Earlier this month, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis scored yet another major political victory when The College Board backed off of including components like Critical Race Theory and queer theory in their AP African American Studies curriculum.
But in the days since, The College Board has been dealing with hardcore blowback from hardcore woke Leftists who are too busy screeching about Ron DeSantis waging a war on black people and black history to bother themselves with the actual facts of DeSantis’ beef. And for now, it seems that The College Board has opted to try to get back into the Woke Mob’s good graces by reversing course again.
National Review’s Stanley Kurtz, who has closely followed this story, has more:
Facing a torrent of criticism from customary allies on the left for having caved to Ron DeSantis on the AP African-American Studies (APAAS) curriculum, the College Board issued an attack on Florida’s governor at the unlikely hour of 8 p.m. Saturday night. What can account for so oddly timed a salvo? Friday’s calls from the National Black Justice Coalition, among others, for the resignation of College Board CEO David Coleman may have had something to do with it.
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The College Board laughably pretends not to have understood what Florida was getting at. How could Florida have influenced APAAS’s curriculum revisions when Florida couldn’t even make its own concerns clear? Come on. The College Board knew exactly what Florida was worried about. It can’t even maintain a consistent pose of naïveté throughout the text of Saturday’s letter. Toward the end of that letter, the College Board actually makes fun of Florida for acting as though it needs to explain the controversy over terms such as “intersectionality” and “systemic” racism. The idea that you have to explain this controversy to us is ridiculous, says the College Board. Exactly. The College Board understood Florida’s concerns perfectly well from the start. It needed no detailed roadmap to curriculum revision from FDOE.
The College Board played dumb with Florida for months because it understood perfectly well that FDOE would never approve APAAS if it knew what was actually in it. APAAS is thick with advocacy for CRT and radical Marxism. The trick is that this radicalism was buried by the initial curriculum, which mentioned authors without listing specific assignments or concepts. You had to read extensively in the work of various authors, and guess which essays and books would actually be assigned, to catch the drift of all the advocacy. The College Board backtracked in February, not because it didn’t understand Florida concerns, but because it understood them all too well.
The College Board’s real problem was its failed attempts at secrecy and deception. Only when it realized that Florida wouldn’t be fooled by a vague and confusing curriculum framework did the College Board modify APAAS. Throughout its latest letter, the College Board expresses regret for its failure to communicate. Saturday’s statement is filled with phrases such as “We should have made clear,” “We have not succeeded in focusing the conversation,” “We were naïve not to announce,” etc.
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You can read the full College Board letter here.
No doubt this letter was supposed to be a stunningly brave strike against Ron DeFascist, an effort to get him to back off.
But evidently DeSantis has no intention of doing that:
NEW👀Gov. DeSantis responds to question about FL rejecting AP course: "College Board was the one that in a Black Studies course put Queer Theory in… Nobody elected [College Board], we can utilize their services or not. There are probably some other vendors who could do better." pic.twitter.com/bWunEtjTxn
— DeSantis War Room 🐊 (@DeSantisWarRoom) February 13, 2023
Does it sound like DeSantis is afraid of pissing off The College Board to you guys?
Governor DeSantis just announced that Florida will re-evaluate its relationship with @CollegeBoard: "Why don't we just teach the things that matter? Why is it that someone always has to try to jam their agenda down our throats?" https://t.co/ST6AuuyuXY
— Christina Pushaw 🐊 🇺🇸 (@ChristinaPushaw) February 13, 2023
These are good questions the governor is asking. And they’re questions that The College Board can’t answer honestly. Or, rather, won’t answer honestly. Because the truth will prove that Ron DeSantis’ concerns aren’t only valid, but vital.
Correct. The College Board is a business and AP courses are their product. If their product is now garbage, look elsewhere.
— Romper Room Republic @Lone Star Protester (@ProtesterLone) February 13, 2023
At this point it’s not quite clear what realistic alternatives there are to The College Board, but it’ll be nothing if not fascinating watching this battle of wills unfold.
Editor’s note: This post has been updated with additional text.
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