The Sunday Read was about the safe space that became a nightmare

A Black Student Perspective on the History of Black Lives and Black Identity: A Study of a Majority Black School in Columbia, South Carolina

In the early 2000s, when I was a student at Ridge View High School, in Columbia, South Carolina, I loved to parse the legacies of certain historical figures: W.E.B. Du Bois, in AP US History; Malcolm X, in AP English Language and Composition.

The black artists and inventors whose achievements have come to light; the black women and men, gay Americans, and people of faith who contributed to the Civil Rights causes are all included in this course. Everyone is seen,” he said.

In South Carolina, it is a big deal to test out the course after the massacre of nine black people at a church there, which was captured on film.

The College Board released Wednesday the official framework of a new Advanced Placement course on African American Studies that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis earlier denounced for imposing a “political agenda.”

“I’m a White person, and I wanted to take this class because I don’t know that much about Black history,” she told CNN. “The course should be in the curriculum. Why do we want to ignore this history?

Nzinga was a strong woman and fought on the front lines with her soldiers to fight the Portuguese in the 16th and 17th century. “But we tend to skip the stories of people from Africa.”

“It matters that we get to learn all these things as a society. We don’t ever really get to hear about any of these figures or what they went through,” she said. Black classmates should get to hear this history. Ridge View is a majority black school and is helping to create this course.

Her mother, Nicole Walker, who was involved in bringing the pilot course to Ridge View and is the director of the school’s Scholars Academy Magnet for Business and Law (she also was my 9th grade English teacher), echoed some of these sentiments.

“We know that what’s best for kids is for them to see themselves reflected in the curriculum, for them to celebrate their cultures, for them to feel valued,” she told CNN. The reason we know that a child who feels valued is going to do better in school is because of that.

Jacynth Tucker, a senior, is intimately familiar with the power of inclusivity. She said that at a previous school, she and other black students didn’t feel appreciated.

She told CNN that she can’t remember a time when she discussed Africa’s history and culture. Being in a class that focuses on something is very special to me.

“One activity I really liked was when our teacher showed us a collage and asked, ‘What do all these people have in common?’” she told CNN. “Their commonality was that they’re all Black. But the point of that discussion was that, yes, they’re all Black, but there’s so much diversity within the Black community, within my community: diverse religions, gender expressions, sexualities, things like that.”

It’s pretty much impossible to separate the debut of the AP African American Studies pilot course from the Republican-led racial panic looming over many schools.

In 36 states, there are new laws this year limiting discussions about race, US History, and gender in K-12 schools and higher education. This figure is a 250% increase over 2021.

Book bans and censorship debates have always existed, but America’s children are facing an unprecedented moment in history. Nowadays, schools have a harder time with their resources and districts are grappling with the long-term effect of the P.H. epidemic on student learning as individual rights are under increasing threat.

The attacks aim to determine what content is and isn’t legit in an academic context, as part of a counter-mobilization against attempts to topple racial and social hierarchies.

“We’re not seeing different political conflicts. There is a reactionary political project that we are seeing, which is one big political conflict, as a visiting professor at Georgetown University told CNN in July.

Henry Louis Gates Jr. is one of the top minds when it comes to American and African American history. He was quoted recently explaining that the course isn’t political,” Soderstrom said. Everything we teach is true and accurate.

The Arizona State Black Hole: A Case Study in the War of Laws: The Case of Terry McAuliffe When he lost his reelection

A version of the course is being offered in 60 high schools as a pilot and will expand to hundreds more schools in the upcoming school year, the organization has said. The course is expected to be available to all schools in the 2024-25 school year, according to the College Board website.

She said that she was excited to see what’s next, like the same thing she had when she was a high school student.

Two white male students were confronted by a group of female minority students at Arizona State University.

