{"id":2319822,"date":"2024-08-06T06:53:02","date_gmt":"2024-08-06T10:53:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/more-states-reject-college-boards-politicized-dual-credit-classes\/"},"modified":"2024-08-06T06:57:04","modified_gmt":"2024-08-06T10:57:04","slug":"more-states-reject-college-boards-politicized-dual-credit-classes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/more-states-reject-college-boards-politicized-dual-credit-classes\/","title":{"rendered":"More States Reject College Board\u2019s Politicized Dual-Credit Classes"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fmore-states-reject-college-boards-politicized-dual-credit-classes%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2319822&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/dei-disaster-petition-circulating-within-secret-service-community-warns-of-potential-insider-threats\/\" title=\"DEI Crisis: Secret Service Petition Raises Concerns About &#039;Insider Threats\">article discusses concerns<\/a> regarding the ideological bias in Advanced Placement (AP) courses, particularly under the direction\u200c of College Board leader David\u200d Coleman. Critics argue that AP courses, including U.S. History\u2064 and European History, now promote a leftist narrative that contrasts with established scholarship, effectively creating a\u2064 national curriculum for advanced students. The latest point of\u200b contention is the AP African-American Studies\u2062 (APAAS) course,\u2062 which\u200b some states are refusing to adopt due to \u2062its perceived indoctrination. <\/p>\n<p>States like Florida, \u200bArkansas, South \u200dCarolina,\u2062 and Georgia are pushing back against this trend, citing worries about\u2062 the course&#8217;s incorporation of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/white-house-releases-list-of-president-trumps-accomplishments-and-it-is-historic\/\" title=\"White House Releases List of President Trump\u2019s Accomplishments \u2013  And It Is Historic!\">critical race theory<\/a> (CRT) and Marxist ideology. \u2063Florida Governor Ron DeSantis\u200c has \u200cnotably \u2063argued against taxpayer funding for what he views as propaganda. Critics, \u2064including writer Stanley \u2064Kurtz, contend that even a\u200b revised\u2063 APAAS framework\u200b maintains a heavy \u200cinfluence of radical ideology and is imbalanced, neglecting\u2062 conservative \u2064perspectives and failing to present\u200c a variety of viewpoints on African-American history. <\/p>\n<p>The article emphasizes that \u200btaxpayers\u2062 and parents should \u200cbe able to scrutinize educational content, ensuring a balanced curriculum that doesn\u2019t prioritize a \u200csingle \u2064ideological perspective, asserting that it is not racist to \u2062advocate for quality education. The piece underscores\u200d an ongoing debate about the role \u200bof education in shaping political views and the\u2064 responsibility of\u200c states to protect students from partisan bias.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Under the leadership of Common Core czar David Coleman, the College Board has been creating or rewriting Advanced Placement (AP) courses to reflect a leftist worldview. AP courses such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/corner\/how-zinn-gets-road-national-curriculum-stanley-kurtz\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">U.S. History<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aei.org\/education\/k-12-schooling\/judging-the-college-boards-new-ap-european-history-framework\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">European History<\/a> now push a decidedly left-of-center narrative that conflicts with traditional scholarship and introduces a <em>de facto<\/em> national curriculum for the advanced students who populate AP classes.<\/p>\n<p>But some states are beginning to challenge the woke-ification of AP.<\/p>\n<p>The latest AP controversy centers on the radical new AP African-American Studies (APAAS) course, recently piloted nationally and now rolled out in its final form. But some <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/covid-school-closures-will-hurt-us-economy-for-decades-economists-project\/\" title=\"COVID School Closures Will Hurt US Economy For Decades, Economists Project\">state education officials<\/a> are taking seriously their responsibility to guide public education and are refusing to adopt APAAS as a state-approved course. The days of states simply rubber-stamping whatever comes out of the College Board may be numbered.<\/p>\n<p>Recognizing that APAAS is in many ways more propaganda than education, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was the first to draw the line at having taxpayers fund its indoctrination of Florida students. Arkansas Department of Education officials followed suit. Officials in South Carolina have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.edweek.org\/teaching-learning\/can-south-carolina-schools-teach-ap-african-american-studies-its-complicated\/2024\/06\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">hoisted warning flags<\/a> about whether the course will carry full credit toward graduation.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Most recently, the Georgia superintendent of education <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gadoe.org\/External-Affairs-and-Policy\/communications\/Pages\/PressReleaseDetails.aspx?PressView=default&amp;pid=1152\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">cited concerns<\/a> about the CRT-infused content of APAAS as a reason for denying full approval of the course in Georgia public schools. The Democrat members of the Georgia legislature&rsquo;s House and Senate Education Committees are holding a hearing on the issue on Aug. 8.<\/p>\n<h2>Clear and Persistent Marxist Influence<\/h2>\n<p>Government officials in these vigilant states have deep and valid concerns about APAAS. The original course framework made little attempt to conceal its focus on Marxist, critical race theory (CRT)-inspired instruction. After withering <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/corner\/neo-marxing-the-college-board-with-ap-african-american-studies\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">commentary<\/a> from critics such as Stanley Kurtz, the College Board <a href=\"https:\/\/apcentral.collegeboard.org\/media\/pdf\/ap-african-american-studies-course-framework.