OPINION: Florida students should refuse to go to school until the state approves a new Advanced Placement course in African American studies.
. Critics said the course gave too much attention to slavery, Japanese American internment during World War II and other “negative” dimensions of the past. One school board member proposed reviewing the curriculum to ensure that it did not “encourage or condone civil disorder, social strife or disregard of the law.”
Ironically, that triggered one of the largest acts of school-based civil disobedience in American history. Teachers called in sick, andin solidarity with them. Even after the county closed two high schools for lack of available teachers, students spent their day off protesting. “We have a right to know history,” one student sign said.
So do the students in Florida, of course. School officials in Colorado relented after the protest, announcing they would not change the AP U.S. history course. And Florida officials will do the same, with regard to AP African American studies — if enough students demand it.And that means all students, not just African Americans. “Every student needs to have access to this information,” a middle school teacher in Florida.
She’s right. Florida officials are trying to bias our students by restricting what our teachers can tell them about history. Now it’s time for the students to make history by boycotting school until the state affirms their right to learn.Jonathan Zimmerman teaches education and history at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of
which was recently published in a revised 20th-anniversary edition by the University of Chicago Press.
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