Ron DeSantis and the banning of AP African American Studies
Governor Ron DeSantis has banned Florida public schools from offering AP African American Studies from its curriculum.
Why?
The place to start is by looking at what the course offers. The College Board’s AP Central website describes the course as follows:
“Drawing from the expertise and experience of college faculty and teachers across the country, the course is designed to offer high school students an evidence-based introduction to African American studies. The interdisciplinary course reaches into a variety of fields—literature, the arts and humanities, political science, geography, and science—to explore the vital contributions and experiences of African Americans.”
What about this curriculum does DeSantis find problematic?
DeSantis is making a very public stand against what he calls a “woke agenda”. He objects to history classes which he claims promote a political agenda, especially one which leads one particular racial group to feel responsible for past events or actions that caused harm to other racial groups. Basically, as his argument goes, he is afraid White children will feel guilt or shame for the role the United States played in creating racial injustice. In a recent press conference DeSantis railed against the Critical Race Theory and Queer Studies when justifying his action. DeSantis is portraying himself as a defender of Florida’s children against dangerous ideologies that will harm their self-esteem.
Where DeSantis’s argument falls apart is when he objects to history classes that have an agenda. When I taught history, I made sure that my students knew that all history classes, all history books, and all history teachers have agendas. What is history? It’s a written record of past events. The problem is which events should be incorporated into any particular course? The very act of writing a history book forces the author to decide which events to include and which to exclude. The same goes for teachers and all history curriculums. Without an agenda, one would never be able to construct a history course, for the sheer volume of events that have taken place in a particular time period would be impossible to teach in a finite period of time.
The only logical way to teach a history course is to make decisions about the lens one wishes students to use when analyzing history. The best courses are those which require students to analyze historical events in order to create context and meaning about those events. AP African American Studies does just that. This is no different than other AP history classes or standard high school history classes. A meaningful history class arms the students with the critical thinking skills needed to evaluate sources and to provide analysis on the significance of events.
So, what is DeSantis’s real motivation? Surely, he doesn’t object to all history classes, since they all have agendas. It is noteworthy that DeSantis does not forbid the teaching of AP United States History, AP European History, or AP World History. Only AP African American Studies has been blocked. No, he objects to those courses that do not share his agenda. It is not a secret that he is one of the top Republican contenders eyeing a run for the Presidency in 2024. And we know from the rise of Donald Trump, that playing to the racial fears of White Americans can provide huge political dividends. Sadly, that is not a new political strategy. It has galvanized support for politicians for over two hundred years in our nation’s history.
I think DeSantis is simply a cynical and ambitious man who is willing to exploit racial divisions in our country to continue his climb to power. What else might he do to smooth his upward political trajectory? Obviously, he is willing to use Florida’s public school students as pawns to score political points, for why else would he deny students the benefits of expanding their understanding of Black accomplishments in US history? How can students be harmed by learning about the African American experience? Are White students so fragile that they will be reduced to an emotional puddle when they learn that our country promoted the buying and selling of human beings in order for rich people to prosper? Will they suffer from PTSD after they learn that the roots of Rock and Roll came from Black culture?
Slavery, the Civil War, Jim Crow laws, or the brutal lynchings of Black people are not disputed facts. They are an integral, although shameful, part of our history that students deserve to study. And should not these same students marvel at the courage of people like Frederick Douglas, W. E. B. Dubois, Martin Luther King, Louis Armstrong, Alice Walker, or Barack Obama, all people who rose to great heights in spite of racist obstacles thrown in their paths.
More alarming than DeSantis’s contemptuous ploy to gain support from misinformed White people is how his strategy is being played out all across our country. During the recent midterm elections in Madison County, we had school board candidates trying to ban books from our school libraries for content they felt promoted Critical Race Theory. They feared that educating students about racial injustice would send a “wrong” message to our county’s students. Fortunately, these candidates were not elected to office, but they were only defeated by a slim margin. But other counties have not been so lucky. There are a frightening number of people in the United States who willingly fall for these fear-mongering tactics.
This movement of silencing minority perspectives in our schools is no joke. Allowing politicians with fascist and racist leanings control over our academic curriculum is a dark and dangerous road that, if unchecked, will end with disastrous results for our country. History is filled with examples of political leaders who have silenced both professional educators and minority voices in pursuit of their power. I just hope we do not follow suit. And I hope Ron DeSantis will be exposed as the autocratic gasbag that he is showing himself to be.