DeSantis nixes radical AP African-American Studies course as violating state law.

Biden's clueless press secretary calls this "incomprehensible."

AP African-American Studies (APAAS) is the latest attempt by the academic left, via the College Board, to indoctrinate and radicalize high students. This course, like AP US History and AP European History, will be a vehicle for preaching anti-American and anti-Western Civilization sentiment.

In the case of AP African-American Studies, the College Board is pushing its curriculum on school systems without saying publicly what that curriculum is. The left is betting that state and local officials won’t have the nerve to reject a course in African-American History, lest they be accused of racism.

Fortunately, Ron DeSantis has faced down this threat. His administration recently informed the College Board that Florida is rejecting its request for state approval of APAAS. In a letter to the Board, the DeSantis administration stated: “As presented, the content of this course is inexplicably contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational value.”

As if on cue, the lightweight White House press secretary has just blasted DeSantis for his decision. She calls it “incomprehensible.” But is she aware of Florida law? Does she know what’s in the APAAS curriculum? These are questions an intelligent, properly functioning White House press corps would ask her.

The Florida law in question is the Stop WOKE Act. Among other things, it bars any attempt at the K–12 level to promote the idea that color blindness is racist.

Last year, Stanley Kurtz obtained a copy of the APAAS curriculum and wrote about it here . He argued, persuasively in my view, that APAAS not only rejects color blindness as racist, but also proselytizes for the transformation of the United States along hard-left, socialist lines.

Is the Biden administration on board with this? That’s a question an intelligent, properly functioning White House press corps would ask the press secretary.

As to color blindness, Stanley observes:

Most of the readings in the final quarter of APAAS (Unit 4: Movements and Debates) reject color blindness. One of the topics in that unit is explicitly devoted to “color blindness.” There, APAAS suggests reading CRT advocate Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, best known for his theory of “color-blind racism.”

As Stanley says, “if DeSantis were to approve a course pushing the idea of ‘color-blind racism,’ he would effectively be nullifying his own Stop WOKE Act.”

As to hard-leftism:

Overall, the readings in the final quarter of APAAS — the quarter chiefly devoted to ideological controversies rather than to history per se — are extraordinarily one-sided. They promote leftist radicalism, with virtually no readings providing even a classically liberal point of view, much less some form of conservatism. . . .

The neo-Marxist thrust of the course. . .is evident enough from the readings. On top of that, however, we know that Joshua M. Myers, the member of the APAAS curriculum-writing team whose expertise covers the final quarter of the course, is an acolyte of Cedric Robinson, author of Black Marxism: The Making of the Black Radical Tradition. Myers’s writings on African-American studies explicitly call for the field to reject traditional concepts of disciplinary neutrality and adopt openly anti-capitalist radical advocacy instead.

No wonder the College Board has kept its APAAS curriculum secret from the public.

I have nothing against high school students reading about “Black Marxism,” or being exposed to critiques of color blindness, though the former is probably better left for a college course. Nor do I oppose the inclusion of such books in an AP course in African-American Studies, as long as this point of view doesn’t dominate. If it does dominate, then clearly the course is promoting, not just presenting, this view. That’s what Florida law prohibits.

It’s not clear that DeSantis’ administration opposes inclusion of some far-left material, either. Its letter to the College Board invites a revision of the curriculum.

If the Board were to include neo-Marxist and CRT material in its course, but also include a robust presentation of traditional liberal and conservative perspectives, it’s possible that Florida would approve APAAS. As Stanley says, “promoting radicalism is one thing; even-handed discussion of competing views is another.”

In any event, DeSantis deserves great credit for standing up the College Board on APAAS. He is, I think, the first state official to refuse to approve a College Board Advanced Placement course of any kind. Yes, there were serious expressions of concern by some states during the 2014 controversy over the College Board’s leftist revision of its AP U.S. history course. But no state or school district actually refused to approve the course.

It’s not surprising that DeSantis is leading here. Some Republican governors talk a strong conservative game but lack either the attention span or the gumption to follow through. Other Republican governors, though conservative in important respects, simply aren’t culture warriors by inclination. DeSantis answers to neither description.

And now that DeSantis has acted, maybe other governors will follow suit. Stanley asks:

What about Texas? What about Georgia? These and other states have CRT laws and Republican governors. To approve APAAS as currently configured would be to make a mockery of those laws. And why would any state — CRT law or no — approve a course plugging socialist radicalism?

Fear of being called racist, I guess. But that’s no excuse, and DeSantis has shown that it need not be a deterrent.