When I was 6 years old, I was involved in some sort of sibling squabble and I punched my 11-year-old sister in the arm. She, of course, ran to our mother and tattle-told on me. When Mama asked me to explain why I had socked my sister, my whining reply was the tried and true, "Be-CAUSE!"
Just before the start of the school year, the Georgia State School Superintendent, Richard Woods, announced that he is withholding state funding for Advanced Placement (AP) African American studies. The College Board developed this class, and it was successfully taught in Georgia during a pilot program.
AP classes give college credit to students and make their prospects for scholarships and placement in higher-ranking colleges and universities more competitive.
When Superintendent Woods was asked to explain his unprecedented decision (he hasn't withheld funding for any other AP classes), he responded with a grownup version of my 6-year-old "Be-CAUSE" – you know, that educator-reduced-to-politician's slightly more verbose and sad attempt at fake-scholarly language. He said, “When I reviewed the AP course, I had concerns about the state endorsing the totality of the course.”
Um...r-r-right, Mr. Woods, you have concerns. What concerns? What part of the totality?
This story caught fire and moved quickly. The alarm awoke Governor Brian Kemp who sent Mr.Woods a letter with ten questions asking him how he had arrived at the decision. I have a feeling that the governor was hoping that the answers from Mr. Woods would shed more light and tamp down the growing disquiet among the citizenry.
But Mr. Woods' answers were a dodging rigamarole of gobbledeeguk that offered not even a smidgen of content as to what he is "concerned" about.
But weeell-doggies, a lot of students have their own well-defined concerns, though, including Nate Whipple, a Cobb County senior at Lassiter High School who spoke about the issue at the Georgia Capitol. The very eloquent young Mr. Whipple is a white student, by the way. That's worth mentioning because when the governor signed the Parents' Bill of Rights back in 2022, Mr. Kemp said he was concerned about "divisive" subject matter taught in schools regarding race. There's a photo of the governor signing good ol’ House Bill 1178 at The Forsyth County Arts & Learning Center. One can't help but notice the thirteen people visible behind the governor in that picture. There’s not a face of color in the bunch. Nope, turn away, y'all, nothing divisive going on here.
White students are joining their African American friends in pushing back on the superintendent's refusal to fund this AP class. Solidarity is the opposite of divisiveness.
This sudden announcement from the state school superintendent should indeed be of concern to those of us in Newton County. It is important to note that locally, this isn't a "minority issue." After all, as we learned in the 2020 census, the African American population in our beloved county holds a plurality.
Surprise!
There's been a whole lot of, now-wait-a-minutes and it-isn't-bad-as-all-of-thats from the state. Mr. Woods suggested a sort of rubber stamping of "AP" on an existing African American class with local district funding. But that goofs up the rigorous and well-designed AP testing. It is, dare I say, an uneducated solution.
And now that so much attention has been brought to that unfunded African American AP class, more students want an opportunity to have it offered in their schools.
As the essayist Sue Kessler says, "When you bury something, it grows."
One more thing then I'll go away. AP European History is funded by the state.
Obviously, European History reigns supreme.
Supreme is the root word of supremacy.
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ADDENDUM:
It’s late at night on Wednesday, July 31, 2024. I finished the above this afternoon and put it to bed by sending it to the editor. Then, just a few minutes ago, I read the news. Today, eight days after his initial announcement, Superintendent Richard Woods posted a press release on the Georgia Department of Education website (gadoe.org).
He writes:
“To all, I wish to begin by apologizing for how I failed to effectively communicate my rationale for not recommending this specific course for approval to the State Board of Education.” He goes on to say. “[T]his course had received much controversy over the pilot year concerning some content...”
After reading many articles and primary sources over the last several days, I have not seen or heard any mention of such controversies over the pilot program. And of course, Mr.Woods made no mention of any controversies when he answered the governor’s ten questions. He then explains, “After reviewing the content, it was clear that parts of the coursework did violate the law. As with most states with laws like Georgia on this issue that have raised concerns…” [See Mama, other states are doing it.] “...the most glaring violation is on the topic of intersectionality.”
And there you have it. The topic of intersectionality. Far be it for us Georgians to accept the idea that any marginalized people have ever lived in a Venn diagram of racism, sexism, and classism all at the same time.
That would be a violation of the law.
