Opinion: Don't expect schools to educate children on Black history
Does AP African American studies “lack educational value?” This question has been prompted by the recent actions of Ron DeSantis and the Florida Department of Education, who expressed six points of concern around teaching Black queer studies, intersectionality, the Movement for Black Lives, Black feminist literary thought, the reparations movement and Black struggle in the 21st century. DeSantis asserted that the draft form of the College Board’s AP African American studies course was so educationally deficient that it warranted extensive revisions before being an acceptable curricular offering for students.
It is ironic that as we celebrate Black History Month, with all of its references to the struggles and fight for freedom of Black people, political forces seek to shape AP African American studies into a more palatable curriculum. AP African American studies, and education in general, is not simply the imparting of information. Borrowing from the ideas of Brazilian educator Paulo Friere, AP African American studies should give students the ability to look critically at the history and experiences of Black people and to develop understanding and deeper insights through the process of questioning and dialogue.
However, that is not the type of AP African American studies that DeSantis and his allies want. In the words of Friere, they want “education for domestication,” where critical examinations and discussions of topics like Black Lives Matter movement and reparations are viewed to be too incendiary for the purposes of perpetuating and maintaining the status quo.
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Politics of education
Education is not a neutral process. As long as politicians outside of our communities have the power to control and dictate the educational content of our lived experiences, African Americans cannot rely on formal institutions to educate our students to challenge the injustices their communities face (i.e., education for liberation).
Of course, the issue is not really about the existence of AP African American studies. The Florida Department of Education Commissioner Manny Diaz states that the department “proudly requires the teaching of African-American history.” The real issue is about the content of AP African American studies. DeSantis claims to be taking a stand against so-called “state-sanctioned racism” and indoctrinating students with “woke” ideology. Florida’s Stop W.O.K.E. Act prohibits teaching certain concepts about race and essentially forces educators to teach views that the legislature agrees with, regardless of whether the views contradict established research and academic scholarship.
This is not the first time there has been a political fight over ethnic studies curriculum. The film "Precious Knowledge," tells the story of Mexican American students in Arizona fighting to save their Mexican American Studies program in the midst of Arizona lawmakers passing a bill giving the state superintendent the power to abolish ethnic studies classes.
In the current debate, at issue is whether the College Board’s changes to the AP African American studies course were influenced by political pressure over concerns around topics such as intersectionality, reparations, Black Lives Matter, queer studies, and mass incarceration. The New York Times reports that several Black authors (e.g., Kimberle Crenshaw, Angela Davis, Michelle Alexander, Ta-Nehisi Coates) who were included in the preliminary pilot version of the course, had been removed.
In an attempt at damage control against accusations of succumbing to political pressure and watering down the curriculum, the College Board explains that no Black writers or sources were removed from the course. Instead, the College Board says that all Black writers and sources were moved to an AP Classroom digital platform. According to the College Board, the confusion is that unlike other AP courses, which have a canon of required readings (e.g., the Constitution and Declaration of Independence), the African American studies course does not have a canon of required readings.
This seems like a reasonable, if not convenient, explanation for relegating so-called “controversial” authors and topics to secondary, optional topics. However, the problem with this is the optics, especially given the fact that it was reported that the College Board coordinated and met with Florida officials prior to releasing the AP African American studies course.
African Americans must come to the realization that we can not expect schools to do the job of critically educating our children about their culture. The African American professor of educational psychology and historian of indigenous African culture, Asa Hilliard, once observed that other cultural groups do not expect schools to teach the most important lessons about their cultural heritage. This latest attempt to control and produce a “sanitized” depiction of African American life and culture is a reminder that families and communities have to take control of educating our children about the history, culture, and contributions of Black people.
Kevin Cokley is the University Diversity and Social Transformation professor and Associate Chair of Diversity Initiatives in the department of psychology at the University of Michigan. He is also a longtime member of the National Council of Black Studies.