More Black Families Are Considering Home-Schooling — And It Shouldn't Be A Shock As To Why

As Gov. Ron DeSantis demonstrated in Florida, the influence toxic conservative politics has over public education is getting a little too real.
Home-schooling could be a viable alternative to public education, and should function as an equitable resource for Black families raising children in working-class households.
Home-schooling could be a viable alternative to public education, and should function as an equitable resource for Black families raising children in working-class households.
Kobus Louw via Getty Images

In August 2022, the College Board, a national nonprofit responsible for college readiness programs such as Advanced Placement (AP) classes and the SATs, announced the introduction of an AP African American studies course to its curriculum. Five months into its first round of piloting the course for high school students, it has been reduced to what many call a “watered-down” version of U.S. history.

Initially meant to provide mature students with a modern, in-depth education on race in U.S. history, the course was set to cover topics such as the Black Lives Matter movement and queer Black studies. In January, Florida’s Department of Education sent a letter to the College Board rejecting the course. Later that month, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis held a press conference to denounce the curriculum for “its lack of educational value” and for imposing a political agenda on students, which violates Florida’s ”Stop WOKE act.

For those blissfully unaware, Stop WOKE — an unfortunately crafted acronym that stands for “Wrong to Our Kids and Employees” — is meant to protect children and employees from critical race theory (CRT) education and training because of the belief that it is politically driven. Sure, because heaven forbid we ever center Black Americans in American history.

A representative from College Board, which is composed of education specialists from 6,000 of “the world’s leading educational institutions,” initially told The New York Times it would not be swayed by “statements of political leaders.” However, a revised version of the curriculum released days after this statement omits material related to present-day race-related movements, social issues and contemporary writers and thinkers like Kimberlé Crenshaw, the Columbia Law professor who coined the now-ubiquitous term intersectionality. It also added “Black Conservatism” as an area of study.

So, yeah, kids will be blocked from learning about contemporary Black revolutionaries fighting to dismantle racism — but they will get to delve into the world of post-“Clueless” Stacey Dash.

Educators all over the country are pushing back on what could become a contagious rash of ignorance, blocking important education. On Saturday, the College Board released a statement saying it should have swiftly addressed claims by Florida’s Department of Education that the course was damaging and unnecessary. While the nonprofit promised that it is forging forward in its commitment to Black studies, it also said in its statement that “we should have made clear that contemporary events like the Black Lives Matter movement, reparations, and mass incarceration were optional topics in the pilot course.”

These topics are not optional education for my child. And I promise you, if we censor them, for older students, the erasure will not stop there. The influence toxic conservative politics has over public education and academic freedom is getting a little too real. As a mother adamant about providing my child with the information they need to understand their world, I have been recently feeling more inclined to take their education into my own hands.

Many of my peers are in the same boat. For Black families, home-schooling has been on the rise for some time. Still, there was a significant uptick during quarantine when parents were home with children reliant on virtual learning. According to the U.S. Census, 3.3% of Black families were home-schooling their children at the start of the pandemic, which increased to 16.1% by the fall.

In the past, the concept of home-schooling was synonymous with the stress of forgoing one whole household income, and potential stigma for the kids. But now, it could be a viable alternative to public education, and should function as an equitable resource for Black families raising children in working-class households. But censorship of their curriculum disrupts this equity. Now, I feel I may have a better chance at fostering success for me and my child by juggling home-school and work.

Community learning pods feel appealing in this moment, when you consider research that’s shown that in schools, there are racist practices that police Black students, a palpable achievement gap and the ongoing fight over the inclusion of “controversial (Black) topics.” Also, the disparity in Black enrollment in gifted programs and the general underfunding of programs that educate Black students are solid reasons that make me want to have more of a hand in my child’s education.

The harsh reality is that censorship of factual information related to the Black experience is not going anywhere. If anything, the erasure of our history and culture has always been widespread, and the politicians who legalize it are as emboldened as ever. While my family doesn’t live in Florida, DeSantis will try to spread this agenda — especially if he runs for president. His brand of racism is, I argue, more dangerous than Trump’s because he seems more organized. Rather than wait it out, I’ll be researching home-school collectives.

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