Last week, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis shot down a new, woke Advance Placement (AP) high school course in African American studies put forth by the Florida Department of Education, saying the course “leaves large, ambiguous gaps that can be filled with additional ideological material, which we will not allow.” Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker had quite the response to the move. In a letter he wrote to the College Board, he pleaded that they resist DeSantis’ “political grandstanding” and that more courses should “include a factual accounting of history, including the role played by black queer Americans.” As the fight against leftist indoctrination in American schools rages on, it’s clear that Republicans will continue to have to fight fire with fire if they hope to come out on top.
BREITBART: Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker Calls for AP Courses that Teach ‘Black Queer American’ History
By Paul Bois; January 27, 2023
Democrat Gov. J.B. Pritzker called for AP Courses that teach “black queer American” history in response to Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis rejecting AP classes about black Americans.
As Breitbart News reported last week, Ron DeSantis rejected a high school Advance Placement course for African American studies. A letter earlier this month from Florida Department of Education’s Office of Articulation told the College Board that the AP course is “inexplicably contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational value.”
“In the future, should College Board be willing to come back to the table with lawful, historically accurate content, FDOE will always be willing to reopen the discussion,” the letter said.
DeSantis spokesman Bryan Griffin further told CNN the course “leaves large, ambiguous gaps that can be filled with additional ideological material, which we will not allow.”
In response, Democrat Gov. J.B. Pritzker (IL) hit back against DeSantis in a letter to the College Board that called for them to resist the Republican governor’s “political grandstanding.”
“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,” Pritzker wrote. “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.
The Democrat governor added he expects AP courses in his state to focus on African American studies that “include a factual accounting of history, including the role played by black queer Americans.”
He also charged that students who take the class “encounter racism on a personal and systemic level long before they reach high school,” arguing that they deserve to learn “the honest and accurate history of the nation they live in now” to prevent future mistakes.
During a press conference on Monday, DeSantis said that Florida wants “education, not indoctrination.”
“This course on Black history, what’s one of the lessons about? Queer theory .. that is somebody pushing an agenda on our kids,” he said.