Governor Ron DeSantis and the Florida legislature are worried that the state’s colleges and universities are hotbeds of socialism, so they passed a bill to survey students and faculty about their beliefs. They worry that there is a lack of “intellectual diversity” on the state’s campuses.
What next? Loyalty oaths?
In his continued push against the “indoctrination” of students, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday signed legislation that will require public universities and colleges to survey students, faculty and staff about their beliefs and viewpoints to support “intellectual diversity.”
The survey will discern “the extent to which competing ideas and perspectives are presented” in public universities and colleges, and seeks to find whether students, faculty and staff “feel free to express beliefs and viewpoints on campus and in the classroom,” according to the bill.
The measure, which goes into effect July 1, does not specify what will be done with the survey results. But DeSantis and Sen. Ray Rodrigues, the sponsor of the bill, suggested on Tuesday that budget cuts could be looming if universities and colleges are found to be “indoctrinating” students.
Governor DeSantis has a peculiar notion of “intellectual diversity.” Only two weeks ago, at his urging, the state board of education placed limits on what may be taught about racism in the schools, specifically banning “critical race theory” and The 1619 Project.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Can you spell HUAC?
They’re not interested in “indoctrination.” Had they been as honest as they are crooked, they would have used the word “education.”
Well, HUAC were Democrats, for one….
Next thing you know, you’ll be telling us the South was Democratic …
Floridians should be concerned and requiring about who indoctrinated DeSantis.
DeSatan is smart enough to know better. But he is running for president in 2024 on the Troglodyte ticket and has to keep up the Trump Mini Me appearances. And, of course, he has his own predispositions toward fascism.
This is repackaged McCarthyism. DeSantis: “Are you now, have you ever been a socialist, commie, Stalinist-Leninist Bernie Sanders lover?!” Bernie Sanders to DeSantis (in my imagination): “At long last, have you no shame, no integrity, no humanity?”
Today’s GOP is a curse on this nation, a cerebral carbuncle.
The right wing continues to sow seeds of doubt in our democratic process and our public institutions. The right wing media stokes the flames so the Republican Party can burn down the house. Fascism is but a few steps away.
Not just the right wing.
Read the article I linked to below.
Surely, the military policy lumping ” Socialists” (whatever that means) together with Neo-Nazis and terrorists is no secret to high level Democrats in the House and Senate (be, in House and Senate Intelligence Committees)
Then again, anyone who supports such a policy is (far) “right wing” regardless of whether they call themselves Democrats or even Progressives.
Intelligent people skew toward rationale thought. University faculty are on average more intelligent and better educated than the general public. It’s logical that they wouldn’t be the typical know nothings who the GOP manipulate to enrich the wealthy at the expense of the 99%.
“In his continued push against the “indoctrination” of students, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday signed legislation that will require public universities and colleges to survey students, faculty and staff about their beliefs and viewpoints to support “intellectual diversity.”
But private colleges and universities get lots and lots of public funding, so who aren’t they subject to interrogation on their beliefs?
DeSantis is an ed reformer. He supports public funding of any and all private entities. Why does he limit his policing of views to public schools?
Public entities get stuck with all the politically-motivated policing and micromanaging and private entities get all of the funding with none of the policing and micromanaging?
the incentive to go private…
Agreed. Harassing public schools and public universities is another way to undermine them and sow more seeds of mistrust in them It is all part of DeSantis’ privatization agenda. Unfortunately, many of the authoritarian types in the state believe DeSantis is doing a great job.
It’s actually a war against the very concept of education. Ignorant people can be trusted. People with advanced degrees cannot. Check Richard Hofstadter’s classic “Anti-Intellectalism in American Thought.” DeSantis, Hawley, Trump, Goetz, MT Greene, Bobert, Gosar, et al are direct descendants of Joe McCarthy.
The complete incoherence of the ed reform “movement” comes up again.
If they’re going to police speech in all the public schools and make sure it aligns with Right wing ideology don’t they also have to put the same restrictions on the private schools they fund with public dollars?
What a deal for private schools! All of the funding and none of the dumb, gimmicky mandates.
Once again public school students get the short end of the ed reform stick.
I think I’d fall off my chair if any of these people actually made some positive or productive contribution to any public school, anywhere. It’s all ideologically motivated garbage foisted on the public schools they didn’t and don’t attend and don’t support.
