Critical race theory (2 Viewers)

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    DaveXA

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    Frankly, I'm completely ignorant when it comes to the Critical Race Theory curriculum. What is it, where does it come from, and is it legitimate? Has anyone here read it and maybe give a quick summary?

    If this has been covered in another thread, then I missed it.
     
    DaveXA said:
    Well, he shouldn't become a pariah because his parents won't let him see a given presentation. But that's on the parents, not the school. The school's job is to teach. It's the parents' job to parent regardless what we think about parenting methods.
    Click to expand...
    was half joking about this

    We did sex ed in 5th grade and I know parents had to sign a permission slip, I honestly don't remember if anyone opted out or not

    That said, if the whole class is doing something except one kid, I can easily imagining that becoming an issue, depending on how old the kids are and how jerky they are
     
    Optimus Prime said:
    was half joking about this

    We did sex ed in 5th grade and I know parents had to sign a permission slip, I honestly don't remember if anyone opted out or not

    That said, if the whole class is doing something except one kid, I can easily imagining that becoming an issue, depending on how old the kids are and how jerky they are
    Click to expand...
    Yeah, it would all depend on how the teacher and class handle it, but if they're creative, they can figure out how to make it a non-issue in the classroom at least.
     
    In 1996, "The Wonderful World of Disney" premiered the made-for-TV movie "Ruby Bridges," a true-life story about the 6-year-old girl who helped desegregate a Louisiana elementary school in 1960. Critics lauded the film for its exploration of racism, and it went on to become a prominent part of school curriculums on American segregation.

    Now the film has come under attack, with a Florida school considering a ban after a parent complained. The backlash against "Ruby Bridges" doesn't surprise its creators, who exclusively spoke to TheWrap about the difficult process of getting the movie made in the first place and their thoughts on the attempt to suppress it today. Their story highlights how much is at stake as politicians seek to reshape the teaching of history, and how authors and filmmakers are getting caught in the middle.

    "I was surprised yet not surprised," Leah Keith, a former creative executive at Disney who put the film together, told TheWrap. "One of the more salient thoughts was the movie [was made] 25 years ago, the events [of the movie] took place 60 years ago, and we're still having this conversation."

    There's some irony in the players involved in the "Ruby Bridges" saga: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has campaigned against "woke" corporations, singling out Disney, a large employer in the state, for pushing what he claims is a progressive agenda in its creative works and workplace policies. But the film's director, Euzhan Palcy, didn't find Disney particularly welcoming in the 1990s, and initially resisted its overtures to make the film.

    Palcy sees a through line from the difficult environment in which she made the movie to the hostile reception it's receiving decades later.

    "The greatness of a nation is in its ability to own its history," she told TheWrap.

    The fight against "Ruby Bridges"​

    The book on which "Ruby Bridges" was based has been targeted by conservative groups like Moms for Liberty for years. The movie version came under fire last week after the parent of a student at North Shore Elementary School in St. Petersburg, Florida, complained about its use of racial slurs. Historically accurate scenes of white people threatening Bridges might have students believing white people hate Black people, she claimed.

    The Pinellas County School District, of which North Shore is a part, maintained that it hasn't banned the film, as some media outlets reported. It was shown as part of the school's Black History Month and was not set to be presented for the remainder of the school year, a district spokesperson said. "The school is now engaging in the formal objection process to review the challenged material," the representative said, while the movie remains available in the district's movie library for schools provided that "all procedures for student viewing of movies are followed." The district didn't elaborate on what those procedures are.

    "This is a concerted effort to roll civil rights back," said Toni Ann Johnson, who wrote the script for "Ruby Bridges.".......

     
    They have been tilting at their made up windmill in 49 States. Talk about creating your own boogeyman to keep the sheep marching down your shoot. That said, this is just more of the same Right Wing misdirection. CRT has a purpose and no, it’s not about the poor white race being unfairly picked on by minorities, but to snuff any discussion about racism in the US, “just don’t think about it“ is their motto. Itis completely despicable that Right White don’t want to hear anything about racism in this country, to acknowledge that people have been mistreated based on color of their skin.How adult of them. The concept of facing our collective past* with eyes open Is nauseating to them.

    *And significantly, our past is not our past. Racism is alive and thriving in the USA. That is no theory.

    www.usatoday.com

    Bids to ban critical race theory have come in every state except one, database shows

    UCLA School of Law launched a database to track attempts to ban the theory or similar concepts, and only Delaware stayed off the list.
    www.usatoday.com

    The topic has taken many titles.