The women were upset that one man wore a shirt that said ‘Didn’t Vote for Biden’ while the other wore a sticker with ‘Police Lives Matter’. The multicultural center was chosen because the women felt it would rile them. A heated row between both parties erupted, a video of which quickly went viral, threatening to upend the lives of all involved.

For The New York Times, Sarah Viren, a journalist and essayist, explored the incident in the context of “the widening gyre of the culture wars.” The row at Arizona State was, she explained, “a symbolic fight,” one that raised questions of “wokeism” and “free speech,” the perils of viral videos, and the purpose of “safe spaces.”

Editor’s Note: This roundup is part of the CNN Opinion series “America’s Future Starts Now,” in which people share how they have been affected by the biggest issues facing the nation and experts offer their proposed solutions. The opinions expressed in these writings are not of the authors. Read more opinion at CNN.

Neal McCluskey directs the Center for Educational Freedom at the Cato Institute and he is the writer of “The Fractured Schoolhouse: Reimagine Education for a Free, Equal, and Incorrect Society.”

Last year, Democratic Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe lost his reelection campaign, at least in part because his Republican opponent, Glenn Youngkin, repeatedly declared that McAuliffe’s reelection would lead to the widespread teaching of critical race theory in schools across the Commonwealth. Simply put, attacking critical race theory helped the now-governor of Virginia secure his win.

It is critical race theory that seeks to explain the roots of inequalities and racism in the United States. The term was attacked by critics as unfairly blaming White Americans for some of society’s most harmful ills.

It started with the lockdowns in 2020. Many parents for the first time saw what their kids were being taught with the online conferencing apps. They didn’t like that ideas about race were hidden as lessons of slavery and racism, contrary to the belief that most Americans share with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The campaign to eliminate critical race theory succeeded mostly because White parents and state lawmakers were led to believe that White school children were being made to feel badly about being White. There is no proof that teachers were doing this. They weren’t, certainly not in any widespread fashion.

With no credible evidence of an actual problem and no opportunity to vote on the issue, citizens who recognize the value of teaching our children the truth about America’s racial past and present won’t have a voice in the upcoming election.

One state will decide what gets taught in the classroom this fall. West Virginians will consider a ballot question known as the Education Accountability Amendment, which if passed, would amend the state constitution to give the majority-Republican legislature more control over just about every aspect of public schooling.

Those who truly care about the advancement of our democracy must insist that its full truth be taught. Unfortunately, we may have to wait a while before that discussion resumes in our public schools.

Fixing Problems in Public Schools Culture Wars: Why New Hampshire HB2 is against the law to Discriminate in Public Workplaces and Education

A professor at the University of Southern California is also a professor at the Marshall School of Business. Race, gender, and equity in the workplace are the focus of his research. He was referring to Dr.ShaunHarper.

I’m a middle school social studies teacher in New Hampshire and an avid supporter of public education. Having taught for over 20 years, my greatest joy is participating in a democratic institution that is for everyone.

I stand for all my students by committing myself to perpetual learning and growth. I continue to update instructional strategies, let go of old projects that no longer serve my current students and adapt my curriculum and language to ensure my approaches are culturally sensitive.

I strive to keep my background knowledge strong as I teach well-rounded history. I’m here to hold space for everyone, no matter their political affiliations or identity. I have to thoroughly examine my biases and consider what I am centering.

That’s why it was so disheartening to see laws like House Bill 2 (sometimes referred to as the “divisive concepts” law) pass in New Hampshire. The disrespect and lack of trust it conveys is not overstated by the hundreds of honorable educators I work with.

The measure, formally known as the Right to Freedom from Discrimination in Public Workplaces and Education bill, was written with the mistaken idea that discrimination is somehow endorsed or practiced in public spaces and classrooms.

Legislation like HB2 and similar laws in other states are obstacles to growth, student well-being and compassionate practices. In New Hampshire, it is against the law for schools to create mandatory equity training for faculty.

