Allie Pitchon of The Miami Herald reported that state officials told some publishers of math textbooks why the state would not buy their books. The initial announcement said that some math books were too “woke,” contained “critical race theory,” or included concepts from Common Core, which Governor Ron DeSantis turned against because former President Obama endorsed it. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, the conservative education guru, also championed Common Core, but that did not mollify DeSantis’s rejection of it.
Publishers were left in the dark about why their math books offended DeSantis, and yesterday the state provided some details. The state informed publishers what had to make changed to get on the state approved list and gave them two weeks to resubmit.
The state posted a few examples on its website.
One example: A colored bar chart showing how levels of racial bias can vary by age group. It is part of a mathematical brain teaser involving polynomial models and is nestled on the bottom right-hand corner of page 56 in a pre-calculus online textbook consisting of more than 1,000 pages. The book is not identified on the state’s website…
Two other examples that originated with public complaints make reference to Social Emotional Learning (SEL), a methodology wherein students try to get in touch with their emotions and demonstrate empathy for others.
Here is the woke bar graph:
Publishers were well aware, the Department of Education said, that their books would be rejected if they had even a trace of “critical race theory” or “social-emotional learning” or Common Core.
The press release provided a withering quote from Gov. Ron DeSantis: “It seems some publishers attempted to slap a coat of paint on an old house built on the foundation of Common Core, and indoctrinating concepts like race essentialism, especially, bizarrely, for elementary school students.”
Education Secretary Richard Corcoran chimed in, stating Florida was “focusing on providing … children with a world-class education without the fear of indoctrination or exposure to dangerous and divisive concepts in our classrooms.”
In a tweet, Christina Pushaw, the governor’s press secretary, went further, while addressing those who take issue with “book banning”: “The state declining to purchase certain textbooks isn’t banning them. If you want to teach your kid Woke Math, where “2+2=4” is white supremacy, you’re free to buy any CRT math textbook you want. You just cannot force Florida taxpayers to subsidize this indoctrination.” She’s right that local school districts can allocate at least part of their book buying budget toward textbooks not on the state’s approved list.
Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/education/article260639257.html#storylink=cpy
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“You just cannot force Florida taxpayers to subsidize this indoctrination.” Sure you can. It’s called vouchers. What a hypocrite.
This is true. There’s no clearer example of state-funded indoctrination than providing vouchers for religious schools.
True. If you want to see undiluted indoctrination, look no further than religious schools. Indoctrination is their purpose.
The “acceptable” math text is from Accelerate Learning, a company based in Houston. This company happens to be affiliated with the Carlyle Group, which is Glen Youngkin’s former firm. Coincidence or cronyism? https://bluevirginia.us/2022/04/the-one-math-textbook-company-deemed-acceptable-in-ron-desantis-florida-accelerate-learning-was-acquired-by-youngkins-carlyle-group-in-2018
Youngkin said, “I think Governor DeSantis has done a lot of really impressive things to lead and this is where I look to lead as governor.”
Hmmmm…. “really impressive things” = funneling money to a company connected to Youngkin = blatant corruption.
The Twitter Thread from Judi Stern Levine is worth reading in this link.
This clever post came from a friend of mine. It presents a way to smile at the censorship in Florida. https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/math-concepts-the-state-of-florida-finds-objectionable
🙂
I’m thinking that DeSantis may be an old recycled creature without a soul that “woke” and escaped from the abyss. In its last life, it was Adolf Hitler.
“Woke math.” A novel way to attack math programs. It was bad enough to have “math wars,” where textbooks were attacked for sinister approaches that emphasized problem solving, reasoning, and communication. Now the Culture Warriors have found new demons lurking in math programs. They seem to be mortified by “unsolicited” things like teaching persistence and resilience, emphasizing a growth mindset, trying to make math more relevant for students, and promoting the idea that all students can and should succeed in mathematics. As to “no inclusion of Common Core,” my guess is that the Florida math standards overlap 95% or more with the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics. So what is left to teach? Where does this all stop?
I suspect that if someone went through the “acceptable” textbooks and Ron DeSantis approves of and wants to spend taxpayer money to purchase, they could find the same kind of “woke” allusions that DeSantis cites in the books he wants to ban.
Remember that this is not about being honest at all. It is about finding any vague reference in the DeSantis approved textbooks that can be (mis)characterized as “woke” math teaching that is brainwashing our students.
Unfortunately, this kind of crap will continue until those who believe in truth start using the lying right winger’s modus operandi against them. Those on the right and those who claim not to be on the right who are complicit in embracing and normalizing the far right’s hypocritical double standard must be called out. By their own ridiculous standards, I am sure the “approved” textbooks published by these folks pals are riddled with “wokeism”. But that “wokeism” isn’t a problem for them because their objections to the other textbooks was always political, not real.
It is similar to the 1619 Project criticism, where some scholars who claimed not to be racist themselves demonized and attacked Nikole Hannah-Jones for making the same kind of supposed “errors” that their own friends’ books have but that they are fine with because their friends are people who they “believe in” so those supposed “errors” are not a problem for the critics except when a Black woman’s essay includes one of those supposed “errors”. In fact, the very letter written by the scholars that rabidly criticized the 1619 project contained errors that by their supposed standards should have meant those scholars had to admit that all of their own work should be discredited. But too many people are complicit in allowing these folks to get away with discrediting what they don’t like by finding something to nitpick while no one asks them why their own work never has to meet those standards.
I’ve written about this in my own blog this morning. If it’s out of line to provide a link, please delete my comment. http://grumpyoldteacher.com/2022/04/23/exhibit-a-project-implicit/
Excellent essay– thanks!
As a mere brit (who according to those on the Right does not ‘understand’ America), can you elucidate a problem I am having.
To sum it up, apparently according to some:
1. There is a Right to carry guns.
2. There is a Right to believe Trump had the Presidential Election stolen from him.
3. There is a Right to believe in Qanon.
4. There is a Right to wave a confederate flag as an act of rebellion
5. There is a Right to be a Nazi and admire Hitler (Malmedy….Anyone care to mention Malmedy 17th December 1944?).
And amongst those folk are parents, or elected officials who can voice these opinions in front of Children?
And none of that is grooming?
As a mere Brit I would be grateful for clarification. After all…..what do I know? (Apparently)
The exposure to knowledge is dangerous and divisive.