As many Florida high schoolers prepared for the early start of their school year, it was announced that many school districts are fundamentally ridding the AP psychology course. On August 3rd, Florida concluded that components of this course isolate Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” Bill. 

Two months earlier, the College Board notified Florida’s Department of Education of how the course violates Florida’s recently passed law. A discussion used in AP Psychology involves the discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity, as students are asked to “describe how sex and gender influence socialization and other aspects of development.” Although this has been included in this course for the past 30 years, this topic is no longer legal for teachers in Florida to teach as the bill prevents the discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity.

Unfortunately, there is no clear solution to this situation as the College Board is unwilling to rewrite a curriculum that centers around the laws of Florida. More specifically, the College Board will not censor the course because it decreases the difficulty, as well as the requirements needed to make it an AP class.

It is important to note that on August 4th, Florida’s state education commissioner, Manny Diaz Jr., issued that the course could be taught with the removal of sexual and gender theories. However, this removal does not comply with the College Board’s guidelines nor the full content that would be included on the AP test itself. Unless Florida were to reverse their law, there are no ways for this course to be legally or correctly taught.

Although students “could” still take this course excluding this topic, it will no longer be considered an AP course, meaning the student can no longer receive the college credit. For this reason, the majority of districts are choosing not to teach the class. To be included as an AP course on a student’s transcript, the course must be taught as written, so a student cannot take AP psychology without violating Florida’s law. 

While the College Board is being applauded for not abiding by Florida’s policies, one can imagine the disappointment of the students. Many students and families feel that the rights of parents and high school students to choose their classes are being violated by Florida’s law. 

As this is the second course Florida has banned, many American students are concerned and angry as they feel their First Amendment right is being violated. More so, many fear the future of education in Florida.