At what point did we say we should stop taking a stance on cruel and dehumanizing activities? Who is harmed by taking a hardline on slavery? Our silence is an endorsement. That is the crisis we are in. Fear-mongering yields that.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/03/opinions/fixing-problems-public-schools-culture-wars-roundup/index.html

Do we really need a teacher? Fixing problems in schools culture wars roundup: teaching kids critical thinking, critical thinking and self-regulation

The profession of teachers deserves better because it is filled with loving, kind, compassionate and principled people. Choosing a career in education is almost always driven by a heart-centered desire to make a positive difference. I’ve never seen a teacher in four districts who displayed political motives.

People must understand that disagreement is healthy and normal. Changing your mind in light of new evidence is logical and admirable. Anything can be patriotic or democratic, but it has to be a more just society.

Feeling discomfort and dissonance often accompanies growth and learning; this is something I strive to normalize for my students. Students are taught critical thinking when asked to wrestle with challenging ideas and evidence. At some point we felt uneasy with the lack of safety. The difference is very important.

Poorly constructed laws made it hard for good work to be done and resulted in the oppression of free thought, critical thinking and children. I know we can do better.

My message to lawmakers? Trust teachers. It is always reasonable to ask them to be thoughtful and sensitive. You’ll find that’s what they generally already are.

Public education has played an enormous societal role: Common schools forged a shared identity in the 19th century, when government of the people, by the people, was a novel idea. In the 20th century, universal high school fueled the growth of the middle class.

The murder of George Floyd added fuel, prompting many public school officials to target systemic racism – discrimination built into American institutions – and conservatives to demand colorblindness and an emphasis on America’s basic goodness. Graphic novels, such as “Gender Queer,” with graphic depictions of sexual activity, and other books on hot-button topics sparked dueling accusations of “hate” and “indoctrination.”

In 2000, the US population was 71% non-Hispanic white. By 2020, that was down to about 58%. In 1996 27% of Americans supported gay marriage, and it will go up to 75% in 2021, while the share of people who attend a church, synagogue or mosque plummeted in 1999.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/03/opinions/fixing-problems-public-schools-culture-wars-roundup/index.html

The Struggle for Children’s Rights and Freedom in the 21st Century: How Parents, Teachers, and the Children of Color Live

It should come as no surprise that parents have been fighting for their rights so vociferously when it comes to public education. They’re fighting because they are sure that their rights are under attack.

Giving parents more say does nothing to change a system that forces diverse people, including parents, to fund – and fight to control – government-run schools.

Attach money to students and let families choose from a variety of options is what freedom is about. This can be accomplished through universal education savings accounts, such as Arizona recently enacted, scholarship tax credits and other choice vehicles.

Regardless of how it’s done, the goal is to enable diverse families to get the education they want rather than having neighbors control schools.

The first results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress since the swine flu began showed steep declines in math and reading for fourth and eighth graders. It is easy to see why. The pandemic has disrupted three years of students’ lives.

Some critics see this as a chance to point fingers and to use kids as political pawns. We see it as an urgent call to institute short-term and long-term investments and proven strategies to support students’ emotional development and to accelerate learning, especially for Black and Latino students and students from disadvantaged backgrounds, who were underserved and behind their peers prior to the pandemic.

If we allow bad-faith battles to be fought over bathroom access and participation on sports teams as an issue that distracts from ensuring a great education for every student, then we won’t have the support we need to thrive academically and socially.

There are interventions that help students right now, despite the fact that both our organizations are engaged in longer-term strategies.

Intensive tutoring has positive effects on both math and reading. Paraprofessionals and others trained to support student learning can be as effective as teachers in one-on-one or small group tutoring, according to recent studies.

Many states are using state and federal funds to invest in strategies to increase the diversity of the workforce. Access to a racially and culturally diverse teacher workforce is beneficial for students of color who are often missed in classrooms led by teachers who share their cultural background.

Make sure that people feel safe is a huge part of making sure they are a good position to learn, according to Obraud.

