Arkansas drops AP African American Studies course

Just 48 hours before the first day of school, the Arkansas Department of Education announced that Advanced Placement African American Studies wouldn’t count towards graduation. They said they’re reviewing the course for possible indoctrination.

Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders went on Fox News to explain her administration’s decision to de-prioritize AP African American studies.

“We cannot perpetuate a lie to our students, and push this propaganda leftist agenda, teaching our kids to hate America, and hate one another," she said.

Sanders has not pointed to anything specific in the AP African American Studies curriculum. The Arkansas Department of Education notified teachers that they’d deleted the course code for AP African American Studies. That means students can’t get graduation credit for taking it.

CaptainAlcohol,

In the meantime, we also have a clear example of actual indoctrination:

“We cannot perpetuate a lie to our students, and push this propaganda leftist agenda, teaching our kids to hate America, and hate one another,” she said."

I can’t do much about any of this but i can say that you certainly cannot prevent people from discussing this in other settings, and i (hope) think this “ban” will just raise awarness on these themes

Snapz,

Literally anti American, right there in the name.

UncleGrandPa,

a politician in Arkansas must work so hard… every day they have to find a new and novel way to fuck with minorities.

Must be such a grind…/s

Zanothis,

Not since they started forcing minors to work on it.

aJazzyFeel,

??? I must be drunk. What is hateful about history and cultural studies? Asking as an undergrad of said studies, including African American Studies.

AngryCommieKender,

They claim it causes racial tensions and makes white kids feel bad. Just more nanny state BS from the party of small government.

lolcatnip,

You’re not drunk, she’s just lying. Remember when she was the White House press secretary and lying was literally her job? She hasn’t changed much.

mindbleach,

You’re not confused. They are.

Except insofar as - how the fuck is anyone reasonable still surprised by this? Where have you been?

Nonameuser678,
@Nonameuser678@aussie.zone avatar

Fucking hell the right are really doing a speed run in fascism.

lolcatnip,

It’s really the only way to do fascism once it becomes obvious what you’re doing.

leo_agiad,

This guy fascs.

paddirn,

Pirate Kansas: if you don’y like parts of history, just pretend it didn’t happen.

Astroturfed,

Arkansas is a time machine back to the good ol MURICA. Where you could be openly racist, hate the gays and go days and days without seeing either.

regalia, (edited )

How professional of them to take off their Klan hoods for this announcement.

HellAwaits,

Sell Arkansas to Mexico. We don’t need them.

ramble81,

Would it be possible for the AP board to refuse then to recognize any AP courses and tests from Arkansas?

PetDinosaurs,

Wow. That sounds like a great idea.

Colleges could also start to refuse admissions/not recognize accreditations from these backward places.

That’ll damage the children of the powerful

College is about learning how to think for yourself. That’s why it’s so threatening to these people.

surewhynotlem,

People with power aren’t going to these colleges. Obviously. This is about keeping the poor too stupid to threaten the rich.

PetDinosaurs,

You think that if the big, reasonable state schools and ivy leagues deny entry to people from unreasonable state controlled high schools that won’t have an effect?

surewhynotlem,

Hmm… are we still pretending that rules of admission apply to rich kids?

vlad76,
@vlad76@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

The powerful would simply add money to the equation and would come out on top. This would really harm poor children who actually worked hard on their AP courses.

DLSchichtl,

AP courses are already worthless here. To the point that parents are keeping their kids out of AP Payoff. because it’s just more work with no real payoff.

lolcatnip,

Seems to be like that would mostly just hurt students and play right into the Republicans’ plans.

rektdeckard,
@rektdeckard@lemmy.world avatar

The College Board should award DOUBLE college credit for taking this class to account for the missing high school credit.

Travalanche,
@Travalanche@lemmy.world avatar

I am so scared for my kid’s future in this country. For now, I’m just really thankful that we live in a relatively safe area with mostly intelligent, non-evil leaders. Though even here, our school board elections this year had right-wing candidates with cookie-cutter talking points and websites.