We’re really starting to see what the ed reform privatized system will look like, and what effect that will have on public school students.
Public schools will be the only schools in the “portfolio” subject to micromanaging by ed reformers. They’ll harshly police and punish only public schools, while lavishing funding on private schools which will have no ed reform mandates.
Liberals in ed reform are quietly and obediently going along with this attack on public education because they support DeSantis in his privatization efforts?
Once again, throwing public school students under the ed reform bus in order to advance the charter/voucher agenda.
Another ed reform initiative that offers no value at all to any student who attends a public school, college or university. They should really stop “helping” our students. Please. Go “help” private school students for a while. Any more “help” from ed reformers and there won’t be any public schools left for them to police.
People who supposedly make their living in “education” are supporting nonsense like this?
“Newsmax’s Dick Morris suggests Critical Race Theory may “reinforce the Oedipal notion all kids have of wanting to kill their father and marry their mother”
They should be embarrassed and really should look for a new line of work. Whatever it is they do all day at those think tanks it’s not “working on education”.
OK, Dick Morris wins the “dumbest thing said about Critical Race Theory by a Repugnican” contest for the week. But don’t fret. One can always enter the sweepstakes again next week!
BTW, Critical Race Theory forgot to set my alarm and caused me to oversleep.
A clown legislator in Utah is looking at the same thing. The Salt Lake Tribune has the article, but it’s behind a paywall. A quote from the article:
“But come January, the controversy may erupt once again as lawmakers target how race and history are taught not just to Utah’s school-age children but also in higher education.
Legislative Republicans seemed mostly satisfied with steps taken by the Utah Board of Education to address concerns about curriculum and training materials for teachers, which is why they’ve called a cease-fire.
Rep. Steve Christiansen, R-West Jordan, says he plans to introduce legislation on the topic come January, but his bill won’t mention the words “critical race theory.” Instead, he plans to block the teaching of certain “divisive concepts” in the classroom.
“I would call it more than just divisive,” he said. ”They’re, quite frankly, illegal.””
Read that last sentence again. And that includes higher education. It’s a joke. What about academic freedom? It’s bad enough to do this to K-12, but to demand it of higher education is even more ludicrous.
ALEC?
Probably. Quite a few members of the Utah state legislature are. I haven’t looked him up specifically (he’s fairly new, and represents a hyper-conservative area), but I wouldn’t be a bit surprised.
Utah hasn’t changed a bit since I was there decades ago.
It’s stuck in the dark ages.
It’s politics are the reason I left the state and will never go back.
I’d just like to point out what the ed reform “movement” chose to focus on post-pandemic.
Did they assist public schools to get kids back and bring them up to speed? Did they offer anything productive or positive that might actually benefit any public school student. anywhere?
No- instead they chose to start a politically motivated war in our schools, thereby ensuring no one at the schools gets any work done this summer.
Literally a detriment to public schools and students now. Damaging our schools and students. Making it impossible for public schools to get any work done.
Can we start a foundation to protect public school students from ed reformers? Can we just go our own way and leave this Right wing “movement” to duke it out in the private schools THEIR kids attend?
Exactly. School boards nationwide will see their productivity drop as they spend their summer dealing with made-up issues instead of figuring out the best ways to go forward “post”-COVID.
There was drama at the Miami-Dade board meeting. Parents were claiming that the schools were teaching CRT. The superintendent informed them that they don’t have never did. Then they claimed that masks would be mandatory in the fall. The superintendent said that they changed their 2021-2022 mask policy to option in May 2021.
Today Curmuducation examined the new plans for education in Florida in greater detail. In addition to what has been discussed here, part of the proposal requires hybrid instruction which sounds like a management nightmare for teachers. It is also a step closer to testing and data mining all the time while it undermines the need for traditional public education. This plan intends to reduce the cost of public education at the expense of the state’s young people. DeSantis wants to distract with the claims of “indoctrination,” while he slyly makes authentic public education a diminished relic of the past.http://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/
Hybrid instruction is what we did during the 2020-2021 school year. Students online and face to face at the same time. I guess they don’t want to make that a one-year thing after all?
The problem goes well beyond Florida and Republicans.
Socialism” (a nebulous term that means whatever one defines it to mean) is being equated with “terrorism” at the highest levels of our government.
“US Military Document Puts Socialists in Same Category as Neo-Nazis”
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/06/23/disturbing-us-military-document-puts-socialists-same-category-neo-nazis
It’s McCarthyism all over again.
