Views Expressed Disclaimer: The views and opinions of the respondents do not necessarily reflect the views of the writer, the school in which these responses were from, and the news organization.
Just this year, a proposed AP African American Studies course was rejected for including topics such as Movement of Black Lives and Black feminism, and AP Psychology was banned across the state of Florida for violating state law on teaching gender and sexual orientation. These came to fruition with the passage of legislation such as the "Stop Woke Act" and "Don't Say Gay" laws. Following these apparently controversial actions, we have decided to ask both students and teachers of Centennial about their thoughts, concerns, and insights--which we received generously. Since we also focus on the AICE Program, we also addressed the differences between AICE and AP and the extent to which these decisions affect our learners, especially after College Board's official statement saying they are surprised that IB and AICE/Cambridge—after agreeing to Florida’s demand that they exclude all references to gender and sexual orientation—expect universities to accept their courses and exams for college credit.
When asked if AICE censors certain aspects of its coursework to avoid legal consequences in comparison to AP, Ms. Woessner, a social studies teacher who's been in AICE for some time, believes that it does not. She elaborates further, saying "Right now in AICE Psychology, they’re researching studies on gender preferences for toys, and we’re gonna be having discussions on gender identity and whether [it] is biological or not. I really don’t think it’s censored; it’s [a part] of the curriculum and it’s what I teach." She does, however, disagree with the decisions but thinks "it will not [affect] the students a whole lot because we still have AICE, we have an alternative, students are still getting college credit." Finally, she expresses her opinion: "I honestly think this choice makes no sense. If you’re already teaching stuff like this in other subjects, what exactly are you banning?"
Alouna Alincy, an 11th grader, says that she does not agree with these decisions because she feels like "it hinders a lot of the things you're able to learn about how the mind works and how [it] affects their society
and the intersectionality that comes [with that]." She then shares an experience- "I found that really cool when I took normal psychology, I just feel like a lot of that will not be able to be studied in depth without having AP Psychology." An 11th grader who wishes to remain anonymous holds a similar conviction. She believes that these decisions "would keep students from learning about things that they'd be interested in and by making it illegal, then it prohibits students from learning topics that have been taught in school for a long time."
The anonymous 11th grader also said yes regarding whether these decisions hinder her potential to gain an understanding of these "offensive'' areas, especially in preparation for higher education. "Yes, it definitely does [hinder my potential] because the courses you take in high school are important because if you want to take a career in example, psychology, then colleges would see that you’ve taken these courses, but they won’t be able to if they’re not allowed to." Meanwhile, Alouna sheds light on an important situation, saying that "the normal version [of psychology] isn't really taken as seriously as AP Psychology so maybe the learning isn’t as structured. [Therefore], they will miss out on a lot of things that they will get from more structured learning. Also, they’re no longer able to fill certain prerequisites that they would’ve been able to if they pass[ed] the AP Psychology exam."
The question of whether this affects them personally was also brought up, and to answer, an anonymous respondent said "Yes, it affects me personally because if this type of topic isn’t taught in school, then people wouldn’t be able to learn, for example, AP African American [Studies] and I believe that if history is taught, then every history should be taught [in depth]." Meanwhile, both Shaina Abraham, a 12th grader, and Alouna are not personally affected by these decisions, but they know people who were either interested in the class or wanted to pursue psychology after high school. "I think it is a detriment [for] students who would’ve genuinely learned many things from that class because it could’ve broadened the mind of the students and the lessons learned would’ve actually stuck to the students," Shaina says.
In addition, Alouna feels "it was unnecessary to ban AP Psychology because as high school students, [we] have the ability to not be swayed- their personal beliefs not entirely swayed- by what they're learning." From what she learned from normal psychology, even though part of our frontal lobe doesn’t fully mature until we’re 25, we still can make decisions like whether or not we would like to learn about these subjects. She also has something to say to parents: "Your fear should not hinder your child’s learning and you should be able to have trust in the system. Not in the College Board, but at least in those teachers, that they will teach [their] students in the way they're supposed to."
This brings us back to Ms. Woessner, who was also asked if the state makes her feel that they trust her verdict and professionalism when making choices for the students. In response, she says "No, I think they don’t. I’m scared something’s gonna come up, you know, not just with the content I teach, but with the club I also sponsor, GSA (Gay-Straight Alliance). I’m afraid it’s gonna come back to me in one way or another. I’m nervous about it, nervous about these decisions that they’re making. They didn’t ask us educators about it, the teachers and faculty, they didn’t consider our opinion, and it’s affecting the students we teach, so no I don’t feel comfortable. She was also asked if her professional freedom is compromised with these legislations and if she fears facing legal consequences for potentially discussing gender and sexual orientation, to which she responded with "Yes, we have an ultra-conservative government pushing an agenda, and it’s bound to affect the way I teach. But, I mean, I try to stay neutral for most things, and I present the content the way it is. I’m not really worried about facing legal repercussions. Yes, sometimes I get nervous about it, usually because of the parents. The parents are the ones yelling the loudest. So, it really comes down to how they are."
Furthermore, all respondents were asked to provide additional insight or an alternative solution. A teacher says "I just think that the people who are making these decisions should sit in a classroom. They should be placed in an AP Psychology classroom to see what really goes on. I believe it comes from a place of ignorance. Because these people from the district are making decisions that affect the classroom, and they aren’t in that environment.' On the other hand, a student believes that if anything, they should include classes that people want to take and they should be allowed to because it is voluntary. Another student agrees, saying that if it is really about "parental rights," then it would be as simple as having parents sign a consent form for students to take these classes, instead of taking them out as a whole.
Finally, the respondents were asked to rate some statements on a scale of 1-5, with 1 being highly disagreed and 5 being highly agreed. 100% of our respondents highly disagree that the banning of AP Psychology and the rejection of AP African American Students were justified. In retrospect, 66% of our respondents highly disagree that intersecting sex and gender studies with psychology is indoctrinating students, while 34% somewhat disagree. All of the respondents highly agree that teaching Critical Race Theory should not be unconstitutional.
While the topic has certainly polarized the views of many, it is clear that our respondents had similar opinions for the most part, and if there's a key point to be taken from above, it's that people within the educational system want to be heard and want their views to be treated just as important as those who have authority. If you have an opinion that you believe should be heard, feel free to leave them in the comments below.
Special thanks to Nathan Oliver-Hamilton for making this possible by interviewing some of our respondents.
