After the back-and-forth statements between Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and The College Board, four other states announced plans to review the Advanced Placement (AP) African American History course.
Fox News reported that Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin joined Arkansas, Mississippi, and North Dakota to review the AP course, which is created by The College Board. A statement from Youngkin’s office said the following:
“After numerous reports about draft course content, the governor asked the Education Secretariat to review the College Board’s proposed AP African American Studies course as it pertains to Executive Order 1.”
Youngkin, in part, won election due to his campaign’s focus on parental rights in education and returning public education back to the basics, free of politicization. This announced move is in line with much of his policies.
The controversy surrounding the AP course is that it initially included a “queer theory” component in the curriculum and controversial writings by prominent left-wing authors such as Ibram X. Kendi. The College Board disagreed that it is left-wing indoctrination, while Republican governors like DeSantis claimed that it is an example of left-wing, race-baiting indoctrination.
As AIA reported previously, The College Board and DeSantis have publicly disagreed on whether the AP history course is not age-appropriate or whether The College Board bowed to DeSantis’s demands for revisions. Also, it is believed that The College Board may be fighting DeSantis because the AP courses could be a money-maker for the organization. The organization allegedly charges money for its AP courses and year-end exams to school districts, where some school districts cover the cost of the exams while others subsidize the exams’ cost.
It is interesting to note that three of the five total states have governors who are rumored to be 2024 presidential candidates: North Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, Virginia’s Youngkin, and Florida’s DeSantis.