The radical gender ideology that dominates our nation’s schools is less shocking than critical race theory. It teaches children that “some people are boys, some people are girls, some people are both, neither, or somewhere in between”’ – as one popular children’s book puts it.

Parental Concerns: Why Teachers, Teachers, and the Public Education Sector are Important for Education and the Education of Children in Low-Income Communities

When parents come to school board meetings to complain, far too many are met with silence or risible accusations that they are politicizing education. The responsibility of parents is to raise and teach their children.

Jay Richards is a Senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, as well as director of the Richard and Helen DeVos Center for Life, Religion, and Family.

We can tackle these issues in a number of ways: by increasing teacher pay; creating financial incentives for effective educators to teach in schools serving low-income communities; expanding student loan forgiveness for teachers, especially in hard-to-staff schools and subjects; ensuring teachers’ have sufficient resources and planning time, proper administrative help and the support of counselors and nurses; and fostering educator wellbeing by offering mental health supports and addressing sources of occupation-related stress.

While parents are working with teachers and librarians to ensure that every child is acknowledged in school curricula and has a chance to flourish in school, far-right MAGA extremists are running for school board seats or for reelection in order to gain control and power.

It has made the United States more open, welcoming and inclusive. Over the course of generations, the result has been overwhelming bipartisan support for public schools.

The Reagan administration released a report in 1983 called “A Nation at Risk,” which argued that reading and math test scores were important for national security. This logic eventually transformed test scores from one critical indicator (which they are) to the very purpose of public schools (which they are not).

Early accountability reforms led to gains among low-income students and students of color, but progress plateaued a decade ago. Test-and-accountability reforms are no longer accepted by bipartisan support.

Renewing the promise of public education starts by rebuilding trust. Local education leaders were left holding the bag on school closings that should have been shared with health officials and political leaders.

They want to preserve their mental health and financial stability, but the low pay and structures of the teaching profession challenge work-life balance, especially when the average student-loan debt is $30,000 and other professions offer remote work options. The profession has been struggling for many years due to the lack of communication. Between 2008 and 2019, the number of graduates from traditional teacher education programs fell by more than a third.

Redefining learning opens the door to a more diverse set of adult leaders to work alongside educators and students: professionals in various fields who can support the development of students’ workplace skills; college students who can support digital literacy and serve as tutors and mentors; and any number of community leaders who can support students’ sense of belonging.

For example, technology could allow expert educators to teach multiple classes virtually while a colleague who is expert in creating productive learning spaces – where every student is valued and feels they belong – focuses there. Many teachers excel at both roles – we just don’t have enough of them to staff every classroom in our country. This shift is not only about making teachers’ jobs more sustainable, but also about positioning teachers to further develop their areas of greatest expertise.

The leader of the organization dedicated to improving educational access, opportunity and outcomes for young people in low-income communities is Elisa Villanueva Beard. She tweets @VillanuevaBeard.

“We cannot underestimate the normalizing of intolerant behaviors,” said Liz King, the senior program director of educational equity at the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition of more than 200 civil rights groups. “And it would be impossible to separate the attacks on what children are allowed to learn from the way in which children are experiencing the school day.”

The N.A.A.C.P. legal defense fund filed a complaint against the Southlake, Texas, Independent School District, which was located in a mostly white suburb, following a national argument over the benefits of public schools for minority students.

In a statement, the district said it was fully cooperating with the investigation and that its administrators had “taken significant strides” to “address any instances of bullying, discrimination and harassment consistently and effectively.”

Russell Maryland is a member of the group of Black parents in Southlake, who are trying to get the criminal justice system to listen to them. A plan that the district had commissioned to help address rampant racial harassment amongst students was abandoned after backlash from a conservative group of parents. The group is hoping that the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights will help mandate reforms.

