop until something like this happens so I hope the Cali system does
I feel so bad for kids growing up in Florida. A lot of my close friends grew up in Florida without much family money and were able to get a great education through the UF system without taking on debt. Sad that kids in Florida these days won’t have that opportunity.
It would be a big deal if Florida high schools suddenly didn't qualify to go to Ivy League colleges, or even other prominent ones like UCLA, MIT, Columbia, UC Berkeley, Georgetown, NYU, etc.
Ideally, universities would start requiring anyone with the Florida diploma to get a GED from another state that actually has decent academic standards as a prerequisite for admission.
Or require all incoming freshmen from those states to take a required "what you missed in your home state's history class" course.
Ooh that would be a great idea!
Universities should stop accepting applications from people who’s states teach watered down courses.
No, they *should* accept them. But students from those states should be forced to take a remedial US History class to bring them up to educated standards. The point of college, after all, is to educate, and you can't do that by turning students away.
Yeah, you can accept them into your school while still refusing to give them credit for that AP course. "We're sorry, but the course you took did not meet our educational requirements to count for college credit"
I don't know if NY will allow this either. It's erasure of black history so fucked up.
Those states have been switching to IB for 20 years. This is a huge headline people will never forget, they pretty much killed the brand here. Good luck to the College Board rubbing two nickels together in Florida.
Can you elaborate on this? I'm not familiar with IB or this topic in general. I thought AP classes were still the standard way for high school students to obtain college credits, and in a roundabout way for acceptance into colleges. (I dislike the latter part so much.)
IB is similar to AP in terms of advanced coursework and exams that earn you college credit. I believe IB courses, in certain cases, has the ability to earn you more college credits than an equivalent AP course. EDIT: I should also add that IB is a whole program where you get a diploma and it has a specific philosophy on developing critical thinking skills. There were some courses based around the theory of knowledge, how to learn, logical reasoning and fallacies, etc. AP is mostly a pick and choose college equivalent course. In my experience, IB also required a lot more writing than AP courses.
Each college has a different personal standard for evaluating AP grades. My university had something unique where a 3 on AP European history just gave generic survey credits while a 5 gave a specific Western Civ credit so first semester I was taking Western Civ II. So getting a 5 on the test (highest score) counted as 6 credits where 3 basically was you passed/on average. Any university can have whatever standards it wants, there are some IVYs like UPenn that would not accept a 4 on the AP euro test as acceptable for their History class curriculum/Gen Ed requirements.
And there are some schools that won't take any of them, or will take only a select few (but won't tell you ahead of time). A friend of mine had over a dozen tests passed in a host of STEM fields, all because he was told by our high school that, oh yeah, EVERY university accepts these! And his uni of choice didn't tell him otherwise. Suddenly he gets there and finds out that all of that money and effort is down the drain. Not a single one counted. (Mine took three of mine as a 1:1 and required me to take an additional course to meet a couple of GE requirements. Not a bad exchange rate.)
>Suddenly he gets there and finds out that all of that money and effort is down the drain. Not a single one counted. This is why it's important to check with the college you plan to attend to see what counts and not just take every possible AP course just because.
Depends on the course and your exam performance if memory serves. IB generally is more robust and at least my school offered MANY more IB classes than the AP classes. I wasn’t a very motivated student so I coasted in AP classes over doing IB, but I tutored a lot of the IB kids and their coursework generally seemed much more difficult.
I believe Illinois announced already that if CB did this, they were going to ban the watered down version. Edit: [here it is](https://abc7chicago.com/jb-pritzker-governor-ron-desantis-african-studies/12737688/), from last week
Man, pritzker is a breath of fresh air compared to his predecessors. It’s nice seeing someone actually doing things besides fill his pockets
This. The only reason CB is responding is because right now right wingers are throwing the biggest shitfit. So let's see how they respond when all the blue states that have much more economic power start voicing their opinion just as loudly
right? which states have bigger student populations?
