College Board, whom many students know for their most dreadful moments such as SAT’s and AP exams, is receiving a large amount of backlash right now. The organization recently pulled the plug on their AP African American Studies Course, which received harsh backlash from and was even banned by Florida Governor, Ron Desantis. In response to his criticisms, the College Board has reevaluated their course, and is receiving some serious heat from the public, sitting at #15 on Twitter’s trending tab as of 2/2/2023. 

The course is an exploration of African American history, literature, music, philosophy, economics, and art. Desantis made his grievances with the course clear, and in late January stated that he “wants education and not indoctrination”, claiming that the course was “woke” and essentially the pushing of an agenda. 

Since Desantis’ push back, the College Board has already begun restructuring the course, removing units on Intersectionality and Activism, Black Queer Studies, Movements for Black Lives, Black feminist Literary Thought, The Reparations Movement, and Black Study & Struggle in the 21st century thus far. 

Their response and giving into the demands of the Florida Governor have led to much outrage, and Twitter users are questioning whether they are supporting a racist agenda pushed for by Desantis. Teachers with a background in African American studies have also created their own response, taking a stance that the course is objective and enlightening. Their letter defending the course can be read here: https://medium.com/@afamprofshighered/open-letter-in-defense-of-ap-african-american-studies-e61768fb8f9c

The College Board is still a massive organization with a serious amount of power in the field of education. With reconsideration of the SAT after the COVID-19 pandemic, and now a lot of backlash from the public, it will be interesting to see what the future holds for them.