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Is it? I read the law and didn’t see that anywhere.
Look carefully at the language the state is using: “the Department believes that AP Psychology can be taught in its entirety in a manner that is age and developmentally appropriate.” They don’t say that AP Psychology is taught in a manner that is age and developmentally appropriate. They don’t say that AP psychology as the college board recommends it be taught is compliant with Florida law. They sent a letter to The College Board asking them to review their courses for compliance with state law. The clear implication is that Florida wants The College Board to change something about their courses.
On the object level, I totally believe that the modern incarnation of AP Psychology is chock full of postmodern critical theory bullshit, and that Florida is well justified keeping it out of the classroom, but on the meta level, The College Board is correct that the Florida Department of Education is trying to ban their preferred version of AP Psychology.
This very much seems to be a scissor statement within this discussion. My reading of that portion of the letter was, "Look, the College Board is freaking out because we have this law in Florida saying that course content needs to be age and developmentally appropriate, so I just want to assure you that, as I see it, AP Psychology can be taught, in it entirety, in a way that is developmentally and age appropriate. Just don't go crazy and show the kids hardcore porn in class or make them affirm that we are all born as trans homosexuals or whatever." In the Washington Post article and others, that line is taken to be an implicit threat, "Hey superintendents, you'd better make sure you keep your course content appropriate, or else [makes throat cutting motion]."
It's not a true scissor because I can understand how the other side would read it as more menacing, but that wasn't my interpretation at all.
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Er...
So it's explicitly not forbidden in grades 9 through 12, and furthermore the law anticipates that if it is taught in grades 9 through 12, it just needs to be "age-appropriate." Forgive me for wondering how you can possibly have read the law, as you claim, and missed that.
Why is that implication "clear?" You don't see points that are explicitly written in the law, but somehow you then turn around and think the implication of "please review" is "clear[ly]" "please modify?"
Maybe, but probably not. I have yet to see a document where the FDE even specifically calls out AP Psychology--the College Board appears to have done that all on their own. They could have therefore responded, "we did an audit, and we do not think AP Psychology can meet your standard for age-appropriate education, and we're not going to change it, so the ball is in your court on that one, but otherwise we're good." Instead, they decided to skip the part where they negotiate in good faith, and went straight to culture warring.
Ah, I was looking at HB 1557. Your quote seems to be from HB 1069.
The key phrase, “in a manner that is age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards,” still applies.
It seems that some schools are adding AP Psych back to the curriculum. I guess we’ll find out soon enough who misunderstood who (or who had a rogue staffer).
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