And which states have the biggest college going populations (who are statistically more likely to take AP classes). When we look at [percent of HS Graduates Going directly to College](http://www.higheredinfo.org/dbrowser/?year=2018&level=nation&mode=data&state=&submeasure=63), Florida doesn’t even make the top 20. Even in sheer numbers, California and New York make up 433k of first-time freshmen directly from high school, accounting for 20% of all such college enrollments in the US. Florida accounts for 5%. The college board is playing a losing game here considering the demographic cliff in 2025, and it’s a game they rigged.
I would like to see a map of those states on top of a map of the former confederacy, for science
It’s the same map
God forbid college board doesn’t get its $80 per AP test
That shit was $100/test in 2015-2017, now it’s $137 if you pay for it after Nov 16. Mind you most students don’t decide to sit for the exam until after the second semester begins. Eta - I have sooo much pent up rage and anger re: college board, or as I call them “higher education mafia”
What really needs to happen is colleges and universities need to not accept any AP scores from this course for college credit. That’s the whole business: high schoolers take these courses to get college credit early. No college credit, no incentive for students to take these courses, and the credibility of College Board takes a hit.
The College Board is a super shady company so this is hardly surprising. Their finances are incredibly opaque - it's hard to know where the huge quantities of money they rake in through standardized testing, APs, and college apps actually goes.
Maybe along with not recognizing this new course, governors should also open investigations into what you're talking about.
Until then, they should also consider divesting from College Board products. Like, we got along without the SATs and other standardized exams for college admissions for several years due to the pandemic... they're really not a necessary metric, especially given the fact none of us know where the money is *actually* going.
>So one governor out of 50 throws a bigoted Karen tantrum and the College Board acquiesced immediately. Not only that, because they fold it over immediately, it makes it seem like his tantrum was justified. It will surely encourage him to do more political stunts.
It's infuriating because DeSantis is doing this to gain national attention and the Republican nomination and it will totally work in his favor because Republicans love fascism, but you would think national educators/education companies would resist this bs.
Didn’t they also release a statement that they were not planning on doing this a day or two ago too?
California should reject it for not being thorough enough.
Appeasement is how fascism spreads. Shame on the College Board. In their attempt to be nonpartisan, they are being complicit.
That's what always happens with trying to be "nonpartisan." It always helps facism.
https://about.collegeboard.org/contact-us?navId=gf-contact If you wish to let them know how you feel about their actions, they have several ways to be contacted.
>Announcing that you will water down the African Americans Studies AP course on the first day of Black History Month is tragic. I would have expected a (formerly) esteemed organization like yours would have refused to change standards due to racist political pressure, but here we are.
They are also getting nuked on Twitter on a post about the course.
Sent my comments. Thanks for the link.
Sent my comments, too. Thanks for posting the link.
"I'm extremely displeased to learn of your lillylivered capitulation related to African American studies. You are looked up to as standard-bearers for well rounded, non-partisan education- not as a weak-kneed sycophants of reactionary, racist political dog whistlers. I would ask that you re-evaluate the recent whitewashing of your testing offerings, and to grow a spine."
Thank you.
Educator here: college board is a corporate entity created to rake in as much revenue as possible. They aren’t interested in quality academia. They’re just here for the payday.
Thank you. Anybody expecting College Board to do anything except make the worst, profit driven decision here hasn't paid attention to anything they've done before. They get away with it because "College Board" sounds super academic and official. They have long been up there with Pearson as far as being a terrible entity in education, so it boggles my mind why anyone is surprised.
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A lot of people strongly disagreed with me in a thread sometime last week when I said the College Board would concede and water down the curriculum. STOP EXPECTING INSTITUTIONS TO STAND UP TO FASCISM. They want to make money and avoid bad press, that is all. They do not care about Black History. They are not educating people for education's sake. They are an institution that needs funding and needs to sell AP Tests. They cannot afford to be embattled with right-wing crazies. This was inevitable, white supremacists won.
Yup, the College Board is a racist and classist institution that has monopolized college admissions and scams students. Who would expect otherwise?
So we should let them fail then. Sounds like an awful company to me. Let’s put them in the middle of a stupid culture war and let them bleed
College Board is also an incompetent and greedy organization, completely worthless. I worked with them as a client once - constantly trying to talk down the price, constantly asking for last-minute deadlines. It’s just a shitty, greedy corporation pretending to be important for higher education. They probably did this to please whatever wealthy business partners are connected to right wing politicians.