    From banned “divisive concepts” in former President Donald Trump’s executive order, to notions that "the United States is fundamentally racist,” many opponents ultimately landed on critical race theory. It’s a name belonging to an area of study meant to explain how race and law have been used to produce systemic racism in the U.S. It quickly made its way to discussions of K-12 education.
     
    Last edited:
    Optimus Prime said:
    In 1996, "The Wonderful World of Disney" premiered the made-for-TV movie "Ruby Bridges," a true-life story about the 6-year-old girl who helped desegregate a Louisiana elementary school in 1960. Critics lauded the film for its exploration of racism, and it went on to become a prominent part of school curriculums on American segregation.

    Now the film has come under attack, with a Florida school considering a ban after a parent complained. The backlash against "Ruby Bridges" doesn't surprise its creators, who exclusively spoke to TheWrap about the difficult process of getting the movie made in the first place and their thoughts on the attempt to suppress it today. Their story highlights how much is at stake as politicians seek to reshape the teaching of history, and how authors and filmmakers are getting caught in the middle.

    "I was surprised yet not surprised," Leah Keith, a former creative executive at Disney who put the film together, told TheWrap. "One of the more salient thoughts was the movie [was made] 25 years ago, the events [of the movie] took place 60 years ago, and we're still having this conversation."

    There's some irony in the players involved in the "Ruby Bridges" saga: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has campaigned against "woke" corporations, singling out Disney, a large employer in the state, for pushing what he claims is a progressive agenda in its creative works and workplace policies. But the film's director, Euzhan Palcy, didn't find Disney particularly welcoming in the 1990s, and initially resisted its overtures to make the film.

    Palcy sees a through line from the difficult environment in which she made the movie to the hostile reception it's receiving decades later.

    "The greatness of a nation is in its ability to own its history," she told TheWrap.

    The fight against "Ruby Bridges"​

    The book on which "Ruby Bridges" was based has been targeted by conservative groups like Moms for Liberty for years. The movie version came under fire last week after the parent of a student at North Shore Elementary School in St. Petersburg, Florida, complained about its use of racial slurs. Historically accurate scenes of white people threatening Bridges might have students believing white people hate Black people, she claimed.

    The Pinellas County School District, of which North Shore is a part, maintained that it hasn't banned the film, as some media outlets reported. It was shown as part of the school's Black History Month and was not set to be presented for the remainder of the school year, a district spokesperson said. "The school is now engaging in the formal objection process to review the challenged material," the representative said, while the movie remains available in the district's movie library for schools provided that "all procedures for student viewing of movies are followed." The district didn't elaborate on what those procedures are.

    "This is a concerted effort to roll civil rights back," said Toni Ann Johnson, who wrote the script for "Ruby Bridges.".......

    Click to expand...
    Euzhan Palcy, the director of the 1998 Disney film Ruby Bridges, is speaking out after Florida teachers moved to reinstate the film back into school curriculum.

    According to the Hollywood Reporter, Palcy praised teachers for “standing up for truth" after a parent's complaint led to her film being temporarily pulled from the Black History Month curriculum at North Shore Elementary School in St. Petersburg, Florida.

    “Truth will out!” Palcy said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. “I commend the seven Florida teachers for standing up for truth by unanimously clearing Ruby Bridges for screening in the public schools.”

    “This is a victory for hope as portrayed in my film by the courage of children to turn their backs on bigotry, hatred, and racism,” Palcy continued. “The teachers’ action sticks a thorn in the bubble of ignorance in which the enlightened parents wish to surrounded their children. Guess what will happen to those children when that bubble bursts?”..........

     
    The defining experience of Jordan Zamora-Garcia’s high school career – a hands-on group project in civics class that spurred a new city ordinance in his Austin suburb – would now violate Texas law.

    Since Texas lawmakers in 2021 passed a ban on lessons teaching that any one group is “inherently racist, sexist or oppressive”, a little-noticed provision of that legislation has triggered a massive fallout for civics education across the state.

    Tucked into page 8 is a stipulation outlawing all assignments involving “direct communication” between students and their federal, state or local officials – short-circuiting the training young Texans receive to participate in democracy itself.

    Zamora-Garcia’s 2017 project to add student advisers to the city council, and others like it involving research and meetings with elected representatives, would stand in direct violation.
    Since 2021, 18 states have passed laws restricting teachings on race and gender.

    But Texas is the only one nationwide to suppress students’ interactions with elected officials in class projects, according to researchers at the free expression advocacy group Pen America.