Some people don’t and perhaps can’t learn.
Loyalty oaths or loyalty oafs? They are, after all, inextricably bound. Can’t have one without the other.
This shows you how much danger our country was in had Trump been re-elected. Thank goodness that the folks who believed that having another 4 years of Trump would not destroy our country need only look at Florida and other states run by Republicans.
I read the Intercept article:
“The FBI’s Iron Fist program was concerning enough that then-Rep. Cedric Richmond, now a senior adviser to President Joe Biden, grilled the FBI director about it in 2019. It was far from the only time during the Trump administration that Democrats expressed concerns that the national security state was targeting groups on the political left. But those concerns have waned under the Biden administration, despite an intensified focus on domestic extremists that could include groups on the left, as the Navy document suggests.”
Thank goodness Cedric Richmond is now in the administration.
I have no doubt that the 4 years of Trump that some people believed would be no big deal have done huge damage to our country, and the fact that there is now language like this in a Navy document is probably going to be fallout we will have to deal with far beyond Biden’s first term. I’m sure there is all kinds of stuff like this throughout the federal government that gets through. Too many reprehensible people are now embedded throughout the federal government in ways that make it very hard to clean house.
“Are you or have you ever been close to the Trump Administration?” I’d love to have all those people fired, but it needs to be done using due process. I believe in due process — but I also believe that where there is a will, due process can and should be used to fire people. I hope the Biden Administration is willing to act like a brave, hard working principal and use due process to fire problematic teachers instead of acting like some lazy, cowardly principals who say “there’s nothing we can do, it’s the union’s fault” or “there’s nothing we can do, it’s the Republican’s fault”.
It is using that dishonest narrative that makes people hate unions and Democrats, when the real problem is neither the union nor the democrats but that there are a few leaders in power who are too scared or lazy to take on anything that will cause a lot of people to be angry at them. But they need to do the right thing, not the easy thing. Using due process, of course.
Hey, but put yourself in DeSatan’s position. You are a troglodyte and Trump Mini-Me. You have the usual troglodyte values and beliefs. You’re fine, for example, with official discrimination toward transgender persons, sending in storm troopers to raid the homes of employees who dare cross you, threatening teachers of actual black history, censorship generally, and so on. And, ofc, you are committed to supporting whatever insane idea crosses the “mind” (notochord?) of lower lifeforms like Jabba the Trump.
Must be really, really hard. Everyone with a brain and a heart makes fun of you, is horrified by you, or both. So, naturally, you react in that nasty, unexamined, knee jerk, troglodyte way.
Me and Darlene jist wants to thank our Grate Governure Ronald McDonald DeSatan for givin professers and studints the freedom to think like there spozed to–same as all good Christian, gun-totin Americans and Glorious Leader Who Shines More Orange Than Does the Sun Donald J. Trump.
–Bob Shepherd, President of the Flor-uh-duh Man Freedom to Think like Me Foundation
There are also conservative colleges in the US.
Someone tell Florida’s governor that. If he doesn’t listen, strap him in a straight jacket, cover his head with a blackout hood and place headphones over his ears with a playback loop. Then have him listen to the message 1,000 times.
I want an investigation that focuses on the colleges from that list to see what those colleges are teaching their young people to turn them into raving lunatics that deny climate change, vote for traitors like Trump and McConnel to hate anyone that doesn’t think like them, supports violent insurrections like the one in our capital on January 6, 2021, drool at voter suppression for miniorites, want to separate families and send the children to concentration camps when their families attempt to enter the US legally seeking asylum, hate anything and anyone labels socialist or liberal, and thinks the only victim in rape is the rapist, et al.
The Most Conservative Colleges in America.
https://www.bestcolleges.com/features/most-conservative-colleges/
Lloyd,
Your reasoning is impeccable.
Texas A&M was a surprise.
Four years ago, Texas A&M received $3.4 mil. from Charles Koch (a social Darwinism project).
Only two of the 15 schools aren’t associated with conservative religion.
Media wrote about Utah State’s unholy connection to Koch.
Kavanaugh is Kenneth Starr’s protege.
Starr, Pepperdine’s former dean of law, was the subject of an opinion piece at Baptist News Global (1-24-2020). “Starr, the disgraced former president of the world’s largest Baptist university has become a regular guest on Fox News.” He served on Trump’s impeachment defense.