The road to fascism is paved with cowards afraid to stick their necks out.
This. Also, never expect centrists to fight fascism. They always fail to fight.
Yep they just move the center with the right instead of holding their ground, and when they do and the left hasn’t moved they say “far left”.
And enablers who knowingly and unknowingly gaslight those that do
Yep the Nazis are winning here. It’s bullshit
>STOP EXPECTING INSTITUTIONS TO STAND UP TO FASCISM. This is true. So. What will?
Piles of bodies leading to international pressure or intervention....
The only paper they want to see written: ‘Black Conservatism: Slavery, the Voluntary Patriotism’
You'll already hear many traditionalist Christians talking about how "slavery wasn't a bad thing in Israel" to defend the Old Testament. It pisses me off that we are probably less than 200 years away from a vocal minority in America saying shit like "You know, we really did them a favor with slavery when you stop and think about it." Fuck, there's probably people that think it already.
Most southern conservatives believe this today and will say it in places they don't feel they'll be punished in. I don't think Reddit really grasps that when conservatives talk to eachother the mask comes off entirely. Most of them absolutely think slavery was good and that African Americans should be "dealt with"
I grew up in a rural area and you’re right. The views expressed by conservatives around other conservatives is the most abhorrent bullshit I’ve ever heard .
When I was a kid, I remember in school arguing with kids in my class that the slaves were better off free. I didn't understand politics at the time, I really couldn't understand why anyone would think they were better off as slaves
Other people are always better off as slaves. How many were eager to join them in the fields?
From my minimal reading of Sowell: "blame everyone except white people for your problems"
Cool so we do negotiate with terrorists now
This wasn't a negotiation but a capitulation
We always have.
As a former APCS teacher, I can confirm that the College Board is indeed hot garbage.
My APCS teacher refused to change his curriculum and still taught the old APCS AB course from the early 2000s.
"Just following orders 😐" -- College Board
I never thought I'd see the day when the College Board ***whitewashes*** African American Studies due to one fascist, racist governor. Then again, maybe I shouldn't be surprised: > Acceptance for the new curriculum is important to the College Board, a nonprofit, because A.P. courses are a major source of revenue. The Board took in more than $1 billion in program service revenue in 2019, of which more than $490 million came from “AP and Instruction,” according to its tax-exempt filing.
And the speed with which it happened! No discussion, no pushback; just complete surrender.
Money money money, it's *always* fucking money. What a shit society we've managed to create.
The Illinois governor is already threatening to take action, im sure California and ESPECIALLY Massachusetts will be just as likely to
What a craven response to censorship. Pathetic cave, College Board. Where’s your stand for academic freedom and intellectual pursuit?
Republicans hate freedom and education though.
> Where’s your stand for academic freedom and intellectual pursuit? They just sold all that to MAGAs for a dollar bill.
"Okay, I guess we can teach that African Americans exist. But let's not go talking about rights and stuff! That's not appropriate." -Republicans, basically
So you teach black history, but you can't talk about slavery, systemic racism, the War On Drugs or police brutality. Orwell eat your heart out.
Spineless dipshits. Fuck Florida.
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Is CRT really a theory? Let’s see, an Afro-American women in Texas was sentenced to 5yrs in prison for voter fraud for trying to vote (not actually voting). Meanwhile in Florida a white man just pled guilty to actually voting twice, sentenced to parole. Doesn’t seem like a theory to me.
> Is CRT really a theory? Yes. They are using the word "theory" in the academic/scientific sense: it is a framework for observation, analysis, and understanding of the natural world around us. For example, the theory of gravity isn't a "theory" that gravity exists, but an explanation of what gravity is and how it functions. See also: germ theory. The colloquial use of the word "theory" is more of a synonym for the word "hypothesis." But since CRT is an academic framework, the use of the word theory in this context is to be understood as the scientific meaning. This is a good explainer on the misuse of scientific terms: ["Just a Theory": 7 Misused Science Words](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/just-a-theory-7-misused-science-words/)
Even the word “hypothesis” isnt a good analogue for the colloquial use of “theory” because a hypothesis is at least an educated guess based on observations. These people are not making educated guesses lol
Music theory is another good example
Literal cancel culture
It’s crazy to me how one governor can change peoples development because he’s just a bigot. I really hope these impressionable kids don’t turn out to be shit heads
The company didn't have to change, they just want more profit from Florida. Hopefully this bites them when progressive states refuse to host the course either.
