But she said she was also disappointed because she thought the course would tap into young students’ eagerness to learn “way of thinking about issues like police brutality, mass incarceration and persistent inequality”.
Instead, she said, “the same circumstances that raised the need for courses also created a backlash against content that people didn’t like.”
Professor David Bright A professor of American history at Yale University said Wednesday that at the request of the College Board, he has written an endorsement for a new course he believes will provide not only history but also black poetry, art and black origins. Blues, jazz and hip-hop. But he withdrew his endorsement on Wednesday after learning that some parts had been cut.
“I’m withdrawing it because I want to know when and how they made these decisions to excise these people, because it’s also an attack on their academic freedom,” said Dr. Bright said.
The free speech group PEN America has expressed similar concerns. While the College Board says the changes are not political, the board “runs the risk of sending the message that political threats to teaching certain types of content can be successfully suppressed,” said Jeremy C. Young, senior manager of free expression and . Education at PEN America.
The changes were also condemned by the National Parents Union and the CFT, the California affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers, which represents educators from childhood through higher education.
Gates, who has a Ph.D. as a course advisor, said he “regrets the College Board’s policy not to require the use of secondary sources in its courses”. He teaches Harvard’s introductory African American studies course, “for courses like this, of course, academic subjects like ‘intersectionality’ and critical race theory, the 1619 Project, slavery reparations, black homophobia, and anti-Semitism are Fair,” he said in an email. The 1619 Project is an initiative of The New York Times.