ReallyKinda,

Educating kids who want to understand American history is indoctrination, but getting them used to following arbitrary rules for 8 hours a day is what…

SkyeStarfall,

Not to mention having to stand for the flag and sing the anthem every day.

…it is every day, right? Because honestly to me as an European it seems sufficiently absurd (and kinda gross) that I just have to ask to make sure lmao

Firefly7,
@Firefly7@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

The pledge of allegiance, not the anthem. But yes, it was every day. Although, where I grew up, it was never enforced, and most kids didn’t stand or participate.

IamSparticles,

Pledge, yes. Anthem, no. And legally they can’t force students to participate in the pledge. It’s a violation of their 1st amendment rights. Though I couldn’t say how many students actually know that. Meanwhile there are plenty of teachers and faculty that definitely DON’T know that, and will bully kids who refuse to participate.

lolcatnip,

They can’t punish students for not saying it. But they can use social pressure to essentially force them to say it. It worked on me when I was a kid.

FlyingSquid,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

Yep, my daughter decided she didn’t want to say the pledge anymore in fifth grade because “it’s stupid to say a pledge to a flag.” Can’t say I disagree. Her “teacher” (not an actual teacher despite being a public school, but that’s another story) made her go sit out in the hall for refusing to say the pledge and she got a long email from me telling her all about West Virginia v. Barnette and telling her that if she either forced my daughter to say the pledge or punished her for not saying it again, she’d be hearing from my lawyer.

I got an apology. My daughter, unfortunately, did not, but she never had to say the pledge again. And after that, about half the class sat out.

duffman,

At my school(in the 90s) we were taught the pledge, but didn’t really do it again after that except a few special occasions.

FartsWithAnAccent,
@FartsWithAnAccent@lemmy.world avatar

Arkansas: Still a racist shithole.

IHeartBadCode,
@IHeartBadCode@kbin.social avatar

So anyone wanting to read what the AP course covers, guess what? It’s been up for public review for nearly ten years. You too can literally read about every aspect that the course covers!

So you don’t have to fear “IF” this is evil, evil indoctrination because you can read it for yourself and come to a conclusion. ALL. ON. YOUR. OWN! Shocker! Something, apparently, the governor cannot be bothered with.

sndmn,

You assume they’re able to read.

lolcatnip,

Does being unwilling to read count as a form of illiteracy?

NABDad,

Willfull illiteracy.

sndmn,

Yes although I’d describe that as wilful ignorance.

IHeartBadCode,
@IHeartBadCode@kbin.social avatar

Hopeless idealist I am thinking people bitching about something would want to educate themselves about it.

But you’re right, it’s willful their spite. For way too many people they’ve got to hate something. Even if it’s unfounded.

TheTimeKnife,
@TheTimeKnife@lemmy.world avatar

Notice the crowd that wanted all the confederate statues around is completely silent about an actual history course being attacked by special interest groups. It’s almost like the only common goal is racism.

lennybird,
@lennybird@lemmy.world avatar

Unfortunately, the crowd who most needs to notice resides at the bottom-side of our 6th grade literacy rate.

lolcatnip,

Or they know exactly what going on and they love it because they’re racist motherfuckers.

Bonesince1997,

They’re too stupid to notice

PrinceWith999Enemies,

Never, ever take their arguments as if they’re made in good faith. It’s never about history, or religious freedom, or ensuring fair elections, or “reverse racism,” or states’ rights. It’s never about parental rights, or keeping children safe, or freedom of speech.

It is always just about being able to do what they want, much of which is making sure other people can’t do what they want. It’s about enshrining racism, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, and xenophobia in law.

There are no honest arguments coming from the conservatives at this point. The age of disagreeing over tax policy is over. Bill Buckley and George Will and their actual conservatives are gone. It’s Trumpism now.

It’s always about hate, not history.

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