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">revised<\/a> the framework to remove the most blatant examples of propaganda and to conceal the remaining bias. But the deeper problem remains.<\/p>\n<p>Kurtz delved into the influences on and structure of the revised APAAS framework and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gcpsk12.org\/news-details\/~board\/news-releases\/post\/gcps-update-on-advanced-placement-ap-african-american-studies-course\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">concluded<\/a> much of the course is still infused with radical ideology. The framework relies heavily on the racist, anti-capitalist, and anti-Western theories of radical historians; it emphasizes international anti-colonialism when the focus should be on America; it spotlights, almost always without criticism, the actions of Marxists such as the Black Panthers and yet largely ignores the thought of black conservatives in any realm of public life; it includes (also without criticism) substantial material on the CRT concepts of &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.globalcitizen.org\/en\/content\/what-is-intersectionality-explained\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">intersectionality<\/a>&rdquo; and oppression.<\/p>\n<p>As Kurtz observes, the course ends with a week of &ldquo;Further Explorations&rdquo; of incendiary topics such as reparations and abolition of prisons and police. These explorations &ldquo;make it clear that there is only one right answer&rdquo;: policies offered by the radical left. &ldquo;In effect,&rdquo; Kurtz writes, &ldquo;this final unit is a prescription for leftist political activism.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<h2>Erasure of Black Conservatives<\/h2>\n<p>A consistent problem with even the revised APAAS framework is its almost total lack of balance. Worse than providing one-sided treatment of various perspectives, in most cases it doesn&rsquo;t even acknowledge that there <em>are<\/em> various perspectives.<\/p>\n<p>With the exception of one speech by Gen. Colin Powell (inserted in response to the initial Florida backlash), there is little to no representation of conservative, or even moderate, black thought. As far as APAAS is concerned, all black thinkers and leaders in American history have ranged on the spectrum from left to radical left. Thomas Sowell, Shelby Steele, John McWhorter, and many other black scholars who reject the radical paradigm are simply not worth mentioning.<\/p>\n<p>In discussing community activism on controversial issues, APAAS could have balanced the violent Black Panthers with black leaders such as Robert Woodson, a civil rights activist who in his decades of service has <a href=\"https:\/\/woodsoncenter.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">advocated<\/a> community-based and values-based solutions to problems that the government has failed to alleviate (or even has created). But Woodson doesn&rsquo;t fit the narrative, so APAAS simply ignores him too.<\/p>\n<p>In other words, like too many other &ldquo;studies&rdquo; courses that focus on particular racial, ethnic, or sexual identity groups, the apparent goal of APAAS is to marinate students in the only worldview approved by those who control allegedly &ldquo;elite&rdquo; institutions.<\/p>\n<h2>No Taxpayer Funding for Leftist Indoctrination<\/h2>\n<p>Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina each have some version of an anti-CRT statute prohibiting the teaching of toxic &ldquo;divisive concepts&rdquo; in public schools. Governors and education officials there have warned that some APAAS content could violate those statutes. Depending on the wording of the statute, that could certainly be the case.<\/p>\n<p>But as Kurtz argues, even in the absence of such a law, state officials are absolutely right&mdash;indeed, obligated&mdash;to scrutinize this AP course and all others issued by the College Board to make sure they provide thorough, balanced coverage of their subject. <\/p>\n<p>This examination should be conducted with the perspective of parents and other taxpayers in mind. What doesn&rsquo;t faze Californians may alarm Arkansans, and they shouldn&rsquo;t be silenced with condescending assurances that the really smart people at the College Board know best.<\/p>\n<h2>It&rsquo;s Not Racist to Support Quality Curriculum<\/h2>\n<p>When rejecting APAAS, of course, state officials meet drearily predictable cries of racism. The superintendent of an APAAS pilot district in Georgia <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gcpsk12.org\/news-details\/~board\/news-releases\/post\/gcps-update-on-advanced-placement-ap-african-american-studies-course\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">claimed<\/a> that &ldquo;[w]ithholding state approval for this AP course sends the message that the contributions and experiences of African Americans are not worthy of academic study at the same level as other approved AP courses.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>That&rsquo;s nonsense, of course. Inserting the words &ldquo;African American&rdquo; into a title shouldn&rsquo;t shield any curriculum from appropriate examination. Lazy propaganda has no educational value. Students of any race don&rsquo;t benefit from course content that&rsquo;s warped by the political biases of its creators, and state officials should be commended for demanding something better.<\/p>\n<p>APAAS could be improved. It could add material on non-leftist black thinkers and leaders. It could convert its current &ldquo;debates&rdquo; about controversial issues into true debates, with pros and cons fairly represented.<\/p>\n<p>But the College Board apparently isn&rsquo;t interested in pushing APAAS into the realm of genuine education rather than woke propaganda. Instead, it&rsquo;s relying on wimpy state officials to just accept radicalized mediocrity rather than face the inevitable attacks from leftist politicians and media. <\/p>\n<p>But in some states there are new sheriffs in town, and they&rsquo;re not afraid of a fight. The dictatorship of the College Board can, and must, be dismantled.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Jane Robbins is an attorney and a retired senior fellow with the American Principles Project in Washington DC. In that position she crafted federal and state legislation designed to restore the constitutional autonomy of states and parents in education policy, and to protect the rights of religious freedom and conscience. She is a graduate of Clemson University and the Harvard Law School.