The suddenly famous College Board seems on the threshold of experiencing — if not actually learning — a lesson as old as the first exchange of shekels for products or services:
The customer is always right. Just ask Adam Smith.
Our customer in this instructional episode is Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who seems on the brink of canceling the state’s association with the College Board, all because the organization attempted to subvert the Sunshine State’s advanced-placement students with cases of New Woke.
But wait. There’s more. Not only was the College Board ready to ship New Woke to Florida (which had declared the stuff unpalatable), its mouthpieces have begun loudly complaining that its customer rejected the flavor. The nerve!
The spat began over the African-American Advanced Placement Studies program that’s in pilot-program mode in several dozen high schools nationwide (except, notably, Florida). Citing Florida’s nascent Parental Rights in Education and Stop WOKE acts, the DeSantis administration hit the brakes on the course’s rollout.
This is significant for a number of reasons, not least among them this: Florida is the College Board’s third largest customer, trailing only California and Texas. So, of course, attempting to sweeten the atmosphere, the College Board brought orange blossoms to the negotiating table.
Belay that. The College Board did the exact opposite. Drawing on lessons advocated by absolutely zero Dale Carnegie courses, the organization published a letter over the weekend slamming Florida’s rejection of its Black Studies course, saying the state’s complaints were “absent of substance.”
The College Board scolded its contacts at the Florida Department of Education, who triggered the rejection, thusly:
“In the discussion, they did not offer feedback but instead asked vague, uninformed questions like, ‘What does the word “intersectionality” mean?’ and ‘Does the course promote Black Panther thinking?’ ”
This is not the gotcha the College Board seems to think it is. You don’t have to have attended law school to know that such “vague, uninformed questions” were deposition inquiries posed by FDOE attorneys. Florida officials simply attempted to create a record of what the College Board’s official positions on these, and no doubt other, divisive terms.
At a media briefing Monday, DeSantis — who appears to have no problems with definitions — reiterated his problems with the AAAPS as presented: “The College Board was the one that in a Black Studies course put queer theory in. Not us! They did that. They were the ones who put in Intersectionality. They put in other types of neo-Marxism into the proposed syllabus.”
Now, it is not in the nature of the governor and possible future presidential candidate to back down from a fight, especially one that puts him in such a splendid political light (the anticipated cringing on the left notwithstanding). DeSantis was fixed on his pole star during an interview with Fox News’ Dan Bongino:
“So our Department of Education looked at that and said, ‘In Florida, we do education, not indoctrination.’ And so that runs afoul of our standards. Many people agree with that in other states. We were the only ones who had the backbone to stand up and do it, because they call you names and demagogue you when you do it.”
Now that the College Board has done exactly that — the FDOE “exploited [our] courtesy for their political agenda” — DeSantis cranked up the heat. Maybe it’s time the Legislature reevaluated Florida’s association with and reliance upon all the College Board’s offerings. Who elected them, anyway?
The Washington Post notes a possible stumbling block.
As a practical matter, it is unclear whether or how AP could be eliminated in Florida. The program, with more than three dozen courses in math, science, social sciences, humanities, languages and other topics, is deeply entrenched in the state and nationwide.
More than 199,000 Florida students enrolled in AP classes in 2020-21. About 366,000 AP tests were given in Florida in 2021, more than in any other state except Texas (527,000) and California (683,000).
Yeah, well, remember what they said about the impossible hurdles that had to be cleared to end the Walt Disney Co.’s local government entity. How’d that work out?
A true test of DeSantis’ position: Does it irritate the right people? The response from American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten indicates this one deserves all the college credits.
“Threatening to ban all AP courses because the governor is in a political spat with the College Board is the behavior of a bully, not a statesman.”
Bull’s-eye.
Here and there, Florida parents have been quoted lamenting this turn of events, as though, without the College Board and Advanced Placement courses and exams, students will be denied opportunities to score college credit on the cheap.
This is like saying because, for three generations, your family always bought Chevys, there are no other cars. DeSantis is open to widening the marketplace.
DeSantis said he supports opportunities for high school students to earn college credit. “Does it have to be done by the College Board?” he asked. “Or can we utilize some of these other providers who I think have a really, really strong track record?” He added: “It’s not clear to me that this particular operator” — referring to the College Board — “is the one that’s going to need to be used in the future.”
Perhaps those other actors, such as International Baccalaureate and Cambridge Assessment programs (already with a presence in Florida), could step up, DeSantis says. IB and Cambridge may be small by comparison, but remember what the sage Adam Smith said about the primacy of consumer demand.
Florida’s Legislature already is considering its options. And you can bet other red state lawmakers are paying attention. Maybe College Board President Jeremy Singer should have a chat with Disney counterpart Bob Iger about what happens when you poke DeSantis in the eye.
