[ATTW-L] the College Board apology

[Dragga, Sam]

If you are looking for a timely example of a corporate apology, consider the College Board’s admission of five errors related to the release of its course in African American Studies. The apology could jump start a lively discussion of rhetoric, ethics, and social justice.

For example, #1:

We deeply regret not immediately denouncing the Florida Department of Education’s slander, magnified by the DeSantis administration’s subsequent comments, that African American Studies “lacks educational value.” Our failure to raise our voice betrayed Black scholars everywhere and those who have long toiled to build this remarkable field.

Or, for example, #5:

We have made the mistake of treating FDOE with the courtesy we always accord to an education agency, but they have instead exploited this courtesy for their political agenda. After each written or verbal exchange with them, as a matter of professional protocol, we politely thanked them for their feedback and contributions, although they had given none.

In Florida’s effort to engineer a political win, they have claimed credit for the specific changes we made to the official framework. In their February 7, 2023, letter to us, which they leaked to the media within hours of sending, Florida expresses gratitude for the removal of 19 topics, none of which they ever asked us to remove, and most of which remain in the official framework.

They also claimed that we removed terms like “systemic marginalization” and “intersectionality” at their behest. This is not true. The notion that we needed Florida to enlighten us that these terms are politicized in several states is ridiculous. We took a hard look at these terms because they often are misunderstood, misrepresented, and co-opted as political weapons. Instead we focused throughout the framework on providing concrete examples of these important concepts. Florida is attempting to claim a political victory by taking credit retroactively for changes we ourselves made but that they never suggested to us.

The apology is available at https://newsroom.collegeboard.org/our-commitment-ap-african-american-studies-scholars-and-field.


Sam

Sam Dragga
Professor Emeritus
Texas Tech University
sam.dragga at ttu.edu
1-806-543-6099

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