VOA教育报道2023--College Board Changes AP Black History Class

College Board Changes AP Black History Class

High school students in the United States can earn college credits by taking and passing Advanced Placement (AP) courses. The classes, developed by The College Board, cover many subjects, including English, history, math, and sciences among others.

This week, the non-profit organization released a new set of ideas and skills, called a framework, for its AP African American Studies course. The latest version comes months after the organization was criticized for discussing course requirements with conservative critics.

Changes include more attention to ideas such as the Tulsa Race Massacre¹, Black culture's influence on film and sports, and discrimination in housing, known as redlining. The latest version will be used when the class officially launches at the start of the next school year.

The AP African American History course gained national attention earlier this year. At that time, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, currently a Republican presidential candidate, said he would ban the course in his state because it pushed political issues. Florida released a list of concerns it had with the pilot, an early version of a course.

In February, the College Board released its first official version of the AP course. It did not contain several subjects on the list of Florida's concerns, including Black Lives Matter, slavery reparations and several important Black writers.

The board was then widely criticized for giving in to political pressure. The new changes pay attention to some of that criticism.

Changes in the latest version

The latest version includes several important Black writers that were excluded, and written works about feminism and intersectionality. Intersectionality is the idea that race, gender², and class combine to create different levels of discrimination and privilege in society.

The College Board did not add back every subject that was removed earlier. The Black Lives Matter movement is still not included in the final test for the course. However, it is mentioned along with other examples and listed among subjects that schools could choose from for further discussion.

Nelva Williams is a member of the course's development committee. She has been a teacher for more than 40 years. She also taught a pilot class of AP African American Studies in Houston, Texas.

Williams said, "The updates are based on teacher recommendations, and changes coincide with the latest scholarship and resources used at the collegiate level."

Rashad Shabazz teaches several courses related to race at Arizona State University. He said the course provides students with the basics to understand the field of African-American studies. But it does not contain in-depth theoretical discussions that are more common at the college level.

Next year, the AP course will be available to all schools in the U.S. But it remains³ unclear how many will offer it. Holly⁴ Stepp, a spokesperson for the College Board, said they are pleased with the interest that has been expressed in the course.

Words in This Story

course—n. a plan of study on an exact subject that includes many classes and usually leads to a test

redlining—n. discrimination in housing

reparations–n. something given, usually money, in recognition of loss, suffering, abuse or injury

privilege—n. a special right or better position given or available only to an identified person or group

recommendation—n. suggestion

coincide—v. happen during the same time

1 massacre   

n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀

参考例句：

• There was a terrible massacre of villagers here during the war.在战争中，这里的村民惨遭屠杀。
• If we forget the massacre,the massacre will happen again!忘记了大屠杀，大屠杀就有可能再次发生！

2 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

3 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

4 holly   

n.[植]冬青属灌木

参考例句：

• I recently acquired some wood from a holly tree.最近我从一棵冬青树上弄了些木料。
• People often decorate their houses with holly at Christmas.人们总是在圣诞节时用冬青来装饰房屋。