Florida Governor Ron DeSantis decided to take a stand against absurd wokeness in the state’s high schools by not permitting AP African American Studies, a course with a woke streak even larger than the other AP courses, to be taught in Florida’s public high schools.
That woke streak was shown in a copy of the curriculum leaked to the Florida Daily Standard. In that leaked curriculum copy, it is apparent that the course will rely mainly on woke authors and books such as Kimberle Crenshaw’s “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color” and “The Case for Reparations” by Ta-Nehisi Coats.
Further, the course will be teaching about “intersectionality,” which is a term that woke, leftist academics use to create new ways of claiming that minorities are oppressed.
But that’s not even the worst of it. That title is reserved for the section on “Black Queer Studies,” with that topic section saying “This topic explores the concept of the queer of color critique, grounded in Black feminism and intersectionality, as a Black studies lens that shifts sexuality studies toward racial analysis.”
So, the Florida Department of Education rejected the course, telling the College Board “[A]s presented, the content of this course is inexplicably contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational value.”
And, predictably, the left absolutely lost it after DeSantis made that decision.
Leading the charge was Karine Jean Pierre, who spoke on the matter when she was asked “What was the White House’s reaction to Governor Ron DeSantis’s Education Department blocking the teaching of AP African American Studies, saying it violates Florida’s new state law and, quote, “significantly lacks educational value”? Does the White House have concerns about this action by the DeSantis administration?”
"*" indicates required fields
She absolutely lost it in response to the reporter, saying:
So, first, I want to be very clear: The administration does not dictate any curriculum for local schools. That is not something that we do here. But there is something that we do want to comment. It is — it is incomprehensible that — to see that this is what this ban — or this block, to be more specific, that DeSantis has put forward.
If you think about the study of Black Americans, that is what he wants to block. And — and, again, these types of actions aren’t new. They’re not new from what we’re seeing, especially from Florida, sadly.
Florida currently bans teachers from tak- — from talking about who they are and who they love, as we’ve talked about many times here in this briefing room.
They have banned more books in schools and libraries than almost every other state in the country.
And let’s not forget: They didn’t ban — they didn’t block — to be more clear — I want to make sure I’m using the right word here — they didn’t block AP European History. They didn’t block our — our music history. They didn’t block our art history. But the state chooses to — to block a course that is meant for high-achieving high school students to learn about their history of arts and culture. And it is — you know, it is incomprehensible, again.
And I will just leave it there — leave it there to make your own — to make your own determination of why this occurred and why this happened.
Again, it is not our place to — to direct or to — to be involved in any local school curriculum. But this is concerning.