Slitting Throats And Banning College Courses
On Wednesday, DeSantis “wrapped up a three-day trip to New Hampshire, his first since downsizing his campaign due to financial problems. On the ground, it was clear the challenges he faces here remain significant,” the chief challenge being a Grade B candidate.
DeSantis’ campaign is banking on his capacity to appeal to staunch Republican voters on their core concerns. His record on issues like abortion— DeSantis signed a six-week state ban this year— and school choice, which is universal in Florida, align with many Republican voters’ views. On an array of issues he derides as “wokeism”— including diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and transgender rights— the Florida governor lays down a hard line.
“We’re going to ensure the woke agenda ends up in the dustbin of history,” DeSantis said Sunday.
Throughout his trip to New Hampshire, he appeared bent on demonstrating that no candidate talks tougher. He promised that, under his presidency, Mexican drug cartels would be “shot stone cold dead,” and vowed that when it comes to federal bureaucrats, “we are going to start slitting throats on Day One.”
And then yesterday… this statement from the Advanced Placement Psychology Board: “We are sad to have learned that today the Florida Department of Education has effectively banned AP Psychology in the state by instructing Florida superintendents that teaching foundational content on sexual orientation and gender identity is illegal under state law. The state has said districts are free to teach AP Psychology only if it excludes any mention of these essential topics. The AP course asks students to ‘describe how sex and gender influence socialization and other aspects of development.’ This element of the framework is not new: gender and sexual orientation have been part of AP Psychology since the course launched 30 years ago. As we shared in June, we cannot modify AP Psychology in response to regulations that would censor college-level standards for credit, placement, and career readiness. Our policy remains unchanged. Any course that censors required course content cannot be labeled ‘AP’ or ‘Advanced Placement,’ and the ‘AP Psychology’ designation cannot be utilized on student transcripts. To be clear, any AP Psychology course taught in Florida will violate either Florida law or college requirements. Therefore, we advise Florida districts not to offer AP Psychology until Florida reverses their decision and allows parents and students to choose to take the full course.”
They didn’t mention the virulently anti-freedom crackpot governor of the state, but they did say that “The state’s ban of this content removes choice from parents and students. Coming just days from the start of school, it derails the college readiness and affordability plans of tens of thousands of Florida students currently registered for AP Psychology, one of the most popular AP classes in the state. AP is recognized by thousands of colleges and universities across the United States for admissions, scholarships consideration, college credit, and advanced standing. More than 28,000 Florida students took AP Psychology in the 2022-23 academic year.”
Does DeSantis— and his allies (Hitler didn’t do it alone)— think he can make Florida’s vibrant LGBTQ community disappear? DeSantis’ handpicked state Department of Education informed the College Board that its AP Psychology class is in violation of the Don’t Say Gay law. Over 28,000 Florida students took the AP Psychology course last year.
When they saw this coming down the road, the American Psychological Association, the nation's largest scientific and professional organization of psychologist, released their own statement: “Understanding human sexuality is fundamental to psychology, and an advanced placement course that excludes the decades of science studying sexual orientation and gender identity would deprive students of knowledge they will need to succeed in their studies, in high school and beyond. We applaud the College Board for standing up to the state of Florida and its unconscionable demand to censor an educational curriculum and test that were designed by college faculty and experienced AP teachers who ensure that the course and exam reflect the state of the science and college-level expectations.”
Thursday the Tampa Bay Times reported that Pinellas County Superintendent Kevin Hendrick “said that based on the state’s action Pinellas will offer the Cambridge AICE version, which has been approved, instead of the AP course. He said the content is similar, and teachers will receive training on any differences in pacing and testing. Hendrick said he did not want to put students at risk of losing credits they are trying to earn, or teachers at risk of violating any laws relating to teaching unauthorized content. Teachers also can earn a bonus for every student who passes an AP or AICE course and the related exam… Some school districts had been looking at options to keep the AP psychology course alive. In Pasco, parents were asked to fill out a form consenting to the materials that have proven controversial. Others floated the idea of teaching the course without the material about gender, and allowing students to study those lessons on their own. It is not clear yet whether those options will be acceptable to either the state or the College Board.”
DeSantis’ Department of Education accused the College Board of “playing games with Florida students” one week before school starts. The NY Times reported that “The College Board, a powerful nonprofit, has been waging war with the administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, since earlier this year when his administration rejected the College Board’s new African American studies course. The curriculum included topics such as ‘queer studies,’ reparations and the Black Lives Matter movement, and the administration objected, citing a state law limiting how racism and other aspects of history are taught in public schools. The battle exposed the College Board’s negotiations with the DeSantis administration, and its changes to the curriculum. But the fight over A.P. Psychology moves the battlefield from a new course that was taking feedback and being piloted, to long-established academic territory.”
AP Psychology has been around for three decades, and it has included a section on gender and sexual orientation as part of the framework since the course’s inception, the College Board said. The section comes as part of a unit on developmental psychology, spanning childhood and adolescence to older adulthood, with themes on “moral development” as well as on gender and sexual orientation.
… “An advanced placement course that ignores the decades of science studying sexual orientation and gender identity would deprive students of knowledge they will need to succeed in their studies, in high school and beyond,” the group’s chief executive, Arthur Evans Jr., said in a statement Thursday.
Florida's brain drain is a real thing, entirely created by DeSantis and his crowd. It's not a good thing for the future of the state-- but since DeSantis' policies have been destroying property values anyway... what the hey, right? I wonder if Meatball is counting on his voters’ not having kids going to college. It’s possible that’s why he’s ginning this battle up. And after all, it’s only 30,000 high school seniors. Do they vote? Probably not for him anyway.
