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Notes -
Motte: teaching AP Psych in Florida is a liability. “Age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards” is vague as hell, and the administration remains interested in waging the culture war. This is a textbook chilling effect.
Bailey: DeSantis is coming for your kids! Worse, he’s going to cripple their college applications! Panic!!
I’m not sure if the motte is convincing. Florida has not, as far as I can tell, sanctioned any district or teacher for age-inappropriate curriculum. The strategy is instead to ban a book, or just remove material en masse, citing the law. This is the whole point of an institutional advantage: they don’t have to do any enforcement if people fall in line.
On the other hand, I am sympathetic to the fear that mentioning sexuality opens teachers up to a lawsuit. Specifically, parents may be entitled to damages. A heckler’s veto is a bad idea, especially when parents are known to have a hair-trigger. In Florida, we do already have an example of one woman going after a number of books. Good luck mentioning Freud without offending at least one parent!
This doesn’t justify the media coverage, which is firmly outside any motte.
Florida authorities really don’t seem to have taken any direct shots at AP Psych or even the College Board. Though if the latter keeps making statements like this, I won’t be surprised when Florida decides to escalate.Edit: further evidence suggests Florida did in fact accuse CB first.
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