FLORIDA – The Florida Board of Education has certified new standards for teaching African American history that have caused controversy. One of the biggest issues includes how teachers should handle the teaching of slavery in America. A line in the curriculum reads, “Instruction includes how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”
The curriculum does not include teachings about the civil rights movement or Jim Crow laws until students get to high school. Updates to the African American history curriculum were required by a controversial 2022 law that Gov. Ron DeSantis dubbed the “Stop Wrongs To Our Kids and Employees Act,” or “Stop WOKE Act.”
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The law required, in part, that the kindergarten standards focus on teaching students about important historical figures, including “the vital contributions of African Americans to build and strengthen American society and celebrate the inspirational stories of African Americans who prospered, even in the most difficult circumstances.”
So we want to know what you think about the new standards for teaching African-American history? Answer in the form below and your response may be read on a Channel 4 newscast.