    Practically overnight, a growing movement to engage Texas students in real-world civics lessons evaporated. Teachers canceled time-honored assignments, districts reversed expansion plans with a celebrated civics education provider and a bill promoting student civics projects that received bipartisan support in 2019 was suddenly dead in the water.

    “By the time we got to 2021, civics was the latest weapon in the culture wars,” state representative James Talarico, sponsor of that now defunct bill, said.

    Texas does require high schoolers to take a semester of government and a semester of economics, and is one of 38 states nationwide that mandates at least a semester of civics.

    But students told the 74 the courses typically rely on book learning and memorization, without hands-on lessons in civic participation.
    “Students are now banned from advocating for something like a stop sign in front of their school,” Talarico said.

    Civics in retreat​

    The sections of the 2021 law limiting civic engagement pull directly from model legislationauthored by the conservative scholar Stanley Kurtz, whose extensive writings seek to link an approach called “action civics” – what he calls “woke civics” – with leftist activism.

    Kurtz argues the practice is a form of political “indoctrination” under the “deceptively soothing” heading of “civics”, a cause long celebrated on both the right and the left……

    www.theguardian.com

    Texas guts ‘woke civics’. Now kids can't engage in a key democratic process

    Many states have restricted how schools can teach race and gender, but only Texas has banned student interaction with elected officials
    www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
     
    COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina Republicans are one step closer to restricting how teachers discuss race in K-12 classrooms.

    As conservatives nationwide push bans on so-called “critical race theory,” the state Senate passed a likeminded effort Wednesday in a late night 27-10 vote after nearly six hours of debate. Parents could challenge any educational materials they say violate banned teachings around white privilege and implicit bias under a bill sent back to the GOP-controlled House.

    Missing from the bill is the explicit phrase “ critical race theory." It instead prevents teaching that an individual “bears responsibility for actions committed in the past” by other members of their race, and that someone is inherently privileged or should receive “adverse or favorable treatment” due to their race.

    The bill states that nothing prevents teachings about any ethnic group’s history or the “fact-based discussion” of “controversial” periods and current events. Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey said the bill encourages educators to teach students about slavery and Jim Crow, but within the historical facts.

    “ H.3728 keeps the subjective opinions of those who want to rewrite American History from creeping into South Carolina's schools,” Massey said in a statement.

    Democratic Sen. Dick Harpootlian questioned who would determine the “facts.” He worried that parents could challenge lessons that the Civil War was fought over slavery and not states’ rights.

    Harpootlian, 74, who is white, added that while he and some Black colleagues all grew up during segregation, they did not share the same experiences, or “facts."

    “When I think back on the 50s and 60s, and my history of growing up in Charlotte, North Carolina, the facts I know are not necessarily the facts you know,” he said.

    Opponents said vague language would chill educators’ speech and sanitize the truth. Democratic Sen. Ronnie Sabb asked how teachers should approach the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol insurrection if parents who wrongly consider it “an act of patriotism” challenge lessons that call it an attempt to thwart democracy...........

     
    Bloomberg) -- When Jerome Eisenberg enrolled his daughter at the Brentwood School in Los Angeles, where Adam Levine met some of his Maroon 5 bandmates, the investment manager says he expected her to get a traditional liberal arts education.
    But after the murder of George Floyd, the $50,000-a-year school said it was reimagining its purpose “with an eye toward anti-racism” and diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI. In Eisenberg’s view, Brentwood was pulling a “bait and switch” on parents. He sued the school last year for breach of contract, civil rights violations and emotional distress.
    “The curriculum change shifted away from teaching students critical thinking skills — how to think — and started indoctrinating them into what to think, based on Brentwood’s preferred political fad of the moment,” Eisenberg said in his lawsuit.
    Brentwood succeeded in having the suit sent to private arbitration in November. A representative of the school declined to comment.

    War on ‘Woke’​

    Republican politicians like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis have pushed laws to curtail instruction in gender, sexuality and racial identity in public schools. Private schools aren’t subject to those laws, but that doesn’t mean they’re immune to the culture war. Conservative-leaning parents have voiced opposition in other ways, including by filing lawsuits.

    “There is an increased appetite for parents using the legal process to fight for their kids in a way that just wasn’t as prevalent before,” said Sara Goldsmith Schwartz, of Andover, Massachusetts-based Schwartz Hannum PC, who frequently represents private schools.

