College Board Vs. CRT Panic

The College Board is a for-profit company that makes a bundle selling products that make teenagers look smart as well as establishing itself as a gatekeeper for college entrance. It is amazing to me that some folks are still tricked by that name into thinking this is some sort of non-profit college entrance agency. Nope. The College Board has made some huge mistakes, including hiring Comon Core architect David "I'm no education expert" Coleman to be the Big Boss. They've gotten so many things wrong (here, here, here, here, here, here, and here, for starters) that it seems fairly newsworthy when they get something right.

You can be excused for scrolling past the page entitled What AP Stands For, assuming that the answer is "money" or "market share" or "branding," but in fact it's worth a look. Some of the seven items might cause you to hiccup (like #1-- AP stands for clarity and transparency), but let's skip down to three other items:

3) AP opposes censorship. AP is animated by a deep respect for the intellectual freedom of teachers and students alike. If a school bans required topics from their AP courses, the AP Program removes the AP designation from that course and its inclusion in the AP Course Ledger provided to colleges and universities. For example, the concepts of evolution are at the heart of college biology, and a course that neglects such concepts does not pass muster as AP Biology.

4) AP opposes indoctrination. AP students are expected to analyze different perspectives from their own, and no points on an AP Exam are awarded for agreement with a viewpoint. AP students are not required to feel certain ways about themselves or the course content. AP courses instead develop students’ abilities to assess the credibility of sources, draw conclusions, and make up their own minds.

As the AP English Literature course description states: “AP students are not expected or asked to subscribe to any one specific set of cultural or political values, but are expected to have the maturity to analyze perspectives different from their own and to question the meaning, purpose, or effect of such content within the literary work as a whole.

5) AP courses foster an open-minded approach to the histories and cultures of different peoples. The study of different nationalities, cultures, religions, races, and ethnicities is essential within a variety of academic disciplines. AP courses ground such studies in primary sources so that students can evaluate experiences and evidence for themselves.

In particular, look at #3:

If a school bans required topics from their AP courses, the AP Program removes the AP designation from that course and its inclusion in the AP Course Ledger provided to colleges and universities. 

Yes, they include an item to insist that there's no indoctrinatin' going on in AP, but that's a restriction that cuts both ways, given that the CRT panic crowd has been legislating requirements such as one requiring that teachers say only nice things about the Founding Fathers. 

But that #3 is a tough stand--particularly when you realize that to enforce it, the College Board would have to cut into its own revenue stream. I especially look forward to some legislator during debate of one of these many gag laws pointing out "If we pass this, no school in the state will be able to offer AP history." 

Whether the College Board will actually back up its tough talk remains to be seen. But for a company that manages to get so many things wrong, this is a welcome change of pace.