“We want a desirable plan that will not only protect marginalized kids in this community, but will educate all kids on how to be the best citizens when they leave the school system,” Mr. Maryland said.

Peniel E. Joseph is the founding director of the Center for Study of Race and Democracy at the University of Texas at Austin, as well as the Barbara Jordan chair in ethics and political values. The Third Reconstruction is about America’s Struggle for Racial Justice in the Twenty-First Century. His views are his own. View more opinion on CNN.

The first two episodes of “The 1619 Project,” a documentary series which premiered on Hulu on Thursday, brings to life the Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times multimedia project created by Nikole Hannah-Jones.

As the first two episodes of “The 1619 Project” make dramatically clear, “the relentless buying, selling, insuring, and financing” of Black people “would help make Wall Street and New York City the financial capital of the world.”

Hannah-Jones thinks that Black people are the perfectors of our democracy in the first part of the series. The story that follows in this episode centers Black people – usually relegated to the margins as slaves or peaceful demonstrators during the civil rights movement’s heroic period – in the larger narrative of American history.

The multimedia educational social media supporting materials, the bestselling anthology, and the original New York Times Sunday Magazine special issue can all be found in the documentary series.

The Memory of Hannah-Jones: What Black Women and Their Societal Successes Affronted During Black Enslavement

We learn that after her White mother and Black father met and fell in love in 1972, Hannah-Jones’ paternal grandparents initially disowned their daughter, before reuniting after the birth of their first grandchild. “In the United States,” Hannah-Jones observes, “race defines our lives from beginning to end.”

It is important to concentrate on democracy here. For perhaps the most important revelation of “The 1619 Project” and the ensuing praise and controversy surrounding it is the relationship between race and democracy.

The juxtapositions of the Reconstruction period and the decades following are the most present. Between 1865 and 1898 Black Americans created new schools, churches, universities and civic, political, and business groups and organizations. The use of convict-lease systems that racially profiled African Americans and the creation of sharecropping and peonage systems were some of the things that happened in those years.

The episode’s focus on both enslaved Black women and their modern contemporaries allows us an intimate glimpse into the racial and sexual reproductive realities Black women have confronted throughout American history. During racial slavery, as recounted during a detailed examination of a Georgia plantation, Black women were raped by White owners who then enslaved their own children, whose existence added more economic values to their fortunes.

Our racial identities being listed on certificates of birth and death are more than bureaucratic signposts. They are indicators of fate and signifiers of prosperity and punishment for some and death for others.

Forced reproduction laboring in unspeakable work conditions resulted in precarious Black pregnancies, where Black women were forced to give numerous births against the backdrop of high rates of infant mortality and generational trauma. As historian Daina Ramey Berry observes in the episode, “There’s a direct link and contemporary connection to maternal mortality today and infant mortality and the challenges that women had giving birth during slavery.”

This is an incredibly painful history to confront – and one that is more necessary in our own time than ever. It may help to explain how a Black woman like Serena Williams was so famous she was almost killed by a baby’s heart defects when giving birth.

Looking back at what we call Legacies is the only way forward, because it shows how marginal Black life was in the past and how important it is now.

David Johns, executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition, a civil rights organization that advocates for Black LGBT people, asked the College Board to “consider pulling all AP classes from the State of Florida if Governor DeSantis continues to try to inject his political agenda into our classrooms.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday that he intends to ban state universities from spending money on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in hopes that they will “wither on the vine” without funding.

In order to encourage multiculturalism and encourage students from traditionally underrepresented communities to feel comfortable on a campus setting, diversity, equity and inclusion programs exist. The University of Florida has a diversity officer, a center for inclusion and multicultural engagement and an office for accessibility and gender equity.

Tuesday’s announcement was foreshadowed in December when the governor’s office asked all state universities to account for all of their spending on programs and initiatives related to diversity, equity and inclusion or critical race theory.

