"A shameful and bigoted political stunt"

August 15, 2023 10:35 AM

Arkansas rejects AP African American Studies, cites Arkansas law on "prohibited topics" (Judd Legum's Popular Information)

Arkansas Warns School Districts Not to Offer A.P. African American Studies (NYT)
College Board and others push back (Arkansas Times)
Education Secretary defends decision (Arkansas Advocate)

posted by box (38 comments total)

(It might be worth pointing out that Little Rock's Central High School, one of the schools in the state that taught this class last year, is also featured as part of the curriculum.

It might also be worth pointing out that Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders is herself a Central High School alumna.)
posted by box at 10:41 AM on August 15, 2023 [17 favorites]

checks map of CSA . . . yup. (Eisenhower sending the 101st is a bit before my time...)
posted by Heywood Mogroot III at 10:42 AM on August 15, 2023 [2 favorites]

First Florida tries their stunt with AP courses and now Arkansas. The College Board needs to nip this in the bud and tell states that if they start disqualifying advanced courses, they’re going to pull all recognition of AP course credit from those states.
posted by azpenguin at 10:53 AM on August 15, 2023 [59 favorites]

Remove all federal funding from southern states.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 10:57 AM on August 15, 2023 [2 favorites]

Remove all federal funding from southern states.

Wealthy white kids attend private segregation academies, just like they have since the 1960s (or whenever integration was actually enforced in a given state). Republicans hate public schools. Taking funding from public schools is exactly what they want and will only hurt people they dislike.
posted by hydropsyche at 11:00 AM on August 15, 2023 [100 favorites]

Remove all federal funding from southern states.

That's a terrible idea. "All federal funding" would include funding for a bazillion things aside from this (travesty of a) situation, up to and including maintenance of infrastructure transporting facilitating travel and transfer of all sorts of essential goods.
posted by cupcakeninja at 11:12 AM on August 15, 2023 [5 favorites]

College Board, on some level, bought this problem for themselves when they bowed to Oklahoma in 2015 over the AP US History standards. They finally walked that back, but not before making total asses of themselves in the process.

Groups targets by culture war bullshit are NEVER going to win by addressing the bullshit as if it is at all in good faith. College Board is receiving instruction now, but will they learn? I doubt it. So far, this round has targeted relatively small offerings. I expect College Board to do nothing about this as long as states like Florida and Arkansas keep on signing up in huge numbers for the boilerplate AP classes like US History, Language, and Literature.
posted by absalom at 11:12 AM on August 15, 2023 [11 favorites]

(It might be worth pointing out that Little Rock's Central High School, one of the schools in the state that taught this class last year, is also featured as part of the curriculum.

I don't know who first said it, but at least a portion of the resistance to teaching the race issues of the 1960s is not wanting Brynleigh to recognize Meema yelling at Ruby Bridges.
posted by Etrigan at 11:41 AM on August 15, 2023 [32 favorites]

This is what happens when you stop taking antibiotics reconstruction too soon.
posted by tigrrrlily at 11:50 AM on August 15, 2023 [38 favorites]

I'm sorry. Knee-jerk reaction.

I mostly meant the military bases, which are federal charities for the right wing (and yep I'm a veteran), and the fact that the new Green Energy carbon sinks are going into states that actively and vocally oppose green policies. I didn't consider that of course the poor, elderly, and minorities would of course suffer first.

But I'm also tired of hearing about "Gentlemen North of Richmond" and secession. So like I said, poorly thought out knee-jerk reaction. Thank you for the correction.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 12:08 PM on August 15, 2023 [19 favorites]

The College Board needs to nip this in the bud and tell states that if they start disqualifying advanced courses, they’re going to pull all recognition of AP course credit from those states.

That has “monopolistic practices” written all over it. Something which the offending states’ AGs would probably love to hit TCB with.

That, or, the offending states would just collectively shrug and tell The College Board to not let the door hit them in the ass on their way out, and let the chips fall as they may. It’s not like these states genuinely give a shit about kids’ educations, anyway.
posted by Thorzdad at 1:43 PM on August 15, 2023 [5 favorites]

So like I said, poorly thought out knee-jerk reaction. Thank you for the correction.

I know you apologized, but I really want you - and anyone else who might be tempted to make similar comments in the future - that living in red states are many, many people who are opposed to these policies, and who suffer more than you do under these policies. It's a privilege to heap scorn on us from a distance.

