New York, NY, September 10, 2020 – In exchange for generous Chinese government funding, the College Board has given China strategic access to American K-12 education, concludes a new report from the National Association of Scholars (NAS).
Corrupting the College Board: Confucius Institutes and K-12 Education documents how, since at least 2003, the College Board has partnered closely with the Chinese government. The College Board worked with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to develop an AP Chinese Language and Culture course, served as a recruiter for Chinese government initiatives, and helped the CCP design and gain control over American teacher-training programs such as the National Chinese Language Conference. In 2014, College Board CEO David Coleman referred to the Hanban, the Chinese government agency that oversaw Confucius Institutes, as “the sun” whose light the College Board, “the moon,” was “so honored to reflect.”
“The College Board’s close relationship with the Chinese government shows how deeply China has penetrated the American education system,” said NAS senior research fellow Rachelle Peterson, the author of Corrupting the College Board. “The nation has already woken up to the threat of Confucius Institutes, espionage, intellectual property theft, and covert enrollment as graduate students by Chinese military officers. Now we need to grapple with the realization that one of America’s most prominent academic organizations, reaching millions of students annually, has been corrupted as well.”
Corrupting the College Board makes five policy recommendations to protect and restore American K-12 education:
· Replace the AP Chinese Language and Culture Test. The Department of Education and Department of Defense should convene a working group to prepare an alternative high school Chinese language and culture test.
· Require schools to close Confucius Classrooms. The Department of Education should warn all school districts of the risks of hosting a Confucius Classroom or using the Chinese Guest Teacher Program, and Congress should require, on penalty of losing public funding, the closure of Confucius Classrooms.
· Require the College Board to cut ties with the Chinese government. Congress should condition federal funding to the College Board on the immediate severance of all partnerships with the Hanban or any of its replacement organizations.
· Investigate the College Board’s corruption. The Department of Justice should open up an inquiry at once.
· Replace the National Chinese Language Conference. The Department of Defense should sponsor an alternative program to train and provide professional development for American teachers of Chinese language.
“The College Board’s steadfastness to the Chinese government is astounding,” said NAS president Peter Wood. “Previous NAS reports have documented the College Board’s ideological skew in the AP U.S. History and AP European History courses. Now we learn that, even as the U.S. Department of State and FBI warn against China’s aggressive campaigns to capture American education, the College Board has nonetheless forged ahead with new Chinese government initiatives. More than ever, we need a serious rival to the College Board to provide competent, rigorous, uncompromised test materials for American students.”
NAS is a network of scholars and citizens united by a commitment to academic freedom, disinterested scholarship, and excellence in American higher education. Membership in NAS is open to all who share a commitment to these broad principles. NAS publishes a journal and has state and regional affiliates. Visit NAS at www.nas.org.
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If you would like more information about this issue, please contact Chance Layton at 917-551-6770, or email [email protected].
