Thread by @KevinMKruse

Any discussion of Florida's effort to replace the original AP standards for African American history with the state's own version should directly compare and contrast the two.

Here's the AP:

Here's Florida: https://t.co/Ygf0RWsNBYapcentral.collegeboard.org/media/pdf/ap-a…
fldoe.org/core/fileparse…

One thing is readily apparent from even a quick comparison between the two standards -- the claims that Florida's standards are "robust" quickly fall apart when you line them up next to the much more substantial program the AP has put together with specific sources and plans.

A lot of attention has been given to the slavery section -- which in Florida is strongly focused on discussing abolitionism while the AP standards are much more direct on the lived experiences for the enslaved -- but for me the 20th century material is more of an issue.

As I noted here, some of the modern material is fine, but there's a definite political bias at work in Florida.

https://twitter.com/KevinMKruse/status/1682836347168387074

While the AP standards address the breadth of AfAm political life -- probing anticolonialism, cultural nationalism and Black Power in appropriate depth -- the Florida ones seem intent on shifting attention to Republican politicians and conservative intellectuals.

I note a few instances in my newsletter, but here's another example:

Malcolm X is mentioned once in the Florida standards.

But Republican Senator Everett Dirksen is name checked twice.

Again, this is a course on African American History.

The political bias is really clear here, which is why it's not surprising that only two members of the standards committee -- neither historians, both partisan activists in Republican circles -- have come forward to defend them.

nbcnews.com/news/us-news/f…

So yes, let's all read the Florida standards in full, but let's also read the original AP standards they objected to and ask why they made the changes they did?

One set of standards is pushing a political agenda here, but it's not the AP.