The largest public school board in Virginia, Fairfax County, has removed a question from a Grade 12 Advanced Placement (AP) Government exam that links race to politics.
News of the test question went viral this week when a concerned Fairfax resident shared a test question that asked students to pair racial and social identities with being liberal or conservative. Such identities listed were: “Southern white male laborer,” “middle-aged urban lesbian,” and “college-educated black male professional.”
“This is an actual question on a 12th grade AP Government test in Fairfax County Public Schools. I don’t care who you are or what side of the aisle you are on, it should infuriate you,” tweeted Rory Cooper.
“Teaching children that political philosophy is a tribal question based on stereotypes of your race/gender/sexuality/age is beyond ignorant, it actually harms the next generation of voters. Another shameful day,” Cooper added for Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS).
According to National Review, the backlash from the “viral screenshot led the school board to remove the question from future tests, noting in an official statement that it failed to ‘meet the division’s high expectations.'”
Republican Virginia lieutenant governor Winsome Sears, who was elected in 2021 alongside Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin by parents concerned about radicalism in schools, denounced the test question in a tweet echoing Rory Cooper’s frustration.
“Why should parents pay for a product when they don’t know its contents? That’s what we’re asking parents to do when it comes to their children’s education. Tests like these create division, low morale, fights in our schools. This is why parents are demanding school choice now!” tweeted Sears.
Furthermore, the nonprofit organization College Board, which oversees standardized testing and the creation of AP courses in North America, said that the question appeared without formal approval.
“This is not a question from the AP program. It is antithetical to the content and format of an AP question,” the College Board tweeted in response to Sears.
Fairfax County has been a lightning rod for controversy since the 2021 election when Glenn Youngkin rose to the governorship. This past December, at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, allegations erupted that the government-funded school had been delaying merit-based awards to push an equity agenda.
“I am stunned by news reporting alleging that information about National Merit Awards, as determined by student PSAT scores, was withheld from students at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology until after important deadlines for college scholarships had passed,” Youngkin said at the time.