But the state’s Gov. Ron DeSantis plans to give this “community of free thinkers” a more conservative direction, saying the college’s mission “has been, I think, more into the DEI, CRT, the gender ideology rather than what a liberal arts education should be,” according to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

One of DeSantis’ new board members, Eddie Speir, wrote in an online post that he planned to propose in that meeting “terminating all contracts for faculty, staff and administration” of the school, “and immediately rehiring those faculty, staff and administration who fit in the new financial and business model.”

The Florida High School Black History Course (BlackScenarios.org) – A Response to Gov. DeSantis’s Call for a New Curriculum

The multi-disciplinary course has been praised by academics and historians while becoming a target for lawmakers aiming to restrict how topics like racism and history are taught in public schools.

The governor said last week the decision was made because it included studies ofqueer theory and political movement that advocated for abolishing prisons.

Designed to be taught over 28 weeks, the course covers 79 topics that range from early African kingdoms to how Jim Crow laws impacted African Americans after Reconstruction as well as the achievements of Black Americans in science, music and art.

The topics are divided into four parts: origin of african diaspora, freedom, enslavement and resistance, and practice of freedom

More than 300 professors of African American studies, including faculty from dozens of HBCUs, were consulted during the development of the course framework.

Unlike the pilot version, the College Board said the official framework includes additional topics, only requires the analysis of “core historical, literary, and artistic works,” does not have a required list of secondary sources and adds a research project that counts as part of the AP exam score.

In January, the Florida Department of Education rejected the new course, with Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’s press secretary Bryan Griffin saying it was a “vehicle for a political agenda.”

The state’s education department previously told CNN that it had concerns about some topics of study included in an 81-page document that appears to be a preview of the course framework. The document, dated February 2022, was shared with CNN last month by DeSantis spokesperson Bryan Griffin.

Black feminist literary thought and Black Queer studies are not in the final curriculum for the pilot course.

The reparations debate, “gay life and expression in Black communities,” and Black Lives Matter are only included in a list of examples of the topics that students can pick for research projects.

“These topics are not a required part of the course framework that is formally adopted by states and that defines the exam. This list can be refined by states and districts and is a partial one, according to the College Board.

The College Board refuted claims from a New York Times article that it removed all mentions of Black feminism or the “gay experience” from its curriculum, or that some of the revisions were made to appease the DeSantis administration.

The draft curriculum has undergone several revisions in the last year but the College Board is still taking input from the teachers.

“The Wretched of the Earth,” Emmitt Glynn, discusses black history and black identity trades in the U.S. High School

The Executive Director of the National Black Justice Coalition was not happy that he woke up on the first day of Black History Month with news of white men in positions of privilege horse trading essential in American history. “The lives, contributions, and stories of Black trans, queer, and non-binary/non-conforming people matter and should not be diminished or erased.”

The course has been popular among students in schools where it has been introduced. At Baton Rouge Magnet High School in Louisiana, so many students were interested that Emmitt Glynn is teaching it to two classes, instead of just the one he was originally planning.

Earlier this week, his students read selections of “The Wretched of the Earth” by Frantz Fanon, which deals with the violence inherent in colonial societies. In a lively discussion, students connected the text to what they had learned about the conflict between colonizers and Native Americans, to the war in Ukraine and to police violence in Memphis, Tennessee.

“We’ve been covering the gamut from the shores of Africa to where we are now in the 1930s, and we will continue on through history,” Glynn said. He said he was proud to see the connections his students were making between the past and now.

Taking the class helped fill some of the gaps she had been taught. “Taking this class,” she said, “I realized how much is not said in other classes.”

The College Board offers AP courses across the academic spectrum, including math, science, social studies, foreign languages and fine arts. The courses are optional. Taught at a college level, students who score high enough on the final exam usually earn course credit at their university.

The California Black Women and Movements in the 20th Century: Why We Are Trying to Censor the College Board’s Curriculum and How We Are Teaching it to Students

“We request that the College Board reconsider censoring its curriculum, and the education of our young people, to meet the demands of a Governor with a radical political Agenda, and stand firm in the belief that Black history in its beautiful diversity is American History.”