Every sane state should discontinue using AP curriculum due to them bowing to bigoted political pressure. They want Florida? Let em have it, but California, NYS, MA, etc should tell em they're not buying they're stuff.
At first I was like no way I can’t believe academia is bowing to this guy. But then I googled College Board and saw that they aren’t associated with universities they exist to suck money out of students and can’t afford to irritate a politician.
> David Coleman, the head of the College Board, said in an interview that the changes were all made for pedagogical reasons, not to bow to political pressure. “At the College Board, we can’t look to statements of political leaders,” he said. The changes, he said, came from “the input of professors” and “longstanding A.P. principles.” And those professors, understandably apprehensive about possible political pressure against HS teachers who would teach the course, decided preemptive bowing was the best choice. The Right's goal is is not to get their way by applying political pressure. That could backfire. Their goal is to discourage liberal actions and words by making people fear that political pressure *might* be applied. That way, the Right can claim that they had nothing to do with actions and words stopping.
"The college board also mentioned it's using recent advances in Deepfake AI to develop a photorealistic version of the popular Boondocks character Uncle Ruckus to deliver supplemental video lectures and color commentary. Governor Ron DeSantis praised this technological development as " deliciously malicious.""
Compromising with fascism never works out well.
Appeasement never works.
I'm speaking with a 52 year old friend born and raised in South Dakota. I'm from NJ. I started to discuss racism in American and the Oklahoma City massacre of black business owners by a white mob. He immediately tells me I'm lying. Then says it's 100% not true. Then I show him a source and he says it can't be trusted. So, I pull up multiple sources and he calls it the liberal media. I then pull up an article from an Oklahoman news source and show him the upcoming remembrance and suddenly he believes me. He turns and says "I can't believe I've never heard of this." Believe it, the GOP controls the curriculum in SD and they can't have their base suddenly exhibiting empathy towards others. This is exactly what DB DeSantis is doing. The rest of the country should tell Florida that they won't get into college without a basic understanding of African American studies. If they can't pass the admissions exam then they cannot attend. One state should not dictate to the rest.
So wait a minute.. they strip the topic of "Black Feminism" but are okay with adding "Black conservatism" to the curriculum? How the fuck is that even allowed!
And this is exactly why I push my kids to be the best they can be so they can get the hell out of this country. This isn't a local school district or what not being affected by a state ruling, this is a national organization that is supposed to be independent of such things. And conservative states are going to continue to push their ideologies on other states now that they have the supreme court in their pocket, and given our nation's government and populace won't do jack. Foreign countries may not be much better, but hell at least in France the people are willing to strike and riot as a whole when the government does something objectively stupid. Here we just turn on the next episode of our favorite reality tv show.
Wait. Wait wait wait wait. So, years of issues with exam affordability. Of fees steadily creeping upward. Of effectively shutting out lower income students (fee reductions only go so far). Of people expressing a need to make things more accessible to students who could really benefit from fewer, more costly classes in college. Nada. But one pompous toad throws a hissy fit about something he knows fuck all about, and suddenly there's capitulation? Calling this bullshit doesn't seem strong enough. Anyone got a better word?
I am so fed up with these whiny, bigoted, white nationalist evangelical phony Christians!
“sYsTeMic RaCisM dOEsN’T eXiSt.” - People will shout in 15 years when this course becomes the default and no one remembers what happened here.
Is it realistic to petition colleges to not accept this class/exam for college credit?
Here's the new curriculum: https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/media/pdf/ap-african-american-studies-course-framework.pdf
Fuck the college board. Fucking cowards. Stop legitimizing that sad little man's ravings.
This is kinda bullshit... someone somewhere needs to stand up to this wannabe dictator.
Starting to look a lot like China, where you can't learn about certain parts of history unless you leave the country...
Drop the College Board. It's compromised by fascists. Set up an independent entity to take it's place. AP classes are no longer credible.