(TheRedWire.com) – Arkansas became the latest state to remove altogether the advanced Placement (AP) African American course from schools. The decision was announced right before the 2023-2024 academic year started. While the class might remain available, no credits would be given for this course that would count toward the student’s graduation.
The College Board, responsible for the AP programs, pointed out that they were surprised by this decision about the course not being counted for credit or weighted like other AP courses in the state were.
Arkansas is not the first state to move against this particular AP course, which was previously nixed from schools in Florida. Once, the College Board had fought against this decision. Still, following a lengthy fight, the Board agreed to this and apologized for alterations made following the initial complaints. The decision in Florida had also been slammed by many when it was first announced.
Many advocacy groups have spoken up against Arkansas’s decision to ban the AP course.
Derrick Johnson, the NAACP President, and CEO, argued that today was another dark day for America as an “extremist state government” was attempting to wage war against Black Americans and to block High School students from having the opportunity to start gathering credit for their college degree early> He proceeded to argue that the attacks on this course were utterly “undemocratic” and that politicians seemed to be more interested in their political agendas than on serving the nation’s youth.
Copyright 2023, TheRedWire.com
