DeSantis says Florida rejected new AP course on African American Research for imposing ‘political agenda’

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis mentioned Monday that the state is obstructing a brand new Superior Placement course on African American Research as a result of it included the examine of “queer principle” and political actions that advocated for “abolishing prisons.”

“That’s a political agenda,” DeSantis mentioned at a press convention in Jacksonville. “That’s the unsuitable aspect of the road for Florida requirements. We consider in instructing youngsters info and suppose, however we don’t consider they need to have an agenda imposed on them whenever you attempt to use Black historical past to shoehorn in queer principle, you might be clearly attempting to make use of that for political functions.”

DeSantis’ remarks have been his first public statements on the state’s rejection of a brand new proposed AP multidisciplinary examine of the African American diaspora that features literature, the humanities, science, politics and geography. The Florida Division of Schooling knowledgeable the Faculty Board of its determination in a January 12 letter that grew to become public final week and drew widespread criticism from Black leaders in Florida and the White Home.

The division informed CNN on Friday that it had considerations about six subjects of examine within the year-long course, such because the Motion for Black Lives, Black feminism and reparations. Most of the objections have been tied to the inclusion of texts from trendy Black thought leaders and historical past lecturers, whose writings the DeSantis administration believes violate state legal guidelines. Florida, below DeSantis, banned the instructing of Essential Race Principle and handed new laws final 12 months barring instruction that means anybody is privileged or oppressed primarily based on their race or pores and skin colour.

DeSantis at his information convention emphasised that Florida requires the instructing of Black historical past however the state decided this non-obligatory Superior Placement course violated state regulation.

“We need to do historical past, and that’s what our requirements for Black historical past are. It’s simply reduce and dried historical past,” DeSantis mentioned. “You be taught all of the fundamentals you be taught concerning the nice figures, and you already know, I view it as American historical past. I don’t view it as separate historical past. You understand, now we have historical past in a number of completely different sizes and shapes, people who have participated to make the nation nice, people who have stood up when it wasn’t simple and so they all need to be taught. However abolishing prisons being taught to highschool youngsters as if that’s by some means a reality? No, no, that’s not applicable.”