At Baylor, while he was President, Starr reinstated a football player who eventually got 20 years for sex-related crimes.
In 2008, Starr went to bat for Jeffrey Epstein.
Starr wrote a letter to the court requesting that Chris Kloman be sentenced to a brief community service sentence. The court gave Kloman 43 years for sexually assaulting 5 girls.
Utah State is a state school and is NOT associated with the LDS Church. Utah State is my alma mater. You need to start educating yourself on LDS culture or stop talking about it.
Now, the fact the the Kochs have their claws at my beloved school is another thing entirely, but don’t assume that a school in Utah is “Mormon” just because it’s in Utah.
PS: This is not the first time you’ve ignorantly maligned Utah and the LDS Church. I know you are after Catholics, but stop talking about things you don’t know about. And don’t lump Mormons and Catholics together. There are similarities, but there are a lot of differences too. Please just STOP.
“Two schools (of the 15 listed) are NOT associated with religion”- Texas A&M and Utah State.
When “State” is in the title, the school in every case of which I am aware, is understood to be public.
The word “unholy” was a figurative use of language warranted by the Koch reference. Texas A&M also has an unholy alliance with Koch as does public George Mason University, a school whose community is fighting back as hard against Koch as they can.
I omit referencing the power of LDS in my comments because its political impact nationally is negligible and is limited to a few states, unlike the influence of a religion’s almost 50 state Conferences, at least two of which publicly took credit for the school choice legislation in their states.
Other commenters at the blog have disparaged Mormonism, not me,
I report on the outsized conservative political influence of the Catholic hierarchy and groups and individuals who use their Catholic faith as justification and excuse for right wing political action. (Recently, Rep. Ted Liu addressed the hypocrisy of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference toward Biden. The Congressman rightfully did so.) If religion vacated the public square, I would not write about it.
It would be fair to consider that the political decisions of states like New York, Florida, Ohio, Texas, Indiana, etc. have been criticized at this blog. How many residents of those states have expressed personal umbrage at this blog, over the comments?
The failure to hold religion’s leaders accountable for loss of separation of church and state…the nation’s been there, done that and continues to do it. Despite clear evidence that prior statements made by Comey Barrett merited questions about her religious political views, during her confirmation they were avoided like the plague which was not healthy for the American democracy.
If a person wants to observe a knee-jerk tribal response, an example has been provided again.
Truly my apologies for misreading.
That being said, the LDS Church has NO private K-12 schools and has not taken an issue on this, although its partnership with the NAACP is a good thing. That’s one very major difference when it comes to education between the Catholic church and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. In fact, BYU faculty in several instances have come out against these anti-CRT policies.
But I once again apologize. I DO agree that Utah State has NO business being in bed with the Kochs. I refuse to donate to my alma mater for this reason
Thank you for your comment. You, I and most of the commenters at this blog work in concert to fight against the agenda of Charles Koch and his allies.
Though I have not maligned the LDS Church, I have maligned the state of Utah ( its state politicians and officials, not it’s natural beauty or general population) countless times, especially when I lived there.
But it was not a maligning based in ignorance and those I maligned were deserving of every instance.
They were malignworthy, for sure. Still are, apparently.
Orrin Hatch was particularly malignworthy.
My friends and I called him “Urine”.
Thank goodness he was never nominated to become a Supreme Court Justice.
I’m sure that was a big disappointment to him (the poor dear), but certainly not to most of the country.
This just in: a New York appellate court has FINALLY suspended Rudy Guiliani’s law license. In celebration of this news, reprising the following lyric:
Rudolph, Don’s Brown-Nosed Reign Dear | Bob Shepherd
(to the tune of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”)
Rudolph the Ghouliani
had a very brown, brown nose,
squandered his former goodwill,
stroking Trump on TV shows.
All of the other Trumpties
used to laugh and call him names.
Even those abject toadies
thought him crooked and insane.
Then one Foggy Bottom eve,
Trumpty called to say,
“Rude one with your nose so brown,
won’t you take Joe Biden down?”
What happened then’s sheer folly:
thanks to lows the two men reached,
history will most remember that
Trumpty Dumpty was impeached.
Next step for Rudy Guiliani: disbarment for unethical behavior.
Long overdue!
Done.
More trash from Florida.
