Alyssa Farah Griffin: DeSantis Dictating What Can Be Taught Is ‘Not Conservative’

Alyssa Farah Griffin told her co-hosts Friday on ABC’s “The View” that it was not conservative for state government to “dictate” what schools can teach.

Co-host Joy Behar said, “Governor Ron DeSantis just put the kibosh on an advanced placement African-American studies course in Florida public high schools. The course syllabus isn’t publicly available yet, but the college board that created it called it a history course that also examines the vital contributions and experiences of African-Americans in literature, the arts, political science, geography, and science. The DeSantis administration claims it violates state law and, quote, ‘lacks educational value.’ I would like to know what is he afraid of?”

Griffin said, “To me, conservatism is about maximizing freedom, and that is educational freedom as well. Having the state dictate what is taught in a local classroom or dictate what can’t be taught is not conservative to me. I disagree with DeSantis in that way he’s doing it. This fundamentally seems like it’s about the contributions of African-Americans to American history, something that absolutely should be taught.”

She added, “This is sort of a battle for the soul of the Republican Party. Are we going to use the big hand of conservative government to force our viewpoints on people, or are we going to say it’s up to your local school board, to parents, to teachers in the classroom what you are taught? Tallahassee shouldn’t tell the families in Miami-Dade what they’re teaching that. It’s a political stunt.”

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