MetaFilter has gotten better about this, but it was not long ago that people here would freely put on a southern or midwestern accent as shorthand for being stupid, would talk about how we deserve what we get, and things like that. It's taken a lot of pushback to get this to start to change and it is still rather fresh because it has not entirely gone away. I get the burnout, I do, but we do not want to sink into the us-vs-them, coast-vs-interior type of thinking. Like, this is a division that Republicans want; they want us to think that you hate us, you know? Don't help them.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 1:59 PM on August 15, 2023 [25 favorites]

Mod note: One comment and its reply deleted. Be considerate and respectful, and let's avoid turning the conversation into a one on one discussion, please.
posted by loup (staff) at 2:03 PM on August 15, 2023

I really, really, really, hate to be all Goodwin, but JFC this scares the shit out of me. Book bannings, shutting down libraries, forcing schools to teach propaganda instead of history, that sounds like an actual path to some form of right wing authoritarianism.

I'm genuinely shocked and horrified when I'm so bluntly reminded that around 50% of my fellow Americans hate education, are distrustful of books at best and hostile at worst, and generally oppose liberty and freedom of thought.

We know what's the matter with them, but what do we DO about it?
posted by sotonohito at 2:13 PM on August 15, 2023 [10 favorites]

Remove all federal funding from southern states.

Meh. If you REALLY want to get under their skin, just pronounce it like it's spelled.

Kansas.

ar-Kansas.
posted by mikelieman at 2:25 PM on August 15, 2023 [7 favorites]

(It's true, we hate that.)
posted by box at 2:37 PM on August 15, 2023 [8 favorites]

There were a couple crucial moments where rigorous scholarship and endless debate were, out of frustration, replaced by mostly empty academic slogans like "dismantle whiteness". To whites not steeped in collegiate groupthink, "dismantle whiteness" sounds really, really scary.

It makes me think of Wieseltier: "Unless a rupture of identity is accomplished, there will be justice, but there will not be peace". And it makes me sad that the strident countercultural anti-racism that was steeped in the material world (the kind that led to Civil Rights legisilation) could be inverted into the pop-lite-nihilism-commercialism of today.

Which is why there is this ugly backlash. Sometimes if it feels good, it isn't.
posted by matjus at 3:21 PM on August 15, 2023

I spen a lot of time in the Ozarks as a kid, some probably in Arkansas. Any my college roomate grew up there, and inherited his parent's farmhouse. It has some amazingly great spaces, very different than the NW where I live. And many great towns...

But the people...

Last time I was driving through there, there was this great section of trees and wild mountains, it was really nice to look at. And then the motorcycle guy came up on me, with like a death's head on a long chain swinging from his right handlebar...

WTF?

And Little Rock seemed pretty depressing when I hoteled there.
This is what happens when the current conservatives control everything.

(Pea Ridge NMP deservise a visit though)
posted by Windopaene at 3:49 PM on August 15, 2023 [2 favorites]

Which is why there is this ugly backlash. Sometimes if it feels good, it isn't.

Not even remotely true. It is a glaring pattern that every push for black liberation in this country has been met with white backlash. This has been true since the colonial period. This is what white America does every time black America attempts to make progress.

Attempting to blame this on the tone of the criticism is some "Letter from the Birmingham Jail" white moderate bullshit. MLK called it out then, its no different now.
posted by anansi at 5:15 PM on August 15, 2023 [27 favorites]

matjus Yeah, how about you NOT blame the actions of evil racist scumbags on people fighting racism?
posted by sotonohito at 6:00 PM on August 15, 2023 [5 favorites]

That has “monopolistic practices” written all over it. Something which the offending states’ AGs would probably love to hit TCB with.

Amusing to think what the remedy would be for removal of service: Because you have a monopoly on university advance credit courses (not even true) we demand you continue to operate your monopoly in our jurisdiction.
posted by Mitheral at 6:07 PM on August 15, 2023 [3 favorites]

One more front in the war on education. I despair of this country.
posted by theora55 at 8:20 PM on August 15, 2023 [1 favorite]

You know what needs tp happen? Have some high profile black athletes publicly change their minds about being recruited to Florida, Arkansas, etc., citing this shit.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 8:23 PM on August 15, 2023 [8 favorites]

To be clear, I am saying that losing their top sports rankings are the only thing these people will pay attention to.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 8:24 PM on August 15, 2023 [4 favorites]

To be clear, I am saying that losing their top sports rankings are the only thing these people will pay attention to.

It won't change their minds, though. They don't respect Black athletes; they see them as something they're entitled to, and if you tell them no, they'll just get mad. Think about how hard conservatives came down on Simone Biles for withdrawing for the Olympics - for completely non-political reasons, but they felt entitled to her performance while having no respect whatsoever for her person. And think about Kaepernick.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 8:34 PM on August 15, 2023 [10 favorites]

I dated someone who lived in NW Arkansas. They lived in a fairly liberal college town Fayetteville, and there is an LGBTQ friendly town, Eureka Springs that isn't too far. When I visited they had a store selling hemp-derived cannabinoids, and had recently had a trans march. Now I'm dating someone in North Dakota. A enby friend is visiting their partner in South Dakota. A gay friend told me about a great clothing optional rave they went to in West Virginia. I've been to gay bars and counter protests in Nashville.

