Florida Governor Ron DeSantis achieved another major victory in the fight against the Left’s control and influence over higher education. On Wednesday, only two weeks after DeSantis banned the leftist-inspired AP African American Studies course from the state’s high schools, the College Board announced revisions to the course curriculum that dial back many of the course’s most objectionable aspects. Needless to say, radical teachers and professors are not happy about the changes.
Dr. Trevon Logan, a professor at The Ohio State University, took to Twitter to express his frustrations in a manner reminiscent of President Biden’s infamous “if you don’t vote for me, you ain’t black” claims. “Any college foolish enough to grant any sort of credit or “counting” of this AP course as if it is in any way an actual course in African American Studies is not a serious institution. Period,” he wrote.
“[College Board] shame on you. You should be embarrassed by this decision,” wrote Tim O’Neill, a political science professor at Southwestern University.
Lurie Daniel Favors, a New York educator, compared the curriculum revisions to slavery. “[This is] similar to how insurance companies, banks, etc. chose to profit from insuring enslaved Africans as property. It’s corporate America & [The College Board] embodying & protecting white power,” she wrote.
Notably absent from the new curriculum are many standards centered on the ideas of Critical Race Theory and LGBTQ+ activism. The pilot curriculum included units on “intersectionality,” “black feminism,” and “black queer studies.” Each of these topics was removed from the final version. The new version also makes the previously mandated study of Black Lives Matter strictly optional. Instead, students may elect to complete a project on the history of black conservatism, among multiple other options.
To suggest that the study of African American history absolutely must include “queer” content, or else it’s deemed invalid and comparable to slavery, is obviously ridiculous.
Conservatives and common sense are gaining ground in academia, and leftist professors need to get used to it. The College Board’s about-face announcement comes just one day after Governor DeSantis announced that his administration will move to completely defund diversity, equity, and inclusion programming at public colleges and universities throughout the state.
“This is a huge win for our state & the future of children’s education,” Florida Representative Byron Donalds said in a statement shared with Young America’s Foundation.
