“We want education, not indoctrination,” DeSantis said Monday at a Jacksonville school. He said the AP class is using Black history to “shoehorn in queer theory.”
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis continues making national headlines. His administration drew the ire of many last week after it pulled the plug on a proposed advanced placement African American studies course.
Speaking at a Jacksonville charter school Monday, DeSantis answered questions for the first time about why the course was canceled.
“In Florida our education standards do not prevent, but require teaching Black history … that’s part of our core curriculum. This (AP African American studies) was a separate course for advanced placement credit.” DeSantis said at Duval Charter School at Baymeadows during a news conference on teacher salaries.
He called the proposed course “indoctrination, not education.”
The state Department of Education on Friday released a statement about its decision to cancel the course which stated in part, “as presented, the content of this course is inexplicably contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational value.” The department also citied the inclusion of political literature from many Black scholars, feminists, writers and activists. Other topics in the proposed course at odds with the department include reparations and intersectionality, according to FDOE.
“This course, what are one of the lessons about? Queer theory,” DeSantis said. “Who would say that an important part of Black history is queer theory? That is somebody pushing an agenda on our kids.”
The governor mentioned other parts of the proposed course that deals with intersectionality and abolishing prisons. “That’s a pollical agenda,” he said. “That’s the wrong side of the line for Florida standards. When you try to use Black history to shoehorn in queer therory, you are clearly trying to use that for pollical purposes.
“I also think it’s not fair that somehow abolishing prisons is somehow linked to Black experience, that’s what Black people want” DeSantis said. “I don’t think that’s true at all. I think they want law and order just like anybody else wants law and order. That’s ideology being used under the guise of history.”