“It’s ridiculous that they’re not letting this one AP class be thought,” said her daughter, Izzy Cummings. “It affects us directly. If we can not learn about the past, it will change our future.

“I give them the information and I’ve seen light bulbs go off. I ask them, ‘How does it affect you? How do you feel about learning this?’ ” he said. It’s new for me and I’m just taking it easy. We’re making history even though we’re learning history.

Bringing graduate-level concepts into high schools can prove politically dicey even in progressive contexts. When the State of California released a draft ethnic studies curriculum in 2019 that focused largely on the four groups considered part of university ethnic studies departments — African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans and Native Americans — there was outrage from some organizations representing American Jews, Hindus and other minority groups. The state chose to revise the document.

A unit on “The Black Feminist Movement and Womanism,” which previously highlighted intersectionality, has been renamed “Black Women and Movements in the 20th Century.” While the term “intersectionality” is not anymore used, a similar concept still exists under the heading “Overlapping of Black Life.” The new framework discusses Gwendolyn Brooks and Mari Evans as writers whose work explored gender and class alongside race. The Spearee River Collective is a key Black second-wave feminist group.

Black female writers such as Audre Lorde, and Leftist Activists like Alice Walker, who were included in the draft have since been excised.

Mr. Packer of the College Board noted that the work of less controversial African American Studies scholars, such as Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham and Henry Louis Gates Jr., had also been left out of the final framework, because of the decision to move the course away from prescribing present-day secondary sources.

“We reject any claim that our work either indoctrinates students or, on the other hand, has bowed to political pressure,” Haynie said in a statement issued by the College Board on Wednesday.

A reduction in the “breadth” of the new framework was admitted by the nonprofit, which maintains it did not change the curriculum of “Black feminism” and “gay Black Americans”.

The works of scholars, including Ferguson, are no longer included in the curriculum, because of these revisions.

Ferguson wrote in the Chronicle of Higher Education that there was a long, distressing history to the “culture war” targeting intellectuals, artists, and academics.

Lawmakers and civil rights organizations criticized the state’s decision to reject the AP course. The three students said they’d file a lawsuit against the governor if it didn’t change it’s mind. 200 African American history professors signed an open letter condemning the changes.

The organization also said that Florida’s public and private objections had no bearing on changes the College Board made to the final curriculum of the course, which it released earlier this month.

The College Board of Appeals for Florida’s Small-Group-Theoretical-Electronics (CLEA-PAC-2015) Law

At the beginning of the school year, Marlon Williams-Clark shared his excitement with NPR over teaching the original version of the course as part of the pilot program. Williams-Clark would be teaching the class at a high school in Tallahassee, the capital of Florida.

He told NPR that he told them there was a thin line and that they would just have to be careful about how they approach the subjects. “I can’t lead any conversations.”

The College Board is hitting back at top officials in Florida over the state’s ban on a new AP African American Studies course that’s being piloted in several states.

The National Education nonprofit released a lengthy statement on Saturday, saying that it should have addressed claims by the Florida Department of Education that the course was indoctrinating students and lacked educational value.

The College Board criticized Florida for taking credit retroactively for changes it made but never mentioned to them.

Some laws have been signed recently that limit what can be taught in Florida schools. One such law – officially called the “Parental Rights in Education” law but dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill by critics – bans classroom discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity under certain circumstances. The Stop W.O.K.E. Act limits how race can be taught in schools.

A Demonstration against the Governor’s Rejection of a New Black Studies Course: The Reverend Al Sharpton at the Florida Capitol

The organization said that they made a mistake treating FDOE with the courtesy they usually accord, but that they have instead exploited this courtesy for their political agenda. We politely thanked them for the feedback they gave us, even though they had not given any.