    David Pivtorak, a lawyer for Eisenberg, also said he believes legal complaints against private schools over DEI have increased, though he added that the true number may be understated because of arbitration clauses like the one at Brentwood.

    Others see a distortion. Jin Hee Lee, director of strategic initiatives at the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund, said the pitched legal and political battles are painting a “misleading” picture about opposition to DEI instruction.

    “The majority of parents want their children to attend a school that is diverse and inclusive,” Lee said, “and the majority of Americans understand that we have a very tragic legacy of slavery and Jim Crow and racial subjugation that we’re still dealing with in this country.” ...............

     
    AA1bSFQT.img
     
    A Midlands school district shut down classroom discussion of a book on racism after complaints that it violated a state law prohibiting instruction on controversial topics related to race. Students in an advanced placement language arts class at Chapin High School last spring were scheduled to read “Between the World and Me,” a 2015 memoir by writer Ta-Nehisi Coates, recapping American racial history and its impact on his life growing up Black in inner-city Baltimore.

    The memoir was written in the form of a letter addressed to Coates’ teenaged son. “This book is studied as part of the argument essay unit for the AP Lang exam,” teacher Mary Wood wrote regarding the book’s inclusion in her lesson plan, one of several documents related to the class released by the Lexington-Richland 5 school district as part of a freedom of information request. Elsewhere, Wood says she taught the same book the previous year without any controversy.

    The lesson plan released as part of the documents request prompts students to analyze and respond to some of Coates’ arguments in the book. Instructions include “Describe Coates’ primary statement regarding identity and your position about his argument,” “Describe your understanding of systemic racism,” and “Do you think racism is a pervasive problem in America? Why or why not?”

    But the class didn’t get far in its assessment of the National Book Award winner, after at least some students expressed discomfort with two short videos played in class as preparation for the book: “The Unequal Opportunity Race” and “Systemic Racism Explained.” “Hearing (Wood’s) opinion and watching these videos made me feel uncomfortable,” one unnamed student wrote to a school board member after the class.

    “I actually felt ashamed to be Caucasian... These videos portrayed an inaccurate description of life from past centuries that she is trying to resurface. I don’t feel as though it is right because these videos showed antiquated history. I understand in AP Lang, we are learning to develop an argument and have evidence to support it, yet this topic is too heavy to discuss.”

    Another student wrote that Wood prefaced the lesson with “hopefully I don’t get fired for this.” “I was incredibly uncomfortable throughout both videos, and was in shock that she would do something illegal like that,” the student wrote, adding parenthetically “I am pretty sure a teacher talking about systemic racism is illegal in South Carolina.”.........

     
    White kids feeling uncomfortable learning about racism? "OMG! We can't have that! Won't someone think of the children!?"

    Minority kids feeling uncomfortable actually experiencing racism? "Oh well. Tough shirt! Don't be a victim"
     
    The state official in charge of Oklahoma’s schools is facing calls for impeachment, after he said teachers should tell students that the Tulsa race massacre was not racially motivated.

    In a public forum on Thursday, Ryan Walters, Oklahoma’s state superintendent of public instruction, said teachers could cover the 1921 massacre, in which white Tulsans murdered an estimated 300 Black people, but teachers should not “say that the skin color determined it”.

    Walters is a pro-Trump Republican who was elected to oversee Oklahoma education in November. He has consistently indulged in rightwing talking points including “woke ideology” and has said critical race theory should not be taught in classrooms. Republicans have frequently conflated banning critical race theory with banning any discussion of racial history in classrooms.

    At the forum in Norman, Oklahoma, Walters was asked how the massacre could “not fall” under his broad definition of CRT.

    “I would never tell a kid that because of your race, because of your color of your skin, or your gender or anything like that, you are less of a person or are inherently racist.

    “That doesn’t mean you don’t judge the actions of individuals. Oh, you can, absolutely. Historically, you should: ‘This was right. This was wrong. They did this for this reason.’

    “But to say it was inherent in that … because of their skin is where I say that is critical race theory. You’re saying that race defines a person. I reject that.

    “So I would say you be judgmental of the issue, of the action, of the content, of the character of the individual, absolutely. But let’s not tie it to the skin color and say that the skin color determined it.”

    The Frontier, an Oklahoma-based investigative journalism organization, reported Walters’s comments.

    Speaking to the Guardian, Alicia Andrews, the chair of the Oklahoma Democratic party, described Walters as “ridiculous”.

