In a scathing letter to the College Board, the institution that creates and tests for Advanced Placement courses for American high schools that typically qualify for college credits, Illinois governor JB Pritzker threw down the gauntlet to Florida governor Ron DeSantis, and to the College Board itself, demanding that “black queer studies” and other controversial subjects remain in the AP AFfrican American history curriculum.
Pritzker’s letter follows Florida’s rejection of the AP curriculum initially tendered by the College Board on the grounds that several subjects, including “black queer history” and “intersectionality” were attempts at indoctrinating students with left-wing, “woke” ideologies, and thus had no place in an AP history course.
Subsequent to Florida’s objection, the College Board announced that it would be “revising” the curriculum, although no specifics have yet been given.
In his letter, Pritzker flatly labeled Florida laws restricting the teaching of Critical Race Theory (CRT) in elementary schools and prohibiting teachers from discussing gender and sexuality issues with students before the the third grade as “racist and homophobic.”
“I am extremely troubled by recent news reports that claim Governor DeSantis is pressuring the College Board to change the AP African American Studies course in order to fit Florida’s racist and homophobic laws.
“Illinois expects any AP course offered on African American Studies to include a factual accounting of history, including the role played by black queer Americans. Illinois will closely examine the official coursework to ensure it includes all necessary history, starting with this nation’s foundation built on slavery, the Civil War where this nation reckoned with that history and the decades of rebuilding and efforts of black Americans to continue their fight for equality and equity to this day.”
It is notable that Pritzker’s language suggests a significant endorsement of key elements of CRT, which holds that America was founded on slavery rather than liberty and that “equity of outcomes,” not just equal opportunity, should be the goal of educational and social policy.
Pritzker also accused DeSantis and Florida Republicans of undermining the right to an education for political purposes.
“I am writing to you today to urge the College Board to preserve the fundamental right to an education that does not follow the political grandstanding of Governor DeSantis and the whims of Republicans in Florida.” It is an interesting critique, given that Pritzker, a Democrat, in 2000 endorsed with gusto the intensely controversial “Illinois Culturally Responsive Teaching and Leading Standards” promulgated by his Illinois Department of Education and ratified by the Democrat-dominated Illinois legislature. These standards require teachers to “embrace and encourage progressive viewpoints and perspectives,” and ““intentionally embrace student identities and prioritize representation in the curriculum,” among many other controversial provisions that fall clearly on the side of the political left.
The College Board is now in a quandary. It’s AP offerings are consistent nationwide, for both pedagogical and practical reasons. Creating separate curricula for individual states may be simply impossible. However, with the prospect of two large states threatening to reject its courses for diametrically opposite reasons, and the likelihood that other states will now do the same, it’s ability to provide a standard, nationwide curriculum and testing function would appear to be in serious jeopardy.
The College Board has not yet officially responded to Pritzker’s letter.