Hundreds of marchers, led by the Reverend Al Sharpton, held a rally outside Florida’s state Capitol in protest of the governor’s rejection of a new African American studies course.

If you had studied history long enough, you would have known that messing with us in education is always going to end in your defeat, said Sharpton.

“Our children need to know the whole story … to not only know how bad you were but to know how strong they are. They come from a people that fought from the back of the bus to the front of the White House.”

The crowd included members of the LGBTQ, Native American and Latinx communities, said Sharpton. You should have left us alone. Now you have brought us all together.”

The marchers shouted, “Hey, hey, ho, ho, Ron has got to go!” I’m Black and I’m proud. Some carried signs with messages such as “Save our history” and “We will not be silenced.”

The new course was rejected by the state and Simmons called it a gross injustice and a betrayal to all Americans.

The testing organization behind the course accused the state Education Department of sowing false information in order to get attention for their new course.

The college’s board of trustees had 6 members replaced in January with conservative allies such as Christopher Rufo who have been against critical race theory.

The college’s president was forced out by the new board and replaced by Richard Corcoran, who is a friend of DeSantis. During his time on the job, he will make an average of 699,000 a year, with a base salary of $689,000.

New College of Florida: Fighting anti-Abortion with diversity, equality and inclusion policies in the name of a legitimate higher education law in Florida

Sharf said that people were very scared of what would come, especially kids who weren’t graduating soon. “This is an obvious hostile political act.”

Students and activists believe that marginalized individuals will not be able to get a college education in Florida if diversity and inclusion is attacked.

The state might affect other Republican-led states to adopt similar measures, according to some critics. Last week, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott demanded that state agencies stop using diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in hiring with his office, calling the practice “illegal.”

DEI policies and programs are created to promote representation for people who have historically faced discrimination because of their race, ethnicity, disability, gender, religion or sexual orientation.

The president of the American Association of University Professors said she believes that DeSantis is targeting diversity programs for political advantage.

This could result in Florida colleges struggling to retain students and recruit faculty, Mulvey said. People pursuing graduate degrees might opt for schools in other states that support academic freedom, she said.

The consequences for students are huge. Students don’t get the chance to hear important perspectives, and they lose the opportunity to learn. That’s the real tragedy.”

David Johns, executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition, said policies that reject diversity and inclusion will only push people away from higher education in Florida.

The language of the policies is designed to say that people do not matter. Their efforts to strengthen democracy should not be seen as being part of the classical version of America.

Georgia passed the heartbeat bill in the middle of the year and the risks of anti-Abortion legislation are similar to those of anti-Abortion legislation. He fears New College of Florida is a test case for pushing conservatism at schools across the nation.

Some students at New College of Florida are already considering other options for their education. The school has nearly 700 students and 100 full-time faculty members, according to its website.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/15/us/desantis-new-college-inclusion-reaj/index.html

The New College of Florida, a college that isn’t a Bastion of Liberal Education, is an Attractive Place for LGBTQ Students

Sharf said she worries that the new board will erase the inclusive queer culture on campus to make the college more attractive for traditional affluent White students.

Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz said in a statement that officials wanted New College of Florida to “become Florida’s classical college, more along the lines of a Hillsdale of the South.” There is a conservative Christian college in southern Michigan.

“I would not want to attend a school that is ‘Hillsdale of the South,’” Sharf said. I think I’d have to leave if it were hostile to trans students.

Alex Obraud, a third-year anthropology student, said DeSantis’ overhaul feels like backlash against the nation’s progress on LGBTQ rights and racial justice.

It is an attack on educational freedom, as well as a threat to the space that New College and other universities offer for students.

The claims that the New College was a bastion of liberal education was rejected by Chris Kottke, a math professor.

Students have been taught how to think not what to think. Kottke said while most of the diverse clubs on campus don’t rely on state funding, he worries about whether they will be able to continue to safely operate.