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Under the guidance of Common Core leader David Coleman, the College Board has been developing or revising Advanced Placement (AP) courses to align with a left-leaning perspective. Courses like U.S. History and European History now promote a distinctly liberal narrative that contradicts conventional academic standards and effectively establishes a national curriculum for advanced students enrolled in AP classes. However, some states are starting to push back against this trend of ideological bias in AP courses.<\/p>\n<p>The most recent controversy involves the newly introduced AP African-American Studies (APAAS) course, which has recently been piloted across the country and is now being implemented in its final version. Some state education officials are taking their role seriously by refusing to approve APAAS as an official state course. The era of states automatically endorsing whatever the College Board produces may be coming to an end.<\/p>\n<p>Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was among the first to oppose funding for what he views as indoctrination through APAAS, prompting similar responses from Arkansas education officials. South Carolina officials have raised concerns about whether this course will count for full credit toward graduation requirements. Most recently, Georgia&#8217;s superintendent of education cited worries about APAAS&#8217;s content influenced by critical race theory (CRT) when denying it full approval in public schools; Democratic members of Georgia\u2019s legislative committees are set to hold hearings on this matter.<\/p>\n<p>Officials in these proactive states have legitimate concerns regarding APAAS&#8217;s content, which initially displayed clear Marxist and CRT influences without much attempt at concealment. Following criticism from figures like Stanley Kurtz, the College Board revised its framework to tone down overt propaganda while still retaining underlying biases.<\/p>\n<p>Kurtz analyzed the revised framework and found that it remains heavily infused with radical ideology\u2014drawing on anti-capitalist theories from radical historians while emphasizing international anti-colonialism over American history itself. The course highlights actions taken by groups like the Black Panthers without critique while largely ignoring conservative black voices throughout history; notable scholars such as Thomas Sowell and John McWhorter receive no mention at all.<\/p>\n<p>In discussing community activism around contentious issues, APAAS could have included perspectives from leaders like Robert Woodson but instead chooses not to acknowledge them because they do not fit its narrative.<\/p>\n<p>Like many other identity-focused studies programs, it seems that APAAS aims primarily to immerse students in a singular worldview dictated by those who control elite educational institutions.<\/p>\n<p>States such as Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina each have laws against teaching divisive concepts in public schools; governors there have indicated that certain aspects of APAAS might violate these statutes\u2014a valid concern given how these laws are worded.<\/p>\n<p>Even without specific legislation against such content, state officials rightly feel compelled\u2014and indeed obligated\u2014to scrutinize AP courses issued by the College Board for balanced coverage relevant to parents&#8217; interests and taxpayers&#8217; expectations across different regions.<\/p>\n<p>When rejecting APAAS proposals outright due to their ideological slant or lack of balance\u2014such as failing even once during discussions on community activism\u2014the response often includes accusations of racism aimed at those opposing it. For instance, one superintendent claimed that withholding approval sends a message devaluing African American contributions within academia\u2014a claim dismissed easily since any curriculum should be subject to rigorous evaluation regardless of its title or focus area.<\/p>\n<p>There is room for improvement within APAAS: incorporating diverse viewpoints from non-leftist black thinkers could enhance its educational value significantly rather than perpetuating biased narratives crafted solely through political lenses held by creators involved with it currently.<\/p>\n<p>However\u2014as evidenced\u2014the College Board appears uninterested in transforming this program into genuine education rather than mere leftist propaganda; instead relying on compliant state officials who might shy away from confronting potential backlash stemming from progressive critics.<\/p>\n<p>Yet some states now feature new leadership willing enough not only challenge but dismantle what they perceive as an overreach by organizations like The College Board when it comes down providing quality curricula free from ideological manipulation.<\/p>\n<p>Jane Robbins is an attorney who previously served as a senior fellow with American Principles Project based out Washington DC where she worked towards restoring constitutional autonomy concerning educational policies alongside protecting religious freedoms rights among others after graduating Clemson University followed Harvard Law School thereafter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":691,"featured_media":2319823,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/15978504802_48e93599e1_k.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[37300,37302,37299,37298,37301],"class_list":["post-2319822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","tag-college-board","tag-curriculum-reform","tag-dual-credit-classes","tag-educational-policy","tag-state-education"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/15978504802_48e93599e1_k.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2319822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/691"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2319822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2319822\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2319823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2319822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2319822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2319822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}