Education commissioner threatens funding for Hillsborough (Tampa) due to denying charter school renewals
https://www.tampabay.com/news/education/2021/06/23/corcoran-threatens-hillsborough-school-board-over-charter-school-denials/
Me and Darlene resembles that remark!
FYI, this is why I did not vote for Kathryn Garcia in the NY Mayoral primary. Garcia would be on the side of education commissioner, since she believes it is a good idea for an outside agency of political appointees (in NY state that would be the 3 lawyers Cuomo appoints) having all power to order local communities to fund an unlimited number of charters but have no oversight over them.
So presumably, Garcia would have no sympathy for the local school boards because she so strongly believes in an outside board of appointees by the Governors should be deciding charter renewals and not any local school board or the Mayor.
https://magicvalley.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/idaho-s-mcgeachin-meets-with-former-president-trump-to-talk-indoctrination-in-schools/article_9686178c-07f8-5fa0-867b-86a1430671b7.html
Off topic (but not really)…
“A quest for truth, a belief in the supremacy of knowledge and evidence, a conviction that it is her responsibility to make the ecosphere a superior place for others, a sense and that she has an obligation to promote the general welfare, not private interests, Diane Ravitch pursues her passion as an exponent of education. She fearlessly champions the teachers and leaders who devote their lives to educating the next generation of children. She loves her work on behalf of the freedom to teach, the freedom to learn, and the rights of children.”
https://www.educationstalwarts.com/diane-ravitch/
Thank you!
Praise for Diane’s commitment and work to protect public education and the communities that are served by it can never be sufficient.
However, accolades serve to remind all, of her importance.
Thanks for sharing! Nice write up.
Oh wait, did you mean a loyalty oath like the one Randi Weingarten instituted for those working for thé Unity party at the UFT?
“I love the poorly educated.”
– DJT
Is this true? The board of Ed “specifically banned” critical race theory and the 1619 Project? I haven’t seen that in any of these recent “anti-CRT” bills.
“Only two weeks ago, at his urging, the state board of education placed limits on what may be taught about racism in the schools, specifically banning “critical race theory” and The 1619 Project.””
If that is a question here is your answer.
“At the request of Gov. Ron DeSantis, the board unanimously adopted a rule that, in the words of member Tom Grady, emphasizes historical facts over “fiction, projects or theory masquerading as fact.”
Grady offered an amendment that named critical race theory and “The 1619 Project” as examples of two well-known educational approaches that would not be acceptable in classrooms.
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/education/article252022148.html
Irony-
Media report that the organization, “Take Back Our Schools”, is at the center of an ugly campaign against CRT (Guilford County, N.C.). “Take Back…” favors charter schools while simultaneously claiming they want the, “Broad Center and private for-profit groups out of our public schools.”
Are the members intentionally duplicitous, merely addled or, steered by the racist legacy of Georgia Gov. Talmadge?
Princeton Professors Sean Willentz and Keith Whittington presented themselves as concerned about historical accuracy when they criticized the work of Hannah-Jones.
The two men should do outreach to Guilford County from their legacy-admission cloister.
Clearly, reasoning based on fact needs an assist among some of Guilford County’s residents.
Of course if they offered starting PhD full time professors more than 48K as they do in Indiana, you know, make it $100,000/year–then maybe more conservatives would apply for these jobs. For many campuses, one has to have a public service (rather than “make it rich in some corporation” outlook. But they can still find right wingers — just do away with credentialing and allow politicians to appoint college instructors who don’t have proper education and might be happy to take a 48K job–and serve as loyal mouthpieces for those politicians. Isn’t that happening in some K-1 private schools? And what exactly happened in Germany in the 1930’s (although some large number of teachers did go along with the Nazis…)
What you wrote is more true of some universities and academic departments than others. UnKochMyCampus.org
Tackling the problem will require changes to the way school trustees are selected and the way administrators are evaluated. The old boy network should have no footing at public universities like UNC and George Mason University. Trustees should be representative of students, their families and residents of the state, economically and by race and gender.
Ideology tests are bad but I suspect many departments at universities impose ideology tests on prospective hires. Do you think the UC Berkeley School of Education would ever hire someone who dared to question CRT? Or who was simply not interested in talking about race?
Two Berkeley economists signed a letter against Bernie Sanders’ economic platform, listing as credential, University affiliation, omitting their heavy corporate involvements.
The Education Dept. professors, if billionaires provide funding, may not hew the way you surmise they do.