photo credit: Mackenna Miller
We’ve all heard by now that Advanced Placement Psychology or better known as AP Psychology, was officially banned in the state of Florida. The ban was put in place on Aug. 3. AP Psych has been a class offered since 1992- that’s over 30 years! The class focuses on theories about behavioral development. The course also covers psychological disorders and how people’s environments shape them.
I am against the ban because the course teaches students valuable lessons even though some of those lessons might be uncomfortable to adults. It was implemented because the course also covers “content on sexual orientation and gender identity”, according to source. The state board of education prohibited the course and is comprised of elected or appointed officials, which is how it was approved because the group was made up of extremely like-minded people.
Florida is known across the country for being run by Republicans that make very conservative decisions. Anyone who has watched the news at all in the last five years knows that LGBTQ+ youth are frequently targeted and made out to be the outcasts of society.
“More than 1.8 million LGBTQ youth (13-24) seriously consider suicide each year in the U.S. – and at least one attempts suicide every 45 seconds,” according to Trevor Project Top-Line website.
The Trevor Project is an organization with a “mission to end suicide among LGBTQ young people”. They are known for their advocacy and crisis support, as well as a lot of research.
AP Psych being banned for gender and sexuality identity is just another thing to add to a very long list of things that make LGBTQ+ youth feel like they don’t belong.
The College Board, the company that operates AP courses, is currently feuding with Florida due to the AP Psychology ban.
The college board stated, “Unless AP Psychology is taught in its entirety – including lessons on sexuality and gender – ‘the AP Psychology’ designation cannot be utilized on student transcripts,” according to CNN.
The Florida Department of Education wanted to leave out gender and sexuality studies but still have the class count towards their students’ transcripts, and department officials were less than thrilled with the College Board’s response. And, now is still currently fighting it.
Many Floridian school and district administrators were found stuck trying to make a decision. Were they going to continue to offer the class so students still had the opportunity? Or would they get rid of the class completely?
It seems like the clear answer is to continue to offer the class, but unfortunately, it’s not that simple. To keep offering the class, they would have to entirely eliminate any content relating to the reason why the class was banned to begin with. The course wouldn’t count on student transcripts and the College Board stated without the crucial content, they most likely wouldn’t even be eligible to take the AP exam, which is essentially the whole point of taking an AP class, to get a passing score on the exam, and get the college credit.
In the end, some schools chose to continue to teach it without the restricted content, but most dropped it completely, leaving students without the opportunity to learn from an AP Psych class and forcing teachers to find a different class to teach.
AP Psych is not the first class Florida has tried to regulate the content of. It is actually the second Advanced Placement class to be banned, coming after the AP African American Studies course was banned in January. The class was banned due to “lacking ‘educational value and historical accuracy,’ and allegedly violating Florida law,” according to Education Week. AP Psych is just yet another example of conservatives trying to control everyone else. First it was AP African American Studies, now AP Psych, could your favorite AP class be next?
If you would like to support the fight against the AP Psych ban, please go to change.org and look at current petitions regarding the class.