    “How are you going to talk about a race massacre as if race isn’t part of the very cause of the incident?” Andrews said.……..


    www.theguardian.com

    Outrage as Republican says 1921 Tulsa massacre not motivated by race

    Oklahoma superintendent Ryan Walters condemned for comments on 1921 massacre in which hundreds were killed by white mobs
    www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
     
    The Florida Board of Education approved a new curriculum for African American history on Wednesday, but not without pushback.

    After more than an hour of public comment, with a majority of speakers opposed, the board voted unanimously to approve the social studies standards for African American history for kindergarten through 12th grades.

    Opponents say the curriculum leaves out Florida’s role in slavery and the oppression of African Americans, victim blames Black communities and uses outdated language.

    In a letter to board member Ben Gibson, a group of 11 organizations, including the NAACP and the Florida Education Association, criticized the state for omitting or rewriting “key historical facts about the Black experience.”..........

    At the board’s meeting in Orlando on Wednesday, members defended the curriculum and said a factual representation of history was included according to state standards. In 1994, the Legislature passed FS 1003.42 which created the African American History Task Force and requires instruction of history, culture, experiences and contributions of African Americans in the state’s K-12 curriculum.

    “Everything is there,” said MaryLynn Magar, who was appointed to the board by Gov. Ron DeSantis this spring. “The darkest parts of our history are addressed, and I’m very proud of the task force. I can confidently say that the DOE and the task force believe that African American history is American history, and that’s represented in those standards.”

    But Genesis Robinson, political director for advocacy group Equal Ground, said the curriculum only identifies and recognizes racism and prejudice and does not go into depth about how or who promoted the violence and disenfranchisement of Black people in the United States.............

    Opponents pointed out several issues in the curriculum: Elementary and middle school students are not required to learn about African American history past Reconstruction; the middle school curriculum includes a benchmark clarification that states “Instruction includes how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit;” and in high school, when learning about the Ocoee Massacre, the benchmark clarification states “Instruction includes acts of violence perpetrated against and by African Americans.”

    “When you look at the history currently, it suggests that the (Ocoee) massacre was sparked by violence from African Americans. That's blaming the victim,” said Sen. Geraldine Thompson- D, Orlando, who is listed as an emerita board member on the task force’s website.

    The Ocoee Massacre is considered the largest incidence of voting-day violence in United States history, according to the Orange County Regional History Center. In 1920, Mose Norman, a Black man, tried to vote but was turned away from the polls. Later that night, a white mob tried to find Norman and his friend’s house. His friend, July Perry, was lynched, and other Black community members were murdered and their houses burned. Most of the Black community subsequently fled Ocoee and never came back...............



    www.tallahassee.com

    Florida board OKs Black history standards, rejects concerns about omitting history

    In a letter to board member Ben Gibson, a group of 11 organizations, including the NAACP and the Florida Education Association, criticized the state for omitting or rewriting “key historical facts about the Black experience.”
    www.tallahassee.com
     
    JACKSONVILLE, Fla — The Florida Board of Education adopted new standards for teaching African American history in grades K-12 Wednesday, despite criticism from groups like the Florida Education Association and NAACP.

    The new African American History standards approved by the Board of Education span 137 pages.

    “Our standards are factual, objective standards that really teach the good, the bad, and the ugly,” said Florida Chancellor of Public Schools Dr. Paul Burns.

    But during public comment teachers, activists and even some state lawmakers argued the new standards don’t go far enough.

    “I am very concerned by these standards, especially some of the notion that enslaved people benefited from being enslaved,” said State Representative Anna Eskamani (D-Orlando).

    The new standards were spurred by additional requirements to teach comprehensive African American history included in the so-called “S.T.O.P. W.O.K.E. Act”.

    Critics argued the standards only tell half of the story because parts of that same law limit how race can be discussed in the classroom.


    “When we name political figures who worked to end slavery, but leave anyone who worked to keep slavery nameless, kids are forced to fill in the blanks for themselves,” said Carol Cleaver, a middle school teacher from Pensacola.

    In a press release following the vote, the state’s largest teachers’ union criticized the inclusion of the Ocoee Massacre under a section detailing acts of violence perpetuated against and ‘by’ African Americans and argued another section teaches middle school students slavery benefited African Americans because it helped them acquire skills.

    “If a slave learned a trade being a slave, that’s not a good thing, it’s just a fact that it did occur,” said Florida Education Commissioner in an interview with Action News Jax Wednesday afternoon................


    www.actionnewsjax.com

    Florida Board of Education adopts new African American history standards amid criticism

    The Florida Board of Education adopted new standards for teaching African American history in grades K-12 Wednesday, despite criticism from groups like the Florida Education Association and NAACP.
    www.actionnewsjax.com www.actionnewsjax.com
     
    Optimus Prime said:
    The Florida Board of Education approved a new curriculum for African American history on Wednesday, but not without pushback.