There are only purple states in the United States, folks, no actual red or blue ones. So if you want to know how to help folks in Arkansas, you should maybe talk to folks from there, or rather, listen.
posted by Chrysopoeia at 12:31 AM on August 16, 2023 [13 favorites]

The Little Rock School District has announced that it will still offer the AP African American Studies course.

While it won't count for statewide credit, it will be listed on transcripts as an AP course, and students can take the AP exam at the end of the year. State senator Clarke Tucker (D-Little Rock), another Central High alum, has committed to raising the money to pay for every LRCHS student who wants to take the exam.

The first day of school was Monday, August 14, and the announcement from the state was an email on Saturday, August 12. I wonder if there's any room for late registrations.
posted by box at 4:50 AM on August 16, 2023 [12 favorites]

There are only purple states in the United States, folks, no actual red or blue ones.

More accurately, there are blue cities surrounded by red rural areas, and whether a state is "red" or "blue" depends on whether there are more people in the blue cities than the red rural areas.
posted by mightygodking at 7:39 AM on August 16, 2023 [5 favorites]

The Ivys and other highly selective schools should make getting a 5 on the AP African American Studies exam a requirement for admission.
posted by Reverend John at 7:41 AM on August 16, 2023 [2 favorites]

Schools with huge alumni endowments are motivated to maintain the status quo, if not drift slowly more and more conservative, to continue to maintain if not increase those endowments, unfortunately. Vast sums of capital for those endowments only comes from equally vast exploitation of the middle and lower class.
posted by seanmpuckett at 7:46 AM on August 16, 2023 [1 favorite]

I want to hate on the College Board before hating on citizens or mefites. (I always have room for Huckabee comments but I want locals to do that.) Maybe there are some Mefites who are high up in The College Board who can correct me but it looks like they put revenue first.
posted by drowsy at 9:20 AM on August 16, 2023

College Board is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization, for whatever that is worth. It also has over a billion dollars in yearly revenue and it costs about $100 per test.
posted by absalom at 4:43 PM on August 16, 2023 [2 favorites]

Message Regarding AP African American Studies from the Little Rock School District, August 16, 2023
posted by box at 5:43 AM on August 17, 2023

So no admission of wrongdoing by the people who decided to end the program, not even a little "whoopsie, maybe we shouldn't have gone full Klansman just because Governor asshole told us to" just a bland corp-speak "lulz it's DE&I is important and we never thought otherwise" sort of thing?

No heads rolling? No resignation on the part of the bigoted assholes who thought submitting to a nakedly white supremacist state government was a good idea?

Fuck 'em.
posted by sotonohito at 7:40 AM on August 17, 2023

Nobody at the LRSD or Central High ever said they were ending the program.

The LRSD (full disclosure, I know more than a few people that work in it, including several at Central) is not the one to blame.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders (please let’s not make SHS a thing), on the other hand, deserves all the ire you can throw at her and then some.
posted by box at 5:58 PM on August 17, 2023 [5 favorites]

One of the top executives at the College Board was forced to resign last year after it was revealed that he, "play[ed] a central role in advancing legislation to ‘limit what teachers can say regarding race, history, and politics in Indiana classrooms.’”
posted by ob1quixote at 6:42 PM on August 17, 2023 [5 favorites]

The book banning/ Moms for Liberty(sic), effort is nationwide and appears to be funded and directed. It's paired with so-called 'school choice' initiatives. Home-schooling is very popular, esp. among the Right, Religious Extremists, and others. In Maine, there were a number of initiatives to vote against school budgets. This is a coordinated and funded attack on public education - hey, it worked to kill most funding for higher education, so now do local public education, because paying property taxes makes us sad.

We have to deal with extreme Capitalism and the funneling of wealth to the Very Wealthy. It's just ruining the US.
posted by theora55 at 9:21 AM on August 20, 2023

We have to organize and start taking back school boards, library boards, and local government nationwide. They're organized, they're winning, and the direction they're going is scary.

We're disorganized and we're losing.

The national Democratic party would be the theoretical place to be doing, funding, and supporting the organizing but they aren't so someone else has to step in and organize the pushback against the authoritarians, white supremacists, and Christians.
posted by sotonohito at 1:09 PM on August 20, 2023 [1 favorite]