    After more than an hour of public comment, with a majority of speakers opposed, the board voted unanimously to approve the social studies standards for African American history for kindergarten through 12th grades.

    Opponents say the curriculum leaves out Florida’s role in slavery and the oppression of African Americans, victim blames Black communities and uses outdated language.

    In a letter to board member Ben Gibson, a group of 11 organizations, including the NAACP and the Florida Education Association, criticized the state for omitting or rewriting “key historical facts about the Black experience.”..........

    At the board’s meeting in Orlando on Wednesday, members defended the curriculum and said a factual representation of history was included according to state standards. In 1994, the Legislature passed FS 1003.42 which created the African American History Task Force and requires instruction of history, culture, experiences and contributions of African Americans in the state’s K-12 curriculum.

    “Everything is there,” said MaryLynn Magar, who was appointed to the board by Gov. Ron DeSantis this spring. “The darkest parts of our history are addressed, and I’m very proud of the task force. I can confidently say that the DOE and the task force believe that African American history is American history, and that’s represented in those standards.”

    But Genesis Robinson, political director for advocacy group Equal Ground, said the curriculum only identifies and recognizes racism and prejudice and does not go into depth about how or who promoted the violence and disenfranchisement of Black people in the United States.............

    Opponents pointed out several issues in the curriculum: Elementary and middle school students are not required to learn about African American history past Reconstruction; the middle school curriculum includes a benchmark clarification that states “Instruction includes how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit;” and in high school, when learning about the Ocoee Massacre, the benchmark clarification states “Instruction includes acts of violence perpetrated against and by African Americans.”

    “When you look at the history currently, it suggests that the (Ocoee) massacre was sparked by violence from African Americans. That's blaming the victim,” said Sen. Geraldine Thompson- D, Orlando, who is listed as an emerita board member on the task force’s website.

    The Ocoee Massacre is considered the largest incidence of voting-day violence in United States history, according to the Orange County Regional History Center. In 1920, Mose Norman, a Black man, tried to vote but was turned away from the polls. Later that night, a white mob tried to find Norman and his friend’s house. His friend, July Perry, was lynched, and other Black community members were murdered and their houses burned. Most of the Black community subsequently fled Ocoee and never came back...............



    www.tallahassee.com

    Florida board OKs Black history standards, rejects concerns about omitting history

    In a letter to board member Ben Gibson, a group of 11 organizations, including the NAACP and the Florida Education Association, criticized the state for omitting or rewriting “key historical facts about the Black experience.”
    www.tallahassee.com
    Click to expand...
    Whitewashing is still a thing in 2023. Smh.
     
    The Arkansas Department of Education abruptly removed course credit for an Advanced Placement African American Studies course, just months after Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed a swath of bills limiting what educators can teach in public schools. =

    The AP African American Studies course won’t be eligible for early college credit in the upcoming school year, according to TV news station KHBS, based in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Teachers may offer the curriculum, but the class will not be weighted the same on students’ grade point averages as other AP courses offered in the state, the Arkansas Times reported.

    Kimberly Mundell, director of communications for the department, told KHBS that the class was being piloted at some Arkansas schools and is still undergoing revisions.

    “Arkansas law contains provisions regarding prohibited topics,” she told KHBS, alluding to state education restrictions. “Without clarity, we cannot approve a pilot that may unintentionally put a teacher at risk of violating Arkansas law.”

    The news comes amid a national shift in education systems, with several states restricting what educators can teach about race, gender and sexuality. Sanders has championed limits to education in the state. In March, she signed into law the LEARNS Act, placing restrictions on classroom lessons on gender identity and sexual orientation. The policy had been ushered in by Jacob Oliva, the state’s education secretary, in February. A few months earlier, in January, Sanders signed an executive order banning “indoctrination and critical race theory” in schools.

    Alexa Henning, the communications director for the governor’s office, sent NBC News a thread of her tweets as her official statement on the matter. Henning reiterated Mundell’s comments that the class is not a history course. She added that “the pilot may not meet graduation requirements and does not comply with the rules of the department’s AP program like other vetted” courses.

    “There is currently an African American History class students can receive credit for,” she continued. “The department encourages the teaching of all American history and supports rigorous courses not based on opinions or